Citra Mina, Davao

I'm craving for this tuna chicharon of Citra Mina. I had done rounds of grocery tours ( here in Manila) looking for it or some other brand of tuna chicharon but found nothing. It's made of tuna (fish) skin. So crunchy and spicy, dipping it to a vinegar mix makes it so much more delicious.




Well, I guess I have to visit Davao again just so I could fully indulge on this awesome junk crunch. Unless, otherwise one of my kindhearted Davao relatives read this and you know send some lovin' package of Citra Mina's.




This was at Citra Mina in Davao City. I love this fish store with lots of  TUNA! Right  there were so much variants of tuna and at  lower prices compared to what we have here in Manila.

Cousin specifically pointed to us how we should not pass on the availability of the big eye toro ( huge variant of tuna with so much flavors ). She said it was rarely available so we made sure to take some pieces of it back home. While there in Davao, cousin had served some recipes around the special big eye.




tuna ceviche




tuna in coconut cream




So if you get to visit the city, make sure to squeeze in some time to visit Citra Mina. I also took home some of the processed cold cuts and they were good, especially the tuna longanisa. Chao!

Yellow Fin,Davao City

After durian, Davao spelled as  t-u-n-a to us. When we dropped by at Yellow Fin my brother's first order as expected was tuna- kinilaw.

fresh and chunky tuna kinilaw

The resto seemed to have had catered to many family dinners, weekend lunches , meetings and dining tourists . Dining tables and chairs looked aged but kept their vintage charms.




mutton stew in tomato/liver sauce (kalderetang kambing)

Their kalderetang kambing was a delicious surprise.It was tender without a single hint that it was a goat meat. The sauce was super tasty. Another dish (no photo) that we enjoyed so much here at Yellow Fin was the laing with a twist. Instead of shredded coconut meat or taro root, the fillings of the bundled taro leaves were tuna meat in hefty coconut cream.

Delicious food !

Not Everyday...

Not everyday that we get the chance to spend time with our relatives especially when they are islands away. Half of our clan is mushrooming in Davao City. Actually, at the rate they are multiplying there, seems like they are now the 95% of our small clan. While us here in Luzon, seems to squeeze in numbers as most of our elders had passed away and us the 2nd adult generation have ceased on multiplying at the most after two children.Having said those_ a short 5 days visit to Davao wasn't good enough to even just meet and greet each family. Not to mention that our short stay was loaded with touristy schedz.. It has been ten years ago since we last visited Davao.

Most of them settled in Panabo, about an hour ride from Davao City. But we only managed to visit 3 of the countless ( don't know the exact nos.) families tying to our lineage. Even the kids weren't available as it was a regular school day.

cuzin Sylv & her vintage gigantic tv, don't ya think she likes things big? :)))

hold it !!! look mouths are all full !!!

Yet, three families would equal to three houses to visit and we only got a lunch break to re-bond with them. It was resolved with a get together lunch at cuzin' Sylvia's Panabo house. We actually were staying at her town house in the city.

On the table were the family's favorite :

Joey's fish kinilaw (malasigue )

Boboy's tuna in coconut cream

mutton/chevon (goat meat) stew in liver & tomato sauce (kalderetang kambing)

mutton (goat meat) kinilaw (kinilaw na kambing)

We also had lumpiang ubod (vegetable rolls) with peanut sauce. It was pretty obvious same blood runs to each of us_ we all love to eat! anything! We all enjoyed those a- bit-exotic-dishes.

look, even her desktop apple monitor is huge! told ya she likes things big :)))

I luv you Davao !!!