Vegging Out Episode 2: My personal journey to vegetarianism

My personal journey to vegetarianism continues and for this 2^nd episode I have chosen five places to go, they are; Sunset Sports Bar at Dusit Thani Mactan Cebu; 5 Cien Restaurant a Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort; Vegan Island Restaurant at IL Corso Mall; King Crab Capital Seafood Restaurant in Talisay City and at The Kitchen and The Bakery Café at The Reef Island Resort.

1.    Sunset Sports Bar at Dusit Thani Mactan Cebu. New sets of dishes and menus were introduced at the Sunset Sports Bar on March 15, 2023 exclusively created for the finer and discriminating taste of the Cebuano palate. Dusit’s executive Chef, Karthnik Ravi and Sunset Sports Bar Chef de cuisine Victor Leme embrace the local food culture by sourcing out ingredients from the various local markets in the island.

The new sets of menus are exclusively created for the finer and discriminating taste of the Cebuano palate. Dusit’s executive Chef, Karthnik Ravi and Sunset Sports Bar Chef de cuisine Victor Leme embrace the local food culture by sourcing out ingredients from the various local markets in the island.

“We would like to serve dishes that embrace the local distinct taste of Cebu, though inspired from the various known foreign cuisine, even with our sauces and chilis, we are discovering new lines of local ingredients including fish and vegetables, to support the local produce,” Chef Ravi told this writer.

According to Chef Ravi and Chef Victor, they are creating signature dishes for the Sunset Sports Bar that are distinct menus for individual taste of diners and hotel guests both domestic and international.

“They’ll experience the local ingredients, putting them into a unique kind of flavor from the local market highlighting the best ingredients of Cebu.  This is just the beginning.  Our goal is to create all new menus of more than 30 dishes with the kitchen still open during sunset and beyond,” Chef Ravi added.

Sunset Sports Bar new dishes. Each dish is entirely and completely different with local and foreign influence.  The Sunset Sports Bar menu is composed of seven parts /categories namely:

Jewels of Cebu. Torched Goat Cheese with local honey from Taboan Public Market; Tuna Nikkie with yellow fin tuna from north island; Pulled Pork Bao Buns with Cebu Mango; and Caesar Chicken with lettuce from Busay province.

 Poke District. Spicy Ahi, Crazy Salmon and Shrimp Dynamite

From the Fryer.  Crispy Mac & Cheese, New Fashioned Calamari, Factory Nachos and Spicy Chicken Wings & Hummus.

Met and the Bread Event. The Sunset Signature, The Retro Burger, The Beet Burger, The Gangnam, Chicken Burger, and Sunset Hotdog.

Cheerful Grills and Mains. Lamb Chops, Catch of the Day, Black Magic Steak, Delicious Ribs, Strictly Vegan.

Side Dishes. Mix Salad, Garlic Rice, Potato Wedges, Steamed Edamame, Truffle Parmesan Fries.

Final Destination. Sunset Signature Halo-Halo, Cookie Lava, Cro-Nuts, Banana Fritters.

A combination of tastes explodes in my mouth as I tasted some of the new dishes from each category.  Come join me as I indulged and engaged my palate with these amazing new Seafood dishes:

1.    The Ceveche Tuna Nikkie with yellow fin tuna sourced out from the north island with Ponzu drizzle, chukka wakame, leche de tiger with fresh Cebuano yellow mango. The taste is similar to our local kinilaw but with all the wonderful mixes of ingredients, it is simply delicious!

2. The Crazy Salmon is my favorite, with the mixture of Tasmanian Salmon, tempura flakes, crabsticks, purple cabbage, Japanese mayo, sesame seeds, tobiko, cucumber and nori. This is really crazy, indeed!

3.    The Crispy Mac & Cheese just melts in my mouth with creamy tomato sauce, basil oil, grated pecorino cheese and mozzarella cheese.

4.   The Factory Nachos, crispy mix of various ingredients that explodes in the mouth with pulled beef ragout, sour cream, pickle onion, fresh jalopena, cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, chili onion and guacamole.

5.    The Sunset Signature angus beef burger patty, squid ink burger buns, soft shell crab tempura, cheddar cheese, garlic aioli, and Asiatic coleslaw.

6.    The Beet Burger is vegan with beetroot chickpea patty, feta cheese, garlic mayo, lettuce and picked cabbage.

7. Strictly Vegan with beetroot hummus, quinoa, frilled seasonal vegetables, cous-cous, dried kale, and spinach tempura.

8.    The Sunset Signature Halo-Halo served in fresh coconut and ripened jackfruit

9.    Cookie Lava. Cookie dough lava, salted caramel sauce and espresso ice cream.

I didn’t know what hit me with those taste explosions. Simply indescribable gastronomic experience!