5-hour Quickie in Dumaguete City

Our Siquijor-Dumaguete adventure culminated in a Dumaguete food trip on our last 5 hours before heading back to Manila. We went to the mystical Siquijor for 3 days and had fun on our pawikan adventure in Apo Island for 2 days. My bad that we took Dumaguete for granted and "used" it as entry points to our destinations.

Coming from Siquijor via ferry, we walked a few meters from the port to get to the Silliman University which is one of the famous university in the province and the Philippines as well. We took some photos outside and decided not to go inside anymore for our stay in the city will be just short and sweet.

older than my Alma Mater

too bad we didn't get to see what's inside

Then we passed by the equally famous Rizal Boulevard. It was, as they say, the "baywalk" of Dumaguete except that it was way cleaner. We saw a few locals who were doing their afternoon siesta on the benches.

Rizal Boulevard

Bume-baywalk - cleaner version

After that, we went to (drum rolls please...) the Sans Rival Cafe to try their famous sansrival and sylvanas. Me and my friend tried some of their goodies and checked if what's worth taking home with us. We got 1 order of sansrival (26 pesos), 1 piece of classic sylvanas (12 pesos) and 1 piece chocolate sylvanas (15 pesos).

I don't have a sweet tooth at all but I really enjoyed the classic sylvanas more than the sansrival. It was smooth and simple and tastes great! I can't even describe it (tsss...I really can't be a food blogger). I don't like the chocolate one though. The sansrival was ok - not a fun of nuts. I reserved two boxes of sylvanas for pasalubong (120 pesos each for 10 pieces). I wish I brought home more when I saw people at the airport with 20 boxes at least on hand.

dessert first

not a fan of nuts

lesgow classic sylvanas!

After the dessert, we went to Scooby's for merienda (weird I know). It's just two blocks away from the Sans Rival cafe. We ordered their Spaghetti with Burger meal which comes with a regular drink for 96 pesos. After tasting it, I wondered why people flocked in this fast food chain and why is it so popular? Anyone? The food tasted ordinary and I just took one bite of each. 

busy day for Scooby's

ano'ng problema teh?

it tasted very ordinary

We then went to Quezon Park after our merienda. We purposely went there to grab some free Dumaguete maps on their Tourism Office. We saw a monument of our national hero, Jose Rizal, right in front of the Tourism office. 

Pepe

Just across the street from the Quezon Park is the Cathedral of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and the belfry. There were so many people who were doing the Visita Iglesia because it was holy week at that time. And just like in the mystical island-province of Siquijor, the images inside the church were covered in deep purple cloths.

Visita Iglesia folks

ang layo ng mga belfry talaga

We took a trike (first time after the long walks we had) to Hayahay Restaurant for our lunch (after the dessert and the merienda) and paid 20 pesos for the two of us (9 pesos for each passenger is the usual rate). I failed to research for the "bestsellers" of the resto so we just picked the most appetizing ones. Sometimes it's better to trust your instincts on food matters 'coz food is subjective. Hmmm...

So we ordered Shanghai Rice with Chorizo (120 pesos) and the Sizzling Sisig (120 pesos). The Shanghai Fried Rice was so good on its own but when paired with other dishes, it failed because the tastes were so contrasting. I wished we just ordered plain rice. What I really loved was the Dumaguete Express (175 pesos). It was so divine. The coconut milk soup with tuna, shrimp, squid and other stuff with young coconut meat (buko meat) and topped with lechon kawali was the rock star! It is best with steamy hot plain rice. We stayed for almost two hours in the restaurant and thought of having a bottle or two of beers but dissed the idea after realizing that we have a flight back to Manila in just a few hours. Pero sa plane may tindang alak...

Hayahay restaurant

the view from the restaurant - while waiting for the food

Shanghai Fried Rice with Chorizo

Sizzling Sisig

Dumaguete Express - forget everything but this!

ubos!

We then took a trike to the Sidlakang Negros Village site. It's just a short ride from the Hayahay restaurant. It houses the Negros Oriental's cultural heritage that is showcased by each town and city of the province. It is a different showroom because each town has its own structure, like a house, to show all its exhibits of their natural wonders and products. It was Holy Wednesday so all the showrooms were closed. But we were allowed to roam around the village to take a peek on what's inside. And then I wished that it was open so we could have explored more.

ze village

everything was closed

Valencia

Siaton

Mabinay - "Cave Capital of the Phhilippines"

After our 5-hour quickie in Dumaguete city, we went straight to the airport and paid 40 pesos from Sidlakang Negros Village. There are shops there (inside and outside the airport) that sells hand carry-ready sylvanas from Sans Rival cafe. Even the flight attendants were buying loads of sylvanas from the stores. And when I was at the counter to check-in, I was asked if we wanted to stay on seats 1A and 1B. And then I got excited. Spell LEGROOM. 

I won some freebies on the contests - haler kaharap ko yung nagtatanong!

Check Dumaguete City accommodations here