r/CebuRestaurantReviews

Bascon Cakes

📍Beside Paradise Village, Banilad

Given that it was my first time ordering from Bascon, I'm quite disappointed :(

We ordered their Whole Red Velvet Cake (8 inches). Unfortunately, the cake itself was so dry. The icing tasted overwhelmingly sweet that we had to remove most of it. Also we could feel the sugar grains in the icing which means it didn’t fully melt. ⭐️

Service - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Price (₱875) - ⭐️⭐️

Location - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Willingness to comeback - ⭐️

I won’t consider buying from this cake shop for now…

Kaayoo the Filipino Kitchen - Streetscape
📍2nd floor, Streetscape mall,  Paseo Saturnino, Banilad,  Cebu City
🕐 7am-12mn
MOP: cash, Gcash, card
Parking: naa sa Streetscape mismo

Reservations: Best to make a reservation here since they have a lot of reservations daan. We walked in and got lucky that there was still one table available, though they did warn us that we had to bill out at around 7:45PM since there was already a reservation at that time (we got in at around 6PM).

What we ordered:
🍛 Crispy Pork Kare-Kare (₱395): served with peanut sauce, veggies and greens. Sayon rame-chew ang pork, ok ang taste when you mix both the pork and sauce, but di kayo crispy ang skin. My only gripe was gamay ra ang pork as compared sa veggies ⭐️⭐️⭐️
 
🍛 Bakareta (baka caldereta) (₱410): Meat was not very tender. A bit more on the sharp side. Nag-overpower ang tomato sauce over everything else, and while there was cheese to temper that acidity, di gihapon kayo balanced ang dish. ⭐️⭐️

🍛 Fresh lumpia (₱355): Puno kayo ang sulod, lots of veggies stuffed gyud and dako ang serving. Lami sad ang sauce. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🍛 Native chicken tinola (₱499): They pour the soup in front of you. Daghang ingredients, tender ang chicken, flavorful ang broth. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🍛 Bam-i (Guisado) (₱495): very generous serving and lami ang timpla. Even if lami siya, we were not able to finish it (6 mi kabuok) kay dako ang serving. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🍹Fruit juices (₱250 for apple, orange, orange and ginger, ₱100 for calamansi): they are literally unsweetened fruit juices. I really appreciate that since some restos would use the powdered versions. Here, though, you just get the natural sweetness of the fruit and not much else. Interestingly, it was the orange ginger juice that came with a free syrup. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

🖊️Wa ko kakaon sa the following so I really can't rate it:
- Pampano (steamed) (₱599): this was for my dad, so I gave it entirely to him; he said lami ra daw
- Fried Lumpia (₱385): layo man sa ako so wa ko katilaw. In fairness, daghan siya. Nahurot man so I think lami ra.

Others to take note of:

🖊️Rice is priced in cups (₱50/cup). It was only the bakareta that had rice in it, the rest you'll have to order for rice pa.
🖊️ Naa'y corkage of ₱500 ang cake and wine (since they also sell both)
🖊️** Service: Service was quick and the staff were attentive. They told us the food would be served after 40 minutes, but the first tranche of food started coming in after ~20 minutes man. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🖊️ Pricin**g: More expensive than Bayanihan or Chikaan, but not as expensive as Manam or Fina. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
🖊️Aesthetic: very instagrammable. vintage decor + industrial finishes + warm lighting make for a good backdrop sa imong IG post.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🖊️ I read that Kaayoo sources ingredients from local farmers and fishermen to ensure Filipino livelihood, so kudos to them.

Verdict: Mostly hit ang food, though naa'y occasional misses. Service and ambience is really good. This is a place you go to for special occasions.

📍 Yayoi, SM Jmall, A.S Fortuna, Mandaue

Food - ⭐⭐⭐½

First off, the set I ordered which was the Chicken Namban Teishoku, one of the restaurant’s bestsellers. It was actually almost perfect at 4.5 out of 5 😋. I’d have given it a perfect score if only the breading was slightly thinner, but other than that it was surprisingly delicious.

The set meal came complete with the Main Chicken, a salad with sesame dressing, potato salad, Miso soup and rice. The chicken was juicy and cooked perfectly. In my opinion the sauce leveled up the entire dish. Great flavor without being too heavy or thick. I’d definitely come back to order this again!

But the reason I scored the food 3.5 overall was because of how disappointed I was with my partner’s orders. I forgot the exact name of the dish but it was a Beef set meal (Teishoku). It looked appealing but once I bit into it, both the flavor and texture of the beef dish felt underwhelming. In terms of seasoning it felt like it leaned to a more Chinese inspired flavor rather than a Japanese dish. Furthermore, the beef felt a bit tough. Not too tough that you’re unable to chew and not enjoy it but the kind of tough that you can notice but don’t really mind.

Service - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ You order via an iPad placed in each table and as soon as you confirm it automatically gets sent to the kitchen. The staff are also happy to assist you if you have any questions or concerns related to ordering. I felt at ease with their service.

Ambiance - ⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s clean and new, but nothing out of the ordinary for a modern Japanese restaurant.

Location - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Accessible and easy to find within 📍Jmall

Price - ⭐⭐⭐½

The pictures in the menu don’t do the food justice! Initially I was hesitant to eat here because it seemed so pricy at around P400-P600 per Teishoku. The branding of the store didn’t justify the price either but as soon as the food arrived I was shocked to see that the portions were quite big! As someone who has a big appetite, I felt really full.

Overall - ⭐⭐⭐½

To summarize, the restaurant shows promise. I’d come back and want to order the same Chicken Nanban Teishoku.

But before I can give it a higher rating, I’d want to try and see if the other dishes or even just the best sellers can be on the same level as the Chicken Nanban.

Location: Near Fully Booked and CASIO, opposite MANGO, next to Hawker Chan.

Noukou Kotteri - 455

Mango Kani Salad - 205

Plus service charge.

Ramen is 4/5 good flavorful broth, no seasonings necessary.

Salad is 3½/5 good for light bites between sips of the heavy ramen.

Service 3/5 - food was not presented in correct orientation (seaweed away from me). No greeting like "good afternoon" or "enjoy your food". Very mechanical service (replaceable with robots which will happen in a decade!)

Price is a bit on the expensive side. Not your everyday fare.

Ambiance is alright. Clean place.

Glad I got to have this again as it's been a while. Hope the collagen makes my skin better hahaha joke 🤣