Bigby’s Quality Food Corporation, the mother company behind a group of Cagayan de Oro-based restaurants, has just opened its latest one at the 5th Floor of SM CDO Downtown.
Dubbed “ZUBAIBAI” Seafood Restaurant, gourmands can immediately discern the link to its progenitor Boy Zugba, the group’s Kusina Bisaya “serving best Kagay-anon grilled home-cooked meals in the city” now with three branches in Cagayan de Oro, two in Cebu and one each in Iligan and Iloilo.
“However, we have long been considering having a seafood-themed restaurant since our customers who come to Boy Zugba come to mainly dine on our pork and beef dishes, and we didn’t want to confuse them with a seafood menu. So we thought of starting Zubaibai which aside from having that family relation with Boy Zugba, also references the standard Kagay-anon address to everyone with “Bai” as well as its seafood theme with “Baibai,” said Joanna Cris Lim-Yu, one of the principals behind Bigbys’ Quality Food Corp. which previously established its eponymously named flagship brand back in December 8, 1998 (now with 26 branches in the Mindanao-Visayas area including Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, Iloilo, Zamboanga, General Santos, Butuan, Ormoc, Bohol, and Tacloban).
In Bisaya, baybay is the most common term for beach, seashore, or shore.
A quick scan of its opening menu quickly brought us to their flagship Build your Own Balangay Platter, an affordably priced ensemble of your favorite seafoods in one grazing platter with two 450g crabs, 800g shrimp, 350g mussels, 350g squid, 5 pcs crispy bun (deep fried Mantou bread), a bowl of noodles and corn and potatoes on the side. You can double up your Balangay with more mussels, shrimp or squid for only P299.
You also get your choice of any of the following Balangay sauces: Garlic Butter, Sweet Chili Spice, Boy Cajun, or the specialty of the house, Zubaibai Special Sauce. It’s easy to order extra portions of the sauces of your choice for only P140 per portion. You can also order more add- ons of a cup of rice, unli rice, crispy buns, or a bowl of noodles.
While waiting for your order to arrive, you can whet your appetites with their choices of pampagana (appetizers) like Chik N’Chips, Chicken Lumpia, Chickcharon, or Calamares.
During Gardy’s birthday some days ago, we celebrated with a sumptuous lunch and here’s some of Zubaibai’s pampaganas we sampled:
- Sabaw! That’s seafood soup with hints of tamarind, lemongrass, tomato and spices with just the right amount of sourness that’s served straight from the pot by their food server!
- Mangga’t Kinilaw pairs two beloved Pinoy faves in one Kagay-anon dish! Contrast the spicy tanginess of raw fish cooked in coconut vinegar with the sweetness of mangoes in season, and imagine that combustible combi coming together and exploding on your taste buds!
- Though labeled in your menu as Crispy Bun these are actually traditional Mantou bread of Northern China done in the Southern Restaurant Style: deep fried and dipped in sweetened condensed milk that goes best with Zubaibai’s Balangay.
- Crispy Serena is Zubabai’s take on the traditional Ukoy/Okoy (Filipino crispy deep-fried fritters made with glutinous rice batter, unshelled small shrimp, and various vegetables) traditionally served with vinegar-based dipping sauces.
- Baibai Inasal is another of Zubaibai’s Pampagana house specials made with grilled boneless chicken.
- Kinsahon Kawa is one of Zubaibai’s solo meals (could easily accommodate 2-3) featuring fresh mussels cooked in savory sauce and served with corn and potatoes.
On top of their esoteric menu, Zubaibai could also be considered an advocate of the Slow Food Movement, a counter culture to fast food which advocates the preservation of traditional and regional cuisine, thus as much as possible, Zubaibai sources their ingredients from local farmers to promote and help sustain local foods and age-old traditions of gastronomy and food production.
Still to come: bihod, tuna, scallops, crablets, baby squid, and lobster, coming soon!
But perhaps the biggest aspect going for Zubabai is the pedigree of the people behind it.
The Back Story
On December 8, 1998, fresh graduates from the pioneer class of the Center for Culinary Arts (CCA) in Manila introduced the first truly intercontinental menu to Cagayan de Oro along Archbishop Hayes street, in an area known as Havelano Square.
The baby of couple Henrik Kelly Yu and Joanna Cris Lim-Yu, and their BFF Catherine Genabe-Gudito, Bigby’s Café and Restaurant (better known as plain Bigby’s) brought international cuisine to the then sleepy town of Cagayan de Oro.
Back in 1998, Cagayan de Oro had no upscale restaurant with an intercontinental culinary tradition to speak of, and the three partners were determined to change that. They were drawn to the idea of serving a variety of internationally famous cuisines with big servings at value for money prices.
“The concept is still travel, one of our passions is traveling outside the country to experience foreign dishes and bring them back to our shores,” said Henrik, better known to his friends as Doy .
The menu, design and service style were created to bridge the gap between fine dining and fast-casual dining which has become the hallmark of the Bigby’s Cafe Restaurant system, which has now grown to 26 branches in the Mindanao-Visayas area including Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, Iloilo, Zamboanga, General Santos, Butuan, Ormoc, Bohol, and Tacloban.
With their slogan More Flavors to Your World, Bigby’s expanded the local restaurant market to families, young urban professionals and businessmen with its “fun dining” ambience with wittingly named dishes and trademark “global” mementos.
Bigby’s Café has become an institution as a destination for good food and excellent service. It has been crowned Grand Champion in the Philippines’ longest running culinary competition, the Cagayan de Oro Hotel & Restaurant’s Kumbira in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Furthermore, its marketing efforts and business accomplishments have been recognized by various institutions such as the Ayala Malls Group, SM Malls, The Go Negosyo Team (Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship), and the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Foundation, Inc. (Oro Chamber) which cited it as the Most Outstanding Business Enterprise Award.
With the success of Bigby’s, many soon followed, among them: Missy Bon Bon, Boy Zugba, Raki-Yata Ramen, and now Zubaibai. Come on up today to the 5th floor of SM CDO Downtown to see and taste what the excitement is all about!
