Cebu: An Urban Dining Experience (part 3)

(This is the Bigby’s Titanic. Truly a titanic dessert!)

Cebu is a particularly striking city for its urban landscape that nonetheless retains its provincial charm. Having lived in the city, or close to it, for almost all my life, I remarked to a friend that Cebu felt like a quieter Quezon City or a suburb. As I went around the city, I was struck at the presence of many structures that signaled its highly urbanized character, but with a laidback calm so associated with a provincial town.

One of the urban sights that have particularly impressed me was the Terraces of the Ayala Town Center found at the city proper. Having been to the other Ayala Malls like Trinoma (North Edsa), the “Greenbelts” (Makati), and the Alabang Town Center (Alabang), the Terraces certainly did not disappoint. The planning and landscaping was just outstanding; indeed, one could remark that this part of the mall was simply world-class.

Having been attracted to the Terrace’s picturesque man-made landscape, our group of friends then decided to eat dinner there. Walking around the Terraces, we observed the layout of its establishments as we tried to narrow down our choices for a dinner out. As we whittled down our choices, we decided to go with Bigby’s, a restaurant that had its roots in Cebu.

Bigby’s was a relatively more eclectic restaurant that prided itself in its serving portions. While possessing a menu with most of its food priced at 250 pesos upwards, Bigby’s was more of a “higher-end” family restaurant. After checking their menu, I chose to sample some portions of a Caesar salad, fish done in Tuscan style, and some of their ribs.

Bigby’s salad had the usual greens plus some bacon bits, drizzled in the restaurant’s version of Caesar dressing. Their fish done in Tuscan style was dory served with a pesto and cheese topping, paired with pasta in tomato sauce. Their ribs were done barbecue style with a tinge of sweetness. Overall, I found the menu quite satisfying for their portions, though my friends had remarked that they had a much better time, and have tasted better food, at Casa Verde, something that I agreed with.

Nonetheless, we proceeded to try their famous dessert, Bigby’s Titanic. The Titanic, truly living up to its name, was a sundae consisting of thirty scoops of ice cream with fruits, cookies, cones, and wafer sticks. The Titanic was finally drizzled with liberal amounts of chocolate syrup. What was interesting was Bigby’s challenge that dared its patrons to consume the Titanic with a friend in five minutes or less in order to get it free!

Of course, feeling a bit brave, we asked their servers about the Titanic’s record. The servers then told us that in the history of their restaurant, only a patron with a friend have successfully met the challenge. With that, we saw stark reality setting in, especially after being served the Titanic. We then just decided to split this humongous dessert among ourselves; true enough, it was sufficient to satisfy about 10 people. I was particularly content just tackling the chocolate ice cream, while the others quickly disposed of the Titanic’s other contents.

We walked away from Bigby’s quite satisfied, considering our hearty meal and even heartier laughs. As we continued our exploration of Cebu and its urban charms, we partied the night away at Vudu (a bar, arguably Cebu’s finest) and K1 (a KTV bar near Vudu). Indeed, our Cebu trip revealed many charming sides of the province, and I am certainly looking forward to my next visit.

(to be continued)

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