Before fast-food chains sprouted ubiquitously like mushrooms in every part of the country, there are these local restaurants, which your family visits during Sundays after attending mass, where you dine together for lunch. Yummy in Davao City is one of these restaurants that probably will remind every Davaoeños of their wonderful childhood.
Yummy opened in 1988 as a place for comfort food like burgers, fried chicken, and pasta. The place served as a hub for families in Davao City to enjoy good and yummy food. In 1997, from CM Recto, they moved to Torres and continued to serve meals that bring delight to a kid who got a high score on tests. Everything was Yummy until 2000 when the owners decided to open Alor’s Home Kitchen as an addition and to accommodate catering services.
It was named after the person who opened Yummy, Alor Despabiladeras, mother of siblings James and Diana, who currently manage the restaurant/catering services. We were able to interview Diana on our visit and she willingly sat down to share her experiences growing up with everyone in their family inclined on food business.
Diana Despabiladeras-Chua Chui Hian, prior to managing Yummy, was a Project Manager in a BPO company but the passion for cooking and food business that she inherited from her mom Alor was her inspiration in taking classes during weekends. She even took Pastry Arts at International School for Culinary Arts and Hotel Management (ISCAHM).
She also shared that up to now, together with her mom, they still collaborate to come up new food to offer and giving new touch to Yummy’s old favorites. They even do travel together to get ideas on how they can perfect their menu for their customers. “Here we only serve YUMMY food,” she added.
The entire place is also a great venue for friends and families to enjoy delicious meals over some tête-à-tête. The non-uniformity of chairs and tables make the restaurant quirkier as well as the uniquely installed chandeliers. The mishmash of blue and pink colors brings both warm and cool mood to the place. I also noticed the frames on the walls having some inspirational quotes to ponder on.
On our visit, we were able to sample a buffet spread prepared by Alor’s Home Kitchen letting us taste their Chicken Teriyaki, Korean Beef Stew, Baked Clams, Lasagna, and Oven Crisp Pork Belly. Praises went for the teriyaki and the crunchy pork belly. Diana also set-up an appetizer and dessert buffet where she showed her techniques by preparing her versions of Strawberry Shortcake, Fruity Fluff, Chocopology, Golden Rolls, Prawns Wrapped in Minced Pork, and Chicken Ring Bites.
Inside the café is a chiller where you can pick numerous desserts that you can munch in the restaurant or take home along with you. After the sumptuous meal, we had a tea time and were able to try the Durian Brazo de Mercedes, Rainbow Cake, and Sansrivanas, fusion of two favorites, Sansrival and Silvanas.
I didn’t grow up in Davao City so I can’t attest to how a person will recollect his happy childhood days by dining in Yummy/Alor’s Kitchen. But the smiles and sparkles in the eyes of the Davao people we were with during the gustatory experience answer it all and prove that the restaurant is indeed an institution in the food business scene of the city.
YUMMY / ALOR’S HOME KITCHEN
F. Torres St, Poblacion District, Davao City
Contact No.: +6382-222-5599
Open from 9:00 am – 9:00 pm
This was part of the Davao Food Appreciation Tour 2015 organized by the Davao Bloggers Society. DFAT 2015 was powered by SMART Communications, sponsored by Visit Davao FUN Sale courtesy of DOT Region XI and Bonamine, Fujifilm Philippines, Team Instax, San Miguel Brewery, Out of Town Blogs, My Skin Origins, and Go Viajero Transport Services.
Special thanks to Air Asia for flying us to Davao from Cebu. For domestic and international flights, visit their website at http://www.airasia.com/ph. For more DFAT posts, click here.
