Grilled goodies and more at Davao's first Sinugba Festival

What better way to celebrate Araw ng Davao than by celebrating one of its delicacies, the sinugba?

 

Davao City opened its first ever Sinugba Festival last March 14 at Tienda de Mercado. Around 30 grill houses and restaurants from all over the city participated in this weeklong event to showcase their best grilled creations. 

Timothy Te of Mocha Productions got the idea of creating a Sinugba Festival when he realized that the festivals for tuna and durian, products which Davao City is known for, are being held elsewhere. 

 

“Davao was supposed to be the city of durian goods. How come Tagum City has the Durian Festival? And Gen San, for tuna. Davao was the Tuna Capital during the early 80s, early 90s, then GenSan became the Tuna Capital. Now they have the Tuna Festival. It got me thinking na what else is Davao known for? Davao is known for barbecue. If you're a longtime Davao resident you’ll remember Maladiva's, Colasas, Rebecca's, Tess Barbecue and all the other barbecue places that are an integral part of Davao culture and Davao's identity. Ayun, naisip ko na gawa tayo ng Sinugba Festival. Barbecue naman ang bida,” Te said.

 

It was a wonderful opportunity to see Davao institutions like Conching's and BC Chicken House share spaces and grills with hip, new grill houses like Backyard Burgers and Riley Simon. And in those 30 food stalls, you can see that the Dabawenyo’s taste for barbecue has now evolved and diversified. The classic Davao taste was still there, but now there's room for grilled delights like flamed grilled burgers, smoked ribs, Persian kebabs, and even organic isaw.

 

Most of the participating food outlets in the festival, including JJ Fernandez of Riley Simon’s Grilled Burgers and Ribs, were surprised with the turnout considering this was the first time an event of this kind was held in the city. 

 

“Surprisingly, daghan kayo nangabot sa opening. Like, nay lain lain, like mga students ug mga gikan sa office. Gwapo ang response. (Surprisingly, a lot of people came on opening night. All kinds of people came, students and office workers. The response was very good.)” 

 

In fact, it was reported that some exhibitors ran out of food on opening night because of the overwhelming number of guests.

 

Eat-All-You-Can sinugba buffet

 

The main highlight of the festival was the eat-all-you-can Sinugba buffet held last March 15, which ran from 6 to 10 p.m. Roughly a thousand people gathered to indulge in inihaw na isda, sinugbang manok, burgers, kebabs and anything else you can cook over a grill.

Like any Dabawenya, I couldn’t resist the call of eat-all-you-can sinugba. So my sister, my husband, and a few friends reserved our tickets and went to the venue early to see for ourselves this gastronomic adventure.

 

The weather was warm and windy, perfect for grilling. The delicious smells that permeated the air that day told me right off the bat that this was a carnivore’s festival. No grilled veggies here. Everything that landed on the grill that night used to have a face. Which was a good thing because the people came for their meat and seafood, and they were not disappointed.

 

Despite overwhelming numbers, crowd control issues, grilling delays, and the small venue, the event was a success. It was pretty chaotic, but for a festival that was put together in just six weeks, it went incredibly well. There were some complaints but I can honestly say that despite that, I enjoyed the festival immensely because all the exhibitors brought out amazing food.

Everything was made fresh and cooked to order, which was why the exhibitors had a hard time keeping their serving tables full. Organizers often had to call out for more food. 

 

Most of what was on the table tasted wonderful, thus the long lines. My grilled fish, squid and bagaybay (tuna fat) were cold by the time I got to my table but they still tasted awesome, testament to the freshness of the ingredients used and the grillmasters' skill. To be quite honest, I wasn’t even able to eat as much as I wanted because there were so many people there, and it's so hard to eat grilled food without eating a lot of rice.

 

The organizers hope to do this again next year, hopefully with a bigger venue and more sponsors. That's more than enough time to train my tummy for a bigger, better festival. —KG, GMA News