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Tuesday, December 4, 2018

1st Kagay-an Experience Tour (KEX Tour) by CDOBloggers


KEX Tour Day 1

Kagay-an Experience Tour or KEX Tour is a food and travel event hosted by CDOBloggers last November 15-17, 2018 to showcase the different homegrown delectable foods that Cagayan de Oro City can offer.

Cagayan de Oro City being the melting pot of the region, more and more local, national, and foreign owned restaurants are sprouting around the city, offering different food taste and serving style. CDO may be famous for pastel, chicharon and hamon, but there are a lot more that it can offer. That is why KEX Tour was created by CDOBloggers, to experience and promote the real taste of CDO when it comes to foods.

The first stop was at Bigby's Cafe. Bigby's Cafe is a number one homegrown restaurant in the city that was being introduced to Kagay-anons on December 8, 1998. Since then, Bigby's Cafe continue to grow and they have branches all over Mindanao and Visayas area. Its creators came up with an idea of creating an atmosphere fit for an adventure into the different cuisines of the world. The menu, the interior design and service style were created to position the concept midway between fine dining and fast-casual dining. This format has developed into the Bigby’s Café and Restaurant System.





Bigby’s Café has become an institution as a destination for good food and excellent service. It has been awarded Grand Champion in the Philippines’ longest running culinary competition, the “Kumbira”, for the years 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Bigby's Cafe Interior at SM CDO Downtown Premier branch
Photo Credit: Explorer's Channel

They have now 11 branches all over Mindanao and Visayas:

✔️Cagayan de Oro City
SM City CDO (uptown) – 0917-7087594
Centrio Mall – 0917-6773297
SM CDO Downtown Premier – 0917-7098989
✔️Cebu City
SM City Cebu – 0917-7071597
Ayala Center Cebu – 0917-7071598
Cebu I.T. Park - 0977-8472506
✔️Davao City
SM City Davao – 0932-3620100
Abreeza Mall – 0922-6083215
✔️General Santos City
Veranza Mall – 0917-3150474
✔️Butuan
Robinson's Place Butuan - 0965-2664770
✔️Iloilo Festive Walk Mall - 0939-9375935, 0917-1605036 or (033) 314-7073


The second stop of the KEX Tour was Cucina Higala, another homegrown restaurant in the city that offer Delicious Filipino Foods, they are located along Capistrano Street, Cagayan de Oro City. CDOToday Team wasn't able to join at Cucina Higala because of our schedule but we will just post some photos taken by our fellow bloggers from Explorer's Channel. Check them out:






They also visited Pane e Dolci located at 8th 21st St, Cagayan de Oro City, a pastry cafe that offers sweet dessert that will surely satisfy your sweet cravings. They are famous for their Sylvannas! Made of meringue discs filled with French buttercream and covered with crushed butter cookies, you should try this... it is heavenly and a perfect pair for coffee or tea.



The last stop on the fisrt day of KEX Tour was at Boy Zugba. Another homegrown restaurant with a unique concept. The hugot lines posted around the restaurant's wall makes you laugh and some makes you ponder. The all around vibe of the place is giving you a cool feeling, in Cagay-anon terms it is called "chuy". Boy Zugba is a good place to dine with Barkada and Family.




They mostly offers comfort foods, mostly Filipino foods and they also offers street foods but with style. So if you crave for street foods but want to be sure of its cleanliness, try it at Boy Zugba. Boy Zugba recently introduced their SOSPA - Sisig Oh, Salad Pa. Sisig with Vegetable Salad in taco.



That's one day, more to come the next day! But KEXTour participants are thankful to Odyssey Airport Express. They are the official transportation carrier of the KEX Tour participants from one stop to another for the 3-day KEX Tour event. Odyssey Airport Express has daily shuttle services from SM CDO Downtown Premier to Laguindingan Airport and vice-versa. Their kiosk and terminal is located at Ground Level of the mall fronting SM Supermarket.


Photo from CDODev.com


KEX Tour Day 2

Everyone was so excited to wake up because it is the second day of the KEX Tour and the participants are eager to check out what the second day tour can offer. First stop of the second day was at Krispy Kreme Limketkai. The participants were transported by Oddyssey van from their respective hotels to the Krispy Kreme Store in Limketkai. When they arrived, everybody was greeted with Holiglaze! as Krispy Kreme launched their 2018 Holiday Doughnuts! We have posted about this launching on our separate blogpost for Krispy Kreme HERE, check it out.

Next stop was at ChingkeeTea at Velez-Gaerlan Branch. Home to CDO’s authentic Taiwanese tea drinks. This is the hangout place of mostly Millennials in CDO. It has a cool ambiance that most millennials and young professionals love. They use only high-quality tealeaves handpicked from Taiwan, where milk tea is said to have originated. Their drinks are brewed daily, and then fuse them with thier own little sparkle to provide their customers with the best tea experience.



After sipping good tea, KEX Tour participants went uptown, where Mykarelli’s Grill prepared a sumptuous lunch for the participants. Located at Mastersons Avenue near SM City Cagayan de Oro beside Hall of Justice, Mykarelli’s Grill showcased their fiesta-themed restaurant that offers mostly Pinoy and grilled foods. But for the KEX Tour Participants, they served Bulalo, Boodle Fight Meals, Tropical Cooler and mango tapioca for dessert! Everybody loves the Boodle Fight Meals, it feels like a fiesta! A good meal to share with your barkada and family.



Photos from Explorer's Channel
Next stop for was Sam Gu-I, KEX Tour participants experience the taste of Korea with Sam Gu-I K-style Grill House. We weren't able to join this time because of time constraint but we highly recommend Sam Gu-I for an authentic Korean Restaurant in the city.



So, if you are looking for an affordable authentic Korean foods in Cagayan de Oro City, Sam Gu-I is just located in Divisoria area, Corrales Avenue in between Metrobank Corrales and Boardwalk, in-front Xavier University Gym.

You should try their korean frappes and other drinks that you will surely love... available at their Café Gui.








Next stop of the 2nd day of KEX Tour was a Dinner & Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at Seda Centrio. Stellar - A Christmas Tree Lighting Event for a cause. A formal ceremony where everybody was dressed up in dark blue, hosted by Miss Nicole Datayan. Attended by some VIP's, Seda Hotel Executives and staff, the Tree Lighting event's cause was for the benefit of the Smile Train Foundation, a nonprofit organization and charity providing corrective surgery for children with cleft lip and palate.

Check out this live video we shared on our FB Page during the event:








After the event at Seda Centrio, the KEX Tour participants went to Superstar KTV Lounge & Bar located at the Cagayan Town Center. Where everybody shaked their booty to a party!







Superstar KTV Lounge prepared an exclusive VIP room for the KEX Tour participants where everybody enjoyed the good food, drinks and every pinoy's favorite - VIDEOKE! Superstar KTV Lounge & Bar VIP Room is a consumable rate where you can enjoy an exclusive room with a state-of-the-art videoke system packed with the latest and complete videoke list of your favorite songs. They have different exciting theme party every night, so you will have an endless choice on partying.


KEX Tour Day 3

CDOToday team wasn't able to attend the Missy Bon Bon Limketkai tour because we have a prior engagement event to attend. But the rest of the KEX Tour participants enjoyed their stay at Missy Bon Bon, a hip, cozy, and relaxed world-class bread shop serving healthy, natural and freshly-made bread onsite with unique fusion interpretations of local bread products, gourmet comfort food, and famous for thier custom gelato mixes. Missy Bon Bon is also the premier pasalubong center in the city, so when in CDO, don't forget to visit Missy at Limketkai Center for your pasalubong shopping.

The last stop and the culminating event was the Bloggers Ball at SM Downtown Tower. Everybody wears formally in Rebel in Black & Gold. Food and drinks were served by Restaurant Damaso, they are located at 5th Level of SM CDO Downtown Premier. The Bloggers Ball is a celebration for the good Blogging years of the CDOBloggers and awarding of the respective blogger in the organization. The event's guest speaker is the Hon. Rufus B. Rodriguez.








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