Fooooodssssss! The basic needs of every person - whether you are a local to the place or a tourist. Choosing where to eat, is also the basic problem of everyone, whenever we get together or we visit a place as a tourist, we tend to ask ourselves this basic question and mostly very hard to answer… "Where are we going to eat?"
Most of us aren't fond of dining at a fancy restaurant, if you are a traveller or tourist, you don’t want to spend your hard earned money on fancy things while on travel. That is why food courts are the best choices of travellers, visitors and even locals in certain places like Cagayan de Oro. They tend to look for something local at a very affordable price. While in Cagayan de Oro, these local dishes of CDO are a must-try of tourists and locals alike: Sinuglaw (Kinilaw and Sinugba), Remember Me, Humba ni Aling Violy, Sikwate and Puto Maya, Chicken Barbecue, Pork Barbecue, Tinolang Manok and a lot more. The problem is, you can’t just order or find these foods in just one restaurant. So, the best choice if you want to explore the foods of Cagayan de Oro, is through Food Parks or Food Courts! In Singapore, it is called Hawker Centre. A hawker centre or cooked food centre is an open-air complex housing many stalls that sell a variety of inexpensive food.
Here in the City of Golden Friendship, a number of food parks can be found around the city with a good number of food stalls that you shouldn’t miss and they keep on expanding. So, we are listing few of the must-visit food tents while you are here in the city of golden friendship.
The Hive Food Park – As of this writing, it is the biggest food park here in the city. Located at Rosario Strip in Limketkai Center - a 1,600-square meter area with 30 to 35 establishments that sell food and beverages. It is a secured place with security guard and bomb sniff dogs on standby. Being the biggest food park in the city so far, you can find all the must-try local foods here, offering foodies a full range of local dishes from Barbecues, Rice toppings, seafoods, unli chicken wings, a wide selections of drinks and desserts at a very affordable prices!
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Photo from: The Hive Food Park CDO FB Page |
The Venue Food Park (Tent Avenue Food Park) - located at Rodelsa Circle of Paseo del Rio in Cagayan de Oro City. The first known Food Park in Cagayan de Oro City, Kagay-anon foodies were frequent at this place when it started because they also offered a wide range of selections but the place is prone to flooding and after the typhoon Vinta ravaged the place, few tenants stopped their operations and transferred to other food parks. Tent Avenue still in operation and renamed it as The Venue Food Park it still offers good foods like Grilled Tuna Belly, Grilled Tuna Panga, Pork and Chicken Barbecue, Lechon kawali meals, Burgers, Snacks, desserts and a wide selection of drinks. Now, they added RTW Bazaar and Event Venue as part of their marketing to be known as the venue for events aside from the food parks, so their new tagline is Eat, Chill, Shop and Enjoy!
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The Venue formerly The Tent Avenue |
NIA RA JUD Bees Food Arcade – Located at Uptown Gran Via, corner Regatta Blvd Pubelo de Oro Business Park, Cagayan de Oro City, they are open from 4 PM to 12 midnight daily. If you are from the Uptown area, you don’t need to join the hustle and bustle in downtown Cagayan de Oro just to enjoy foods, because there’s a cozy place for foodies in the uptown area. You’ll love the Boodle Fight Haus that will surely be enjoyed with friends and family. There are also a lot of food selections that you can choose like Grilled Tuna Belly and Panga, pork, chicken and a wide selection of skewers barbecue. Lutong bahay dishes, Sinuglaw, vegetables, rice toppings, drinks, desserts and a lot more. They also have acoustic bands everynight and the ambiance of the place is cozy, personally, this is my favorite place everytime I want to dine with family and friends. Cozy and away from the busy streets of downtown area.
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Photo by: Dave Achondo of Mindanao Goldstar Daily |
Bintana Food Park – Just in front of NIA RA JUD Food Park is another cozy foodie place called “Bintana Food Park”. Also offering almost the same with other food parks like skewers – Chicken and pork barbecue, Lechon Belly Meals, Crabs and Shrimps at Fat Crab where you can enjoy unlimited crabs for a very affordable price and a lot more selection of foods. But what we love here is the Kambingan sa Bintana, they serve a variety of kambing meals such as Adobong Kambing, Sweet n Sour, Caldereta, papaitan and so on. There’s also Beef House guaranteed meaty and delicious beef meals. Open daily from 3PM til 12 Midnight. This is also one of our favorite food park in the city because of the cozy atmosphere and food selections.
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Photo from Bintana Food Park FB Page |
Le Food Sentrale – Located at Don Apolinar Velez Street, corner Fernandez St, Cagayan de Oro City. Aside from foods, Le Food Sentrale is also a venue for drinkers. Although small, but you will find this place very accessible if you are in the city, especially in Divisoria area for a quick meal and drinks. Look for Hang Over Bar & Grill if you crave for Pork Sisig, Chicken halang-halang and pork Bopis, these are the best partners for beers. How about lechon belly, bagnet, Bulalo, Balbacua and batchoy? The selection is wide for foodies so, whenever you are in DV area, it doesn’t hurt to visit this place. If you are in for a drink or two, bring your inuman friends at Walwalan Station, they serve a variety of drinks from cold beers to hard drinks such as rhum, brandy, gin, etc.
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Photo by: Walwalan Station FB Page |
CTC StrEATS - Located inside Cagayan Town Center along Capt. Vicente Roa corner Antonio Luna Streets. It is just a small place with around 10 food stalls offering different foods. The newest food stall center in the city that offers unique and absolutely delicious local foods such as Ngohiong Stations Rice Meals, Native Lechon, Seafood Meals, Unli Chicken Wings, Pork and Chicken Barbecue, Pork Sisig Meals, Chicken Rice Meals and a lot more.
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Photo from: CTC StrEATS FB Page |
Metro Food Park – It is under construction as of this writing but will be open within this month (October 2019). The site is almost done and would probably be filled with a good number of food stalls. We cannot still write about the food they offer since they are still to open soon. They are located along CM Recto Avenue right beside Gaisano Mall Parking Lot annex. We are sure that this will be the must-visit food park in CDO soon, based on the size and the location, it will surely be the CDO Foodies destination.
There you go! Problem solved in finding where to eat. Most of the food parks we have listed here are affordable, so next time you head out to grab some foods with friends, have this list ready and your friends will surely thank you!
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