Top 3 Best Breakfasts in Cagayan de Oro

Breakfast. An important part of one's day, especially if you want to start your day right. It is the meal of champions and it is my favorite part of the day. I like it so much that I wouldn't mind having it all again for lunch; except by then it would be called brunch.

For me, a good breakfast needs to have these essentials: fried eggs, processed meats and garlic rice. The presence of all three components would almost certainly guarantee a great start to one's day. Coffee isn't really for me so it isn't important factor, though I would rather have hot chocolate instead. Fruit juice works for me as well.

I have selected three restaurants in Cagayan de Oro whose breakfast meals I found to pass muster. I left out breakfasts buffets because it would be unfair. Hotel breakfast buffets would crowd the top places in my shortlist.

Honorable Mention. Tapsi Time.
It has the pre-requisites, plus it available all day; but their garlic rice is hit or miss for me. Sometimes it is perfect, sometimes it is too stale; and their fried eggs aren't cooked that well. It would do in a pinch if one's having the craving for some breakfast fare.

3. Chub's Diner.
Another eatery that serves breakfast all day, they have the best burger steak in the city. They even serve hot chocolate with it. This could easily be the top breakfast but the top two have something that trumps Chub's.

2. Jollibee.
The Bee has the best garlic rice among the fast food joints that serve breakfast. It goes quite well with their Breakfast Steak. Although only available during morning hours, from opening to 11:00 PM, it is worth getting up early in the morning. However, it loses the top spot because of one side dish.

1. McDonald's
Mickey Dees has the best breakfast to get up early in the morning for since they also serve it only during breakfast hours. I usually go for their Sausage Platter: garlic rice, scrambled eggs and a sausage. The Bee's garlic rice may be superior to their relatively tepid version but they have one thing that I totally love: they serve hash browns. This side goes so well with all their  breakfast meals. Their eggs may be too watery and the sausage too dry but their hash browns wins breakfast for them.

Sausage Platter plus Hash brown from McDo.

This was a close race. Chub's could have easily taken the top place had they served hash browns. Maybe I can suggest they do. There other restaurants I considered. Missy Bon Bon has a fine breakfast menu which they serve all day but falters in pricing and serving size. I've heard Greenwich has started serving their omelets again, but I've tried it yet. Chowking has a nice breakfast selection too but I don't enjoy it as much as the one served by it's sister company, the Bee.

So what do you think? Agree or disagree? What is your best breakfast in the city? Feel free to comment and share your opinion.

A Tale of Two Burger Steaks

Chub's Diner, located just across Xavier Gym, has changed the way Kagay-anons enjoy burgers. At least, the way I enjoy burgers. No longer does a burger enthusiast has to stick to the overcooked and undersized offerings of corporate fast-food chains, not when he can opt to go to Chub's Diner and order their juicy Chub's sized burgers.

Still, despite having Cagayan de Oro's best burgers, I don't go to Chub's for the burgers, but for its burger steak. Cooked the same way they do their burgers, it's juicy and huge.

Recently, the supreme overlord of all fast food restaurants in the Philippines Jollibee released an over-sized burger steak rice meal as part of its offerings. One could speculate about the timing of the release since Chub's Diner was getting traction on its own extra-sized meal offerings, but I'm giving Jollibee the benefit of the doubt since it is basically a soulless corporate entity that doesn't give a damn about the smaller players plans, especially a niche operation like Chub's. But CDOmnivore is going to pit the two in a head-to-head death-match between their respective burger steak offerings. Let us see goes out on top.

Contender 1. The Ultimate Burger Steak from Jollibee.
For the centerpiece of its "Ultimate" offering, Jollibee uses the patty from their venerable Champ burger, a third of a pound of beef set on a bed of their potato fries and topped with mushroom gravy. It has a single serving of rice and fried egg on the side. The value meal option comes with a regular drink.

Jollibee's "Ultimate" Burger Steak Value Meal (comes with a regular drink)

The Good.
It has fries! Burger steak meals always improve with some fries on the side. It is also cheaper than its opponent, it comes at 119 pesos and beats the 130 pesos of Chub's. There is a reason for this, one would be that the Bee has the advantage of the economy of scale and is able to spread a lot of the overhead for this item over a lot more units.
The Bad.
Soggy fries, the gravy is generously poured over the steak and the fries and this made it soggy. The gravy itself isn't spectacular, just some runny sauce with shredded bits of what appears to be button mushrooms. The egg is even a tad rubbery which indicates it isn't freshly cooked. When I ate at a branch for this review, the service crew was able to put it out quickly but the food just seemed to be warmed over and not freshly cooked as I would have wanted.

Contender 2. Chub's Burger Steak from Chub's Diner.
Now this is a burger steak, grilled yet still juicy enough for it to ooze when slicing through it. It comes with two eggs cooked at your option either scrambled or sunny side up and an extra-sized serving of garlic rice. It also has a tasty and thick mushroom gravy poured liberally over your steak. It comes at 130 pesos but Chub's burger steak is at least twice the size offered by the Bee. The meal comes with a drink, your choice of ice tea or hot chocolate; and I always go with the hot chocolate.

Chub's Burger Steak

The Good.
The size. Twice the burger steak size, twice the eggs and twice the rice, Chub's offering handily trashes the Bee here. The gravy features actual mushroom slices, something the Bee doesn't do with their gravy; and I will pick hot chocolate every time over the Bee's drinks choices of sugared carbonated water or too sweet powdered fruit juices.
The Bad.
It may cost eleven pesos more, but the goodness offsets the extra you have to pay. It may not come with fries but I've never particularly enjoyed the Bee's brand of coated potato slices. I don't think Chub's has anything bad when it comes to their burger steak.

The Winner.
Chub's Diner wins this one handily. I don't think the Bee had any chance when it came to this dish. Chub's has become my go-to place for burgers in CDO.  But if the Bee included garlic rice with their "Ultimate" Burger Steak, it may just have a winner. The Bee probably has the best garlic rice among all fast-food chains in the country. Too bad it only serves it during breakfast.

So, who do you think offers the best burger steak in the city?

MJ's Just Desserts: Chocoholic?! A must try dessert for everyone

A twist of oven-fresh chocolate moist cake and vanilla ice cream on top will surely tingle your taste buds and surely you will ask for more.

Chubs Diner's newly posted dessert, Smores Cake Cup, caught my attention and piqued my curiousoty on what fusion of cake of ice cream would taste or even look like. A cake in a cup, that's initial description of the dessert. But with just one scoop, surely did excite my crave for more, especially of the chocolate moist cake. Cold and creamy vanilla ice cream, with crushed Graham crackers and chocolate syrup on top, is the first layer of the excitement. The lower portion is the fresh from the oven (hot) chocolate moist cake, which is indeed the best choco moist cake I've ever tasted. It's very unique combination of hot and cold is just appropriate for the summer season and the cool and cozy atmosphere inside the diner.

Try one now and experience a new level of chocoholic experience!