Alot of you may have read from different food blogs, heard and watched from shows about Bulca Chong in Davao City. A soup dish that uses Carabao Meat but unlike the Bulalong Baka from Luzon, no vegetable is used – just a plain and simple soup dish.

Bulca Chong is the name of the food establishment that only sells two dishes – Kinilaw and Bulalong Kalabaw. The store is situated in 18 General Luna St, Poblacion District, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur just a walking distance from the ApoView Hotel (where we stayed) so it’s in the heart of the City. The place has two main structure, the open space where we ate and the air-conditioned one. 

Hubby and I ordered one bowl because we just had our heavy breakfast from the hotel so just this soup with no rice is enough for the taste test. It costs around PhP165 (one hundred sixty five pesos) for a bowl order (February 2023 Price). It’s not good for sharing though and you need rice to fill in your hunger. One order comes with a small bowl of soup (sabaw) – same broth with Bulca Chong, calamansi and chili pepper (siling labuyo).

The verdict – it has distinct taste that’s far from Bulalong Baka. You can taste the ginger on the broth and the meat is so tender that it almost melts in your mouth. And since ginger is already spicy on its own, you can opt not to have chili peppers.

Will we recommend it? Definitely. Is it worth the price? Well for me it’s expensive given the small portion of serving but hubby said it’s worth the price compared to other dishes that you pay little with no distinct taste.

Eventhough it’s lunch time, the open-air space is packed with patrons savoring the hot soup on a humid morning with a bottle or two of softdrink or water.

It’s my first time to come across a unique and satisfying taste of carabao meat soup so yeah, it’s worth the experience.