Category: Davao Eats Experience

Your visit to Davao City won’t be complete if you’re not able to navigate the streets of Bankerohan Public Market. It’s situated in Marfori Street, Barangay, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur. Aside from dry and wet market, from fruit stands to pasalubongs, eateries are located at its center.

If you remember the commercial with a tagline “San makakarating ang beynte pesos mo?” or “Where can your twenty pesos go?” The answer is ofcourse in Bankerohan Public Market. With twenty pesos (PhP20), you can buy a cup of hot chocolate or opt to add PhP3 for a milky chocolate (PhP23). It’s pure chocolate so add a teaspoon of your choice sugar – white or brown.

Pair your “mainit na tsokolate” with puto maya, a purple sticky rice for only PhP12 (twelve pesos). It’s like suman but not sweet. Get a spoonful of puto maya and dip it on Tsokolate or pour in the hot chocolate on the puto to make it sweet – It’s how locals eat it.

Another soup dish to add on your list is the Mami noodle soup with Pork Bones for only PhP65 (Sixty five pesos). You would really get your hands dirty with this soup as you need to hold the Pork Bones (two pieces) for a bite while sipping the oily broth and firm noodles. Don’t forget to bring your cholesterol meds for this.

Bangkerohan Public Market is where you can also buy the cheapest fruits as per the locals. The guide in Museo Dabawenyo advised us to buy here for Pasalubongs. Just go to the innermost part of the public market and get to choose the fruits you want.

Note that they don’t have free taste for Class A Suha or the Menzi Brand. We’re also unable to taste the Durian because we need to buy the whole fruit and not just a piece of it. If you consider buying one, choose the “Puyat” and “Arancillo” Durian Variants as the smell is way tolerable than others.

Have you visited this public market?

A good friend of mine recommended Marina Tuna Restaurant-  one among the “best” that serves seafood dishes in Davao City that’s why we included this in our list of restaurants to visit once we set food in Davao City.

The branch that we tried is in Quimpo Blvd., Sandawa Plaza, Matina. There are other establishments on the area including the Yellow Fin that I really wanted to try but unable to do so due to my stomach limitation. Oh well, so here’s what we ordered.

An order of Adobong Bihod, as suggested by the waiter, together with Tuna Belly with Honey Sauce, Avocado shake and Baked Scallops.

“Bihod” is the fish’s eggs cooked in soy sauce and vinegar. I honestly don’t like the taste because there’s this bitterness left on my tongue that I can’t remove right away. Good thing there’s the avocado shake. We’re unable to finish the serving because the taste is not familiar – It’s not burnt but somehow the bitter-taste part is not easy to like for a price of PhP287 (Two hundred and eighty-seven pesos).

The baked scallops serving on the other hand is small and very dry. I tried other baked scallops in Manila and I preferred buttery, cheesy and a bit moisturized. The order we received were dry, no butter taste and less cheese which costed PhP325 (Three hundred and twenty-five pesos). Pricey for me – you can tell by the photo what I meant. Nine pieces of small scallops.

Last but definitely not the least, fried Tuna Belly with Honey Sauce. This is the only dish I liked compared to the other two dishes I mentioned earlier. We paid PhP780 (Seven hundred and eighty pesos) with small portion of serving. It’s like a dozen or less tuna belly cubes. The saltiness of the fish complements the sweetness of the honey sauce so it plays your taste buds.

Final verdict? I’m not recommending this restaurant if you very tight budget – all were a bit pricey for me. If you want other seafood dishes, better try the Roxas night market or other restaurants that offer almost the same dishes. 

My taste test on Marina Tuna doesn’t generalize other dishes they’re offering. I’m just limited to what we had during our Davao City visit. Maybe these are the only ones that got me not so excited. If time and opportunity permits, I would love to try other dishes on their menu but for now, I’m hesitating to spend again on their food.

Here’s the Marina Tuna Menu for your reference: