Introduction: A trip to DavNor on Saturday
Brunch at Hilaiza’s
One round at Tagum City’s E-Park
Merienda at Yuyu Cafe
A couple of weekends ago (more like over a month ago), my friend, Isa and I spent our Saturday in Panabo City and Tagum City to try out some of the local cafes.
Our plan for the day was simple, breakfast in Panabo City and then merienda and lunch in Tagum City.
For the Panabo City leg of our food trip, we decided to visit Hilaiza’s Pastry Shop. I have been to the restaurant a couple of times already for merienda or food breaks when travelling to Davao del Norte but I have never written about it.
We originally planned to have our breakfast here but we left late in the morning and ended up having brunch here instead.
For Tagum City, we wanted to visit Yuyu Cafe, a popular cafe there, and the Harry Potter-inspired Sublime Cafe.
Isa made it a point that we also get some kind of non-food activity in the itinerary. She suggested we visit the Tagum City Energy Park where we can bike for an hour. I said yes, who does not want to bike at the park?
After an hour of biking, we visited the Sublime Cafe because it was much nearer the park. We were very excited coming here because it is a Harry Potter-inspired cafe. Sadly, that excitement turned into somewhat a bit of disappointment.
We liked the effort given on the props like the wands and coats. However, we did not feel that we were transported to the world of Harry Potter. The interior was simply painted with murals of some locations in the world of Harry Potter. Then near ceiling you can find hanged flags with emblems of the four houses of Hogwarts. Posted on the walls are some quotes from the book’s characters and JK Rowling. The place was also quite hot and I find the dining area to be a bit of a mess too when we visited the cafe.
We do commend them for calling their menu as “Muggle’s Menu”. We thought that we would find something that would tell their diner that this is the kind of food you will find at cafes in the Harry Potter world. However, the only “Harry Potter” item we found when we scanned the menu was the Butter Beer, the rest are regular items that you can find in other cafes or restaurants like nachos and burgers, among others. Not that we do not want to eat them but we were looking for something different. Since we were here already, we decided to order the Butter Beer. Unfortunately, it was not available when we visited the cafe. Sad.
The concept was great but the menu and the feel of the place fell short. For the menu, they can probably include something that would tell its diners that it is from the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Maybe I can visit them again in the future.
Isa and I made our way to Yuyu Cafe, our last stop for our food trip in the two Davao del Norte cities.
I’ll write more about Hilaiza’s Pastry Shop and Yuyu Cafe in the upcoming blog posts. Most of the dishes we had at the cafes were really good and I am excited to share to you my thoughts on the food. As for Sublime Cafe, there is nothing else to write about it as I have written all my thoughts on it already.
While Davao City is becoming known as a foodie destination, its neighboring cities also have something to offer to those looking for something good to eat.
Watch the short video below to see what we did in Davao del Norte: