I’m doing a month-long series on my Cebu Food Trip last year. Today, I’m writing on the amazing seafood of Cebu.

Because Cebu is an island and Cebu City, its capital, is beside the sea, it would be a sacrilege to miss out on fresh seafood in any true Cebu food trip. So I’m launching a 2-part mini-series (it’s an inception of series!) on my seafood experiences in Cebu. Here’s the first 2:

SUTUKIL AT STK TA BAY! AT PAOLITO’S SEAFOOD HOUSE

SuTuKil (also shortened as STK) refers to any fish cooked in 3 ways: Sugba (grilled), Tula or Tuwa (stew), and Kilaw (raw seafood bathed in vinegar). It’s a common way of preparing fish in Central Visayas. SuTuKil places are abundant in the island of Cebu, and it is said that the best ones are found in Mactan Island. But in Cebu City, one of the best spots is STK ta Bay! at Paolito’s Seafood House. (The name is a mouthful so I’ll refer to it as Paolito’s from now on.)

Started by Jerry Alcover and run by his family, Paolito’s is one of the best Filipino restaurants in the city. It’s located in the ground floor of the Alcover house and has homey interiors.

The Alcover family are into antiques, paintings, and religious ornaments, which are displayed all throughout the restaurant:

Paolito’s has been visited by a lot of celebrities and politicians, as seen in their photo wall:

While there are many Filipino dishes in Paolito’s, I only tried their SuTuKil. You can choose your fish, in which lapu-lapu (a kind of grouper) and tanigue or tangigue (a kind of mackerel) are some of the options. The prices (per kilogram) vary per fish. I chose the tanigue since it’s good when grilled. It costed me P1,140 for 1.2 kilos.

The sugba portion of my fish has a nice firmness. The kilaw is not too sour as I expected and has a crunch and slight sweetness coming from the onions and tomatoes. Interestingly, the kilaw has no chillies (in other parts of the country, a kinilaw normally has).

Sinugbang (Grilled) Tanigue — *Sinugbang* (Grilled) *Tanigue*

Kinilaw na Tanigue — *Kinilaw* na *Tanigue*

My favorite is the stew. It has generous chunks of nicely firm fish, swimming (figuratively! LOL) with onions and tomatoes in a light, comforting broth. It also has kangkong (water spinach), which adds a nice leafiness (and a feeling of healthiness!) to the dish.

Main Branch: 6 Orchid St., Capitol Site, Cebu City | Operating Hours: Daily, 9AM-3PM & 5PM-10PM | Facebook | Website

Paluto-All-You-Can at Isla Sugbu Seafood City

If you want a break from traditional fare, then head over to Isla Sugbu Seafood City for their paluto-all-you-can (paluto simply means “to have it cooked”). For an affordable price of P797 (lunch) or P848 (dinner), you can choose your seafood and the way it’s prepared. (The prices are their promo rates until March 31, 2020. After that, the price will be P1,200).

You can also choose premium items, such as crustaceans (including mantis shrimp!), for an additional fee. But I didn’t avail this. I’m allergic to crustaceans anyway.

So how do you begin? First, you will choose your desired seafood from the “market” section (I’m not sure what they call that part of the restaurant). Then you will select the way they are to be prepared. A waiter will accompany you to make the experience easier. If you’re not sure how you want your seafood to be prepared, you can always ask the waiter and he will gladly make his recommendations.

The waiters will tell you that every dish is good for only one person. But in reality, the portions are generous and can be good for 2 people. This is important to note because you might be tempted to over-order and not finish your food. Leftovers will be charged a whopping P1450!

Before I proceed with the food that I tried, let me just voice out some concerns. While it’s true that Isla Sugbu offers paluto-all-you-can, the paluto options are limited, at least in my experience. I asked if I can get a squid and have it grilled. But it’s not among the options so I was offered to have it cooked in another way (or maybe they just have baby squid). Can someone verify this? I forgot to ask the staff if this were so. Also, I noticed that some of the common seafood, like tanigue and tuna, are missing.

The Fish Selection (all are unfamiliar to me)

Nonetheless, I’m satisfied with my limited options. I ate a lot in my visit and seem to forgot that the dishes were good for more than one person. LOL. Here are my favorite dishes:

Baked Oysters: The oysters come straight from the aquarium so no need to worry about its freshness. I had mine baked. It has the perfect amount of butter and cheese. It’s nicely garlicky, too.

Deep Fried Octopus: I’m used to calamari. But octopus? I can’t believe that it can so good. It was covered in a thin crisp batter.

Pampano with Tausi Beans (Fermented Black Beans): This fish has a light and clean taste and a tender flesh. The tausi paste and soy broth is salty, calling for extra rice!

Together with excellent staff service, my visit to Isla Sugbu Seafood City was a pleasant experience.

Address: G/F Grand Convention Center Cebu, Archbishop Reyes Ave., Lahug, Cebu City | Operating Hours: Daily, 11AM-2PM & 6PM-10PM | Facebook

Take note that Isla Sugbu Seafood City has a branch in Venice Grand Canal Mall in McKinley Hill, Taguig City. So you don’t have to travel all the way to Cebu to experience paluto-all-you-can!

I highly recommend that you visit both Paolito’s and Isla Sugbu on your next Cebu vacation. What other seafood spots should I try in Cebu City? Comment them below!

PS On Thursday, I will be posting on linarang (a Visayan fish stew) and bakasi (reef eels!).

Other entries in the Cebu Food Trip series: Trying the Local Dishes of the Queen City of the South | The Search for the Best Cebu Lechon

Cebu Food Trip: The Ultimate Seafood Experience Part 1 (SuTuKil and Paluto-All-You-Can)

SUTUKIL AT STK TA BAY! AT PAOLITO’S SEAFOOD HOUSE

Paluto-All-You-Can at Isla Sugbu Seafood City