Tags: Food Establishments, Food Preparation, Seafood
By Anna Valmero
SURIGAO CITY, SURIGAO DEL NORTE— On your next visit here, don’t miss the fresh seafood delicacies such as fresh lobsters, cuttlefish, octopus, king crabs and even the exotic and delicious curacha offered by a small eatery called Ocean Bounties Seafood Market and Restaurant.
Owner Samy Cambaya said that the business was originally centered on delivery of fresh seafood to local hotels and restaurants in Surigao City, other provinces in Mindanao, Metro Manila and some countries abroad.
However, the declining seafood export business in 2008 made him and his wife diversify into a local restaurant for additional income.
“Our advantage over other restaurants here in Surigao is that we really have the freshest seafood available at most at least three days to a week old. Our prices for cooked seafood are also lower than most restaurants here,” Cambaya said.
For over a decade now, Cambaya has a network of 21 local suppliers who are actually fishermen groups in the area.
The restaurant and seafood delivery business, which is part of Ocean Bounties Fresh and Frozen Foods Inc., buys outright the deliveries, especially bestsellers such as lobsters, curacha, and king crabs which are then stocked in chest freezers to ensure freshness.
Newly-delivered seafood such as cuttlefish, octopus, and fishes are also on display at the adjacent fresh seafood market.
This way, Cambaya said he is helping local fishermen to gain quick revenues near market prices upon delivery unlike when they have to sell the seafood on their own.
“I think the success of the restaurant is linked with the love of Filipinos for fresh seafood. This is something that tourists and returning Surigaonons on vacation are looking forward to when they arrive here,” said Cambaya.
The high influx of customers especially on weekends made him retain the business even when demand for exports started to rise in 2010. True enough, there were a couple of families dining in the area and it was past 8:30pm when we arrived. (In the province, it is common for dinnertime to start at 6pm and most businesses would have been close by 9pm.)
Seafood (fresh or cooked) is sold per 100 grams. For example, a cooked curacha and squid is sold at P40 per 110 grams, and a lobster costs P100 per 110 grams. Diners get a chance to select and weigh the seafood from the market and tell the waiter how they will be cooked. For its taste and freshness, the price was a bargain.
“The biggest delivery we recently had was a ten-kilo octopus, which was quickly sold to a local buyer,” said Cambaya. For the most part, locals are the regulars in the area but tourists also flock them based on recommendations of local tricycle drivers.
If you plan to dine in the area, I suggest that you order grilled squid and steamed lobsters sautéed in butter-garlic sauce. The sauce is surprisingly delicious and a great partner for the sweet meat of the lobster, as suggested by the waiters.
The usual waiting time is about 15 to 20 minutes depending on the cooking style preferred. Waiting is not a problem since the interiors of the restaurant are a delight to the eyes. All the walls are painted with local seafood and even the tablemats have images of marine animals.
They also sell blue marlin and tuna but if you cannot include them in your seafood buffet, order a kilo or two and have it delivered to your hotel hours before your scheduled flight, said Cambaya.
“For guests of hotels where we deliver seafood, we can make arrangements to have them delivered there instead of the guests or they can drop by at the market since we open as early as 7am.”
Before you leave the restaurant, make sure to pose with the wall paintings as your background; the waiters will be more than willing to take those snapshots.
Get more information about Ocean Bounties Seafood Market and Restaurant
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I’ve been waiting for this.. thank you so much. please do visit us again…
This is nice step of promoting business of local fisherman.