Buda's Pilgrim Restaurant Shines!

At close to 4,000 feet above sea level, the boundary of Davao City and Bukidnon Province, Buda, Marilog, is a favorite getaway to the Davaoeños because of its fresh and cool mountain air.  It definitely should be in your travel checklist if you're going to Davao.

Buda is about 70 kilometers from Davao City proper so that would probably take about 1.5 hour-long road trip. To Davaoeños, Buda is like our Mindanao's version of Tagaytay and 2021 has seen a lot of growth in terms of resorts and restaurants in the area and is also growing in population and in commerce.

Pilgrim restaurant just newly opened their doors this week and we were invited by Chef Jeramie Go, one of Roy's childhood friend. Since it is Sunday which is our family day, it is already our custom to go hunt for new restaurants and new eats, so armed with pillows, my menthol rubs and a hungry tummy, we set out to Pilgrim, Buda Marilog.

The trip to Buda was like an ordinary day for me. But I was pleasantly surprised that there was a lot of promise in the place. At the time of this writing, it was booming with construction of new resorts and restaurants. I did not really expect anything but I am excited to see Jeramie, his wife and their new venture!

I'm a foodie and a pastry chef and I don't usually give out compliments if the food is not that spectacular. And I don't brag about it in my website or in my social pages either. I reserve these bragging moments and content to those that deserve it. And Pilgrim Resto does.

From their branding, to their open kitchen restaurant concept, to the restaurant's industrial/nature look, to the "short-listed" menu. It all just came together in perfect unison.

Pilgrim : A Family Enterprise

They say food tastes better when you eat it with your family but there should be a precedent to that quote. A family that cooks together makes the food taste a million times better when shared because it was already, initially made with love.

The Go family is a great testament to that. Chef Jeramie Go and his two sons are in the kitchen, with Chef firing away orders. His lovely and beautiful wife, Kristine, who I was pleasantly surprised because she still remembers me and my son Bookie, does the service and front of house. Their other son is the barista and yes, the coffee.. let's start with the coffee.

I ordered a Flat White coffee because my son knows something about coffee that I didn't and he recommend I have it. I don't know a lot about coffee but I know good coffee. And this Flat White is sooo good!

I loved it! It's strong but not flat out "mapait" or bitter. Saraaaap masyado! Parang sa coffee pa lang busog na mata ko.

The menu lineup was really, really good. I mean, really good. Something that might really pique Davaoenos' taste buds. Yung bang sa menu pa lang, hindi mo na alam kung ano ang pipiliin mo. Parang kasarap lahat.

But then again we wanted to taste as much as we could eat so we each chose a different item.

The best flat bread and hummus I ever tasted. Period.

I love my breads so I wanted to try out this raspberry scones in the menu and IT WAS DELISH! Just I remembered it when I had this in the states and it was even much better because of the BUTTER. The butter they used was really butter,not margarine, but real, creamy butter.

The mains. So we ordered Braised Ribs for Roy, Big brunch breakfast for Bookie, Gnocchi for Bluey, Bolognese Pasta for Jaden, and Piri piri Chicken for me.

EVERYTHING WAS EXCEPTIONAL! And the serving was really big so we ended up having a lot on our plate.

I know you're probably drooling at the pictures but hey, if you're going to go to Pilgrim, you need to come HUNGRY!

HOW TO GET THERE

I hope this map is correct but there is a road in front of The Mohicans mexican restaurant and you need to go down that road until you reach the end.

Oh and do make reservations first at their Facebook page here so you will have your table ready when you get there.

If you're going to Buda, add Pilgrim Restaurant to your travel checklist!

Thanks and please don't forget to let me know if ever you visited Pilgrim!