Gold Mango Grill & Restaurant

This is a bit of a story/post, but if you’re from Cebu, you might want to continue reading and discover this restaurant.

While most of you in the US or in some other countries enjoy apps that could be very useful like restaurant discovery apps, we here in Cebu (or probably it’s just me) rely on good ‘ol word of mouth. Or better yet, drive and discover new places yourself.

Last Sunday, My hubby and I tried this restaurant that we pass by Agus Road, Lapu-Lapu City. If you’re coming from Imperial Palace, you turn right and probably just 100 meters away is this little restaurant – Gold Mango Grill & Restaurant.

What greets you inside is this simple but quite impressive interior. If you’re like me, dining is not just about the food. To me, it’s the experience. Therefore, the interiors, the food presentation and the service matters a lot.

You may have read about the post I did on Pocket Full of Sunshine that had this wall planter tiles I fell in love with. This is the restaurant I was talking about.

My slogan for my future (near or far-fetched?) online bridal store says “Love is in the details”. This is how I look at products or in this case, a restaurant. This little restaurant that’s about 30-45minutes from Cebu City is something that speaks of that. If you go to restaurants to just stuff yourself, then you won’t appreciate the details. This is no fine dining or fancy restaurant. It’s just a nice surprise to find something like this in the middle of all the Korean, Japanese Restaurants that seem to be everywhere in this city.

The ceiling fixtures look like custom-made wrought iron boxes that probably would look pretty at night.

I like that they have small private dining rooms for their guests. Not many restaurants in Cebu have private rooms where you can get loud or just some quiet dinner with family and friends.

You need not worry about getting up, opening the sliding door and calling the waiter since each private room has a wireless call button. I think most chinese restaurants have this.

We tried their Green Chicken Curry which was a bit spicy. I liked it but hubby isn’t a fan of spicy food but he said it was alright.

The buttered vegetables was a hit. Our four-year-old daughter declared that broccoli is her favorite vegetable of all time. We’ll see about that 🙂

The Baked Scallop had just the right amount of cheese and topped with browned garlic.

I especially enjoyed the Lechon Kawali which I think were cooked just right.Being Filipino, I just need to have this every now and then 🙂

The Crab Relleno is my husband’s favorite. It’s crab shell stuffed with crab meat and some vegetables. But this one’s got lots of real crab meat and just enough vegetables. It’s my first time to try this topped with cheese and it is good.

We had Crab Fried Rice which is a good alternative to the usual fried rice. This does not taste greasy at all.

The last time we went there, we had their chef’s vegetable salad with mango which were really good. The fillet mignon was cooked just right and the beef kebab was a delight.

They also have a selection of wine. I hear the owner is Korean but no Korean food in their menu. They do have just a few selection of food in their menu but I say this place is so much better than going to the usual restaurants in the city.

The next time you head on to the beaches in Lapu-Lapu City / Mactan, look for this little restaurant.

Note: This is no advertorial. Therefore, I didn’t get paid for writing this nor did we get a free slice of their blueberry cheesecake. But we did get good service from their staff and enjoyed dining there.