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The holiday season is not over yet but I bet your tongues all numb and harassed with all the food served in this joyous time when gluttony is not a sin but a rule to be celebrated. Hooray Gluttons!

If you’ve been to more than one table this month (for sure), you must be dog-tired with the following—spaghetti, caldereta, lechon, lumpia, cakes, fruit salad and more spaghetti-pasta variations. Food is food, something that we should all be grateful for. As any typical mother would chirp to her child on the dinner table, “Finish your food, think of all the children on the streets who do not have anything to eat!” The child would then force a mouthful of lechon with a promise of hypertension and obesity in the near future. Great work, mother! But I digress.

December is a month when everyone and everything suddenly becomes generous, especially when food is concerned. It’s like we have been starving ourselves all year long so we could sit and eat all we want when Christmas and New Year’s come. Food is very fancy in presentation and oozing with flavor this time of the year and what makes food more inviting is the company to share it with. As fun as this all sounds, it would also be correct to say that during the holidays, when you’ve been to one food spread then you’ve been to all tables in the neighborhood because the food served is the same many times over (I think I’ll go buy stocks on noodles and tomato sauce next December).

This was why it was such a relief to visit Pequeňo Grill after my nth spaghetti and lechon encounter this December. No complains but I just needed to give my senses a break with a whiff of regular but sumptuous Pinoy flavor.

Some Crumbs on Directions—Catalunan Pequeno is about 30 minutes South of downtown Davao by private vehicle or 45 minutes by public transport. If you plan to take the jeep, you can ride the Mintal route which passes by Roxas and Quirino Avenues. The jeep ride costs Php15 while cabs will go as much as Php80. Pequeňo Grill is on the highway with small Christmas lights and colorful banners that glow at night.

Pequeňo Grill is a new food destination in Davao City. It rests rather far from the downtown proper in its Catalunan Pequeňo location but with the heavy traffic, panic buying and long lines in downtown Davao this December, it is such a relief to be in a quiet place (a quick mad holiday respite) that serves Pinoy treat (a rest for my harassed taste buds) .

Pequeňo Grill has four private native huts that comfortably sit four people but if you’re Pinoy, that means six. Its spacious area has wooden tables and chairs to accommodate couples on a date or a big family of 12. A table set which caught my attention was one made of old car seats and bamboo—a whimsical indigenous and industrial fusion. When I visited, they were playing reggae and world music which makes you tap your feet while you dig in to your food.

This eating destination’s specialty is fresh hito (catfish)—fried or grilled—whichever you prefer. Too bad for me because I don’t eat hito. Like many restaurants that serve hito, the fishes are placed in an aquarium until someone orders one on his plate. I don’t like the thought that a few minutes ago, they were still alive. It’s crazy because I don’t have the same mercy for live lobsters and crabs.

I was perfectly filled and happy though with my favorites at Pequeňo Grill: talong (eggplant) salad, pomelo salad, tuna belly, seafood sinigang and just because I want to, fried chicken.

Tuna Belly

I especially love the eggplant salad at Pequeňo Grill because unlike the usual sour flavor, it also has a great sweet punch too it which makes the vinegar taste inoffensive. The pomelo salad is another favorite and here in Davao City, we get generous servings at a cheap price. These two salads are place in the appetizer section of the menu which means that it should be eaten before the actual main course (rice and ulam) but for many Filipinos, and for us here in Davao City the salads can and is already a part of the main course, perfect partners to rice. Although we did not order it that night but the kinilaw sa mangga made of tuna and green mangoes is also an excellent option.

Seafood Sinigang

The seafood sinigang was served in a clay pot which sealed in the flavors and kept the soup warm during the meal. I hate it when sinigang tastes more like tinola because it’s diluted; but not in Pequeňo Grill because the sinigang is sour enough to my tongue’s delight!

The tuna belly was also cooked just right. You would know if your fish is overcooked when it becomes tough to bite on instead of a soft, juicy dig. If it’s fresh and cooked just right, the tuna will melt with only the slightest pressure from your teeth instead of a hard, tough munch.

Another thing that I love in this place is the excellent quality of rice that they serve. Unlike many restaurants that cut cost by buying cheap and poor quality rice and mix it with an expensive one, Pequeňo Grill serves great rice that will naturally make you eat and enjoy the tasty food that you ordered. The rice may not be “bottomless” but at least I know I am eating high quality rice, cooked just right—no surprise undercooked crunch or annoying burnt smell.

Talong Salad

While the food arrives at about twenty minutes after you’ve ordered them, Pequeňo Grill could use a little improvement on their service. Sometimes, the waiters don’t pay much attention when the customers call them and there are times too when the food takes longer than twenty minutes to serve. They should also forewarn the customers of what they are “out of stock” of before they let them order. Better yet, how about a day-to-day menu instead? At night, the place’s signboard as well as its immediate façade could use more lighting so that customers would be sure not to miss the place.

Buttered Chicken

With Pequeňo Grill being in its early weeks, there is much room and time to improve on these small details. They already have the most important details set: great food that delights the Pinoy tongue and an equally arousing eating environment all at a reasonable price. It won’t be much of a surprise, therefore, when Pequeňo Grill becomes the next big thing in its Southern Davao territory.

Tongue Verdict:

Food

Service

Ambience

Price