Seafood in a basket

A visit to Davao is not complete if I do not spoil myself with a meal at Ahfat. Many a Davaoeño friend has teasingly called me “poet lauriat” and “marathon man on the table” in this restaurant having hovered on the thin line between "gourmandism" and excess here. Blame it on the finest pata tim, a delightful garlic chicken, a uniquely steamed and delicate-fleshed fish called pigik, garlic steamed slipper lobsters, and a tasty green seafood soup which are just some of the specials that people keep coming back and lining up for.

Recently, I got news from the three Ang scions that now help out in the family business namely, Philip, Michael and Peter, that they were opening their third outlet (amazingly beside the two others in the Victoria Plaza Complex) and they were going to open for breakfast and serve dim sum.

In my two breakfast visits there, I paid attention to their congee because Davaoeños are very particular about their rice porridge even with popular institutions such as Dencio’s. The two congee variations I had were made of a very tasty stock base hinting of dried seafood and aromatic vegetables like leeks and onions. The bola-bola congee had nice firm meatballs, while the seafood congee contained pieces of pristine and accurately cooked morsels of seafood.

Their standard pork siomai had a firm, solid texture hinting of chopped, not ground, meat which most mushy siomai have. Their shrimp dumplings’ fried and crisp outer wrapper is a thicker wrapper that absorbs less oil and maintains its crunch even as the temperature goes down.

Other recommended fried items are the shrimp cake and shrimp ball, which are both dipped in a creamy mayonnaise sauce with cubes of fruit cocktail.

Light and steamed but nevertheless quite tasty are the tender morsels of pork with black bean (a classic standard in many dim sum houses) and their variety of rice rolls or filled hofan sauced with broth.

Being a regular does have its privileges, especially when you ask any of the three brothers what’s new. On my two visits, Philip and Michael introduced me to a preview of some of their new dishes. I tried their their Korean squid, which is on the top of my list, as Philip told me of their new chefs.

The plate arrived with lightly battered squid with a light, sweetish orange glaze. This recipe works on subtleties with light flavors of chili, onion, and leek working and just building up on the palate. “Hindi nakakasawa” Philip describes.

Another dish is the elongated balls made of bacon wrapped shrimp with pork caul. This is sauced with mayonnaise and is very reminiscent of the modern Hong Kong creations. Their version of seafood on a basket had a selection of mixed seafood on a bed of stir-fried fresh straw mushrooms and asparagus on a potato string basket. The seafood and vegetables were served as innocent and pristine as possible.

On both times, I always ended the breakfast with some mango pudding done fresh everyday in small quantities and a buchi coated with peanuts called masachi.

Ahfat Restaurant III is located at the Victoria Plaza Complex in Davao City.