Davao City is a diverse city in Mindanao. As the population grows, the culmination of different culture expands. With this, the food scene in Davao City has diversified more than ever. From local Filipinos and international people migrating, the cuisines the city has to offer has gastronomically flourished.
A lot of Asian and European centric restaurants have been sprouting here and there. One of these restaurants is Vine Restaurant who offers the beauty of Thai cuisine. Although, not at all a new restaurant in the food scene, Vines has now moved to a new location in the heart of the city.
Vines can be located at Rogen Inn Compound in Mt Apo, corner Lopez Jaena Street. Vines offers the people of Davao the best of Thai cuisine. They offer the most sought after dishes that people travel to Thailand for just to have a taste of.
They offer pad thai that is a sweet, sour and savory stir fry noodle, tom yum, a hot and sour soup in coconut milk filled with shrimp, pad kra pao which looks similar to filipino giniling varies differently with its Thai basil flavor served in hot rice with fried egg, and mango sticky rice which is a very sweet decadent dessert that Filipinos are familiar with as it tastes like biko but with mangoes.
How to Get There
Vines can be accessed via Grab, Grab car, tricycle, or personal vehicle and can be walked if you drop by at Davao Doctors Hospital. It is located inside the compound of Rogen Inn.
It is open 11:00AM to 9:00PM everyday except Monday. They accept GCash, Cash, and credit card as payment method.
The Place and The Ambiance
Vines has an industrial designed aesthetic. It is very chic and seems to be the same aesthetic as most restaurants, nowadays. It is very comfortable with low light setting. Vines offer cocktails as well so it has a nice lowkey drinking vibes into it.
It’s place can hold up to an estimated 30 pax at full capacity and has maximized their outside to seat extra two tables. They have a queueing area where you can sit to wait for a table ready for you if no reservations were made.
Their new restaurant seems to seat more people than their previous location.
The Spending
Vines restaurant seems to be a little bit on the expensive side where you can go there for a date night or if you just recently got money from payday. Their menu is also limited but can guarantee to give you an experience to Thai cuisine.
For soup and appetizers, the cost can go from P230 with their fresh pork spring rolls up to P400 for a bowl of laksa that can serve up to three people already.
Their mains can cost from P250 which is the famous pad kra pao up to P420 of their pad thai. However, Pad thai can already serve up to 2-3 people. Most of their mains are good for one pax except those that specifically indicate serving 2-3 people.
Their dessert can cost from P80 with their durian ice cream up to P210 with their delicious mango sticky rice.
They offer beverages from specialty thai drinks up to cocktails and wines.
Review
Vines has been on my food places to try in Davao for a long time. However, their original location was in the south side of Davao and I live in the North side so I wasn’t able to have a chance to visit.
When I heard they transferred to a new location, I was really excited that I did not doublecheck if they were even open at the time. It was a Monday!
Alas, when I came back from Gensan to Davao, it was the first order of business. It was not a disappointment at all as I was able to explore the many flavors of Thai cuisine.
The first time I had Thai cuisine was when my client introduced me to a Thai restaurant in CDO. However, the ones they specialized into was curry so other than that, I have not explored some of the famous dishes of Thailand apart from curries. Thai curry has three different types – the yellow, the green, and the red one.
The yellow curry has turmeric as the base ingredient which makes it yellow in color. This seems to be the curry we, Filipinos, are familiar with. The red curry has red curry paste and chili powder as main ingredients so it comes very spicy. I remember we ordered red curry with beef as the meat used and it was really delicious. It balances out the richness and fattiness of the beef. Green curry, which was the most uncommon to my palate, uses mostly cilantro, kaffir, lime leaf and basil. This uses more leafy ingredients making it green in color.
After that experience, I told myself I need to try more of Thai dishes. I’ve heard it’s one of the best cuisines that Southeast Asia can offer sparking debates on the internet against Vietnamese cuisine.
To start with, we ordered the following dishes – pad kra pao, thai shrimp cakes, fried spring rolls, pad thai chicken, thai iced tea with milk, vines bangkok sling (cocktail), mango sticky rice and coconut cream cake.
Pad Kra Pao although looking like a typical Filipino food tastes differently from a Filipino giniling. Unlike Filipino giniling with tomato paste as its base and soy sauce, the Pad Kra Pao have Thai basil and chilis as an added flavor. The serving size is good for one person with the egg fried to perfection. By perfection, I mean crispy and burnt on the side but yolky. Despite it, I give Pad Kra Pao a 5.5/10 because I personally dislike the taste of basil. It reminds me of a soapy aftertaste. It’s like when you accidentally taste soap on your lips when you wash your face. Oddly enough there’s a similar aftertaste when fried ground pork and basil combines for me.
Their Thai Shrimp cake is really delicious. If you are a person that is afraid to explore other nationalities’ cuisine, then the thai shrimp cake is a safe bet unless you are allergic to shrimp. Thai shrimp cake for me is a 9.5/10. It has the same flavor profile of Filipino’s “okoy” but instead of having that sandy and crunchy texture from okoy, the shrimp cake grounded the shrimp to perfection. It’s like eating burger patty made of shrimp.
Pad Thai is a symphony of flavors. It is sweet, savory, and sour. I was trying to explain what it tastes like but when I’m asked it reminds me of a sweet sinigang noodle. No wonder sinigang came into mind. The sourness of Pad Thai comes from tamarind or “sampaloc” in Filipino. Other than that, it’s so complex that it has peanut and bean sprout that gives a nutty and earthy flavor into it. As it is my first time to try to have pad thai, I gave it a 9/10 withholding the perfect score until I have something to compare it to. The serving size is also really generous that I ended up having take outs. Getting two more meals from the take out.
Fried spring rolls is like a typical lumpia with lots of vegetables like cabbages and julienned carrots. Personally, Filipino fried lumpia is better. I give it a 7.5/10 as it was not oily, highly crispy and not soggy and compliments well with the sauce which is a hot and sweet sauce.
For their drinks their thai tea with milk is a 6/10. I had better thai tea with richer tea flavor and was not drowned out by the milk. Their vines bangkok sling for me is a 9/10 if you aim to get buzzed. It’s really strong but rather sweet. You never know what hits you not until you’re about to empty your first glass.
Their mango sticky rice is 100% a 10/10. It’s something every Filipino palate can enjoy as it has a similar flavor profile with a biko. The difference is that it has a richer and sweeter coconut milk cream and the mango is a perfect addition that makes it more addicting. It reminds me of palitaw as well due to the sesame aftertaste. Their coconut cake is a 9/10. The cake is super soft and melts in your mouth. It’s a perfect balanced of sweetness despite a thick layer of cream-based icing with desiccated coconut. If you are a texture person, you might highly appreciate this than anyone. It’s a treat you won’t feel guilty as it is not as heavy as the mango sticky rice.
I tried to incorporate my review with a very Filipino mindset because a lot of people are afraid to taste other nationalities’ cuisines because it’s an unfamiliar territory. I hope this helps provide expectation that Thai cuisine can be as enjoyable as it’s closer to a Filipino palate than we expect it not to be.
- Payment Method: Cash, GCash, Credit Card
- Budget: P800-P1,000 for 2 pax
- Business Hours: 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM everyday except Monday (closed)
- Type: Thai Cuisines
- Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VINESbygardencafe/
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Eats Me, Jax! 