Davao prides itself with its internationally acclaimed and quality cacao production. Davao cacao beans are considered top-tier, even being recognized as part of the top 50 best cacao in the world in 2023. Approximately 76-80% of cacao supply in the Philippines comes from Davao, earning the title “Cacao Capital of the Philippines”.

Building on this reputation, Ethan Kyle Lim, Chief Operating Officer of Cacao de Davao, the city’s very own homegrown chocolate brand, spearheaded a series of collaboration with establishments to develop and introduce culinary creations centered on cacao products.

In celebration of the 89th Araw ng Dabaw, Cacao De Davao and IKAO Restaurant and Bar, unveiled six new cacao-based dishes on March 16, 2026. These creations add to a growing roster of culinary genius that would definitely attract food tourism in the city.

This marks the second collaboration in Cacao De Davao’s business roadmap as they plan to collaborate more establishments even extending outside Mindanao. The first collaboration is with Lamano, back in December 2025.

These initiatives not only support the local economy and farmers but also promote culinary tourism in the city.

The six new dishes unveiled are the following:

Turon Salted De Cacao

Ikao’s Turon Salted De Cacao is a modern reinterpretation of Filipino’s favorite afternoon snack. This introduces an atypical companion – their homemade cacao icecream. A lighter and easy to the palate rendition of Filipino turon where it uses paper-thin rice wrapper, fried to a perfect crisp, lightly salted, but removing the identity of the sweet and stickiness of turon. While the traditional turon is a guilty treat, this one is a much lighter and healthier version. It has a paler golden hue than the traditional street-side turon. It also removed the element of jackfruit, but where it lacks the sweetness from the jackfruit, it compensates with the sweetness and decadence of their homemade cacao ice cream. Together, it would be an easy favorite for those who enjoy a much lighter and less sweet treat.

Fried Ice Cream De Cacao

The indulgence doesn’t stop at their turon salted de cacao. They build more innovative takes from their cacao icecream. Their creamy cacao icecream is completely enveloped by a thick layer of bread and breadcrumbs providing a doughy consistency in its interior, then it is deep-fried to golden perfection. A dollop of cream cheese whipped cream adds a flavor contrast to the sweetness. Each bite comes with a surprise! Like eating a more Filipino take of chocolate rocky road, speckles of cacao nibs are evenly scattered across the icecream providing a delightful crunch, adding a contrast against the already smooth mousse-like consistency of their icecream.

Choco-Matcha Jelly

Known for bold and innovative food fusions, IKAO marries the two flavors of Japan and Filipino cacao through the yin-yang pairing of matcha and chocolate. Their choco matcha jelly is a dessert intricate enough with its pleasing visual artistry and flavor combination, exuding fine dining elegance. This dish features a deep-dark chocolate jelly that is seated next together with Cacao De Davao’s matcha-infused white chocolate jelly, melting together into pure amalgamation of decadence. The richness is balanced by a subtle hint of umami flavor from pea shoot flowers. It is then finished off with cacao powder dusts and curated with edible madness of complex artistry of a cookie.

Cacao Cheesecake Frappe

Cacao Cheesecake frappe is a playful and rich drink made perfectly for kids or kids at heart. Atop the drink sits a thick, luscious cloud of cream cheese whipped cream, dusted with crunchy cacao nib and chocolate bits that adds a chunky texture with each sip. It doesn’t shy from how playful this drink is at is crowned with a stick-o biscuit and a white chocolate button that makes it visually cute. Once you slurp and reach the bottom of the luscious cloud whipped cream, your taste bud tastes the rich chocolate milk layer. Creamy, milky yet has a very defined flavor of the chocolate.

Wabad De Cacao

Wabad De Cacao is an intense exploration of cacao in cocktail form. A whiskey-based drink, it begins with their mixologists preparing a concentration of whiskey infused with cacao beans for 2-3 days, extracting a more profound and intense depth of chocolate flavors. The cocktail is clouded with their dalgona-style foam made from dark chocolate and coffee. The drink is never short of shredded dark chocolate with each sip. This drink is reminiscent to a much-intensified Irish coffee. The sweetness, though, hits the back of your throat but immediately is taken back by a robust and warm presence of whiskey. It’s an intense flavor fitting those who enjoy bold but sweet drinks. It’s a duel of flavors between alcohol, sweetness, and caffeine and whoever wins depends on the drinker’s palate, and well, physical capacity.

Fireball Champorado

The Fireball Champorado stands as the most interactive dish among all the feature creation. It is a captivating experience in both its visuality and palatability. Despite its simplicity in its design and ingredients, it delivers a performance that demands to be seen. Inspired from the classic champorado, the dish features the typical rice porridge made out of tablea mixture, with danggit na bulad as a counterbalance to its sweetness. What makes it different is that it adds rum to the dish. A small shot of burning mixture is prepared then poured over the champorado. This technique kills the alcohol but never truly removes the depth and bitterness of the rum. This then adds a layer of complexity to the well-loved champorado dish.

These creations would not have been possible without the brilliant minds behind them. Beyond the vision of IKAO and Cacao de Davao’s management, the dishes were brought to life by the creative talents of mixologist Elmer Jan Yap and Chef Analee Alfeche, who deserves praise for delivering such thoughtful and innovative creations.

To extend IKAO’s warm hospitality during this event, they also brought out featured dishes to sample: Coco Wasabi Kinilaw (Japanese-Filipino fusion), Dinakdakan in Pani Puri (Indian-Filipino Fusion), Chicken Skin in Asin Tibuok, Chicken Tanglad, and their famous pizzas.

This collaboration is a testament to how much can be achieved when creative minds come together toward a single goal.

The featured dishes will officially be in the market soon and will be endorsed by Bite King in social media, so tune in!