Unique Exotic Food with Modern Mexican-Filipino Interiors at Chido Cafe!

I can't recall how I stumbled upon Chido Cafe, perhaps I was looking out for new places in Tagbilaran City and found it somewhere. I guess it's not important now how I found it, what matters is that we discovered its bold and unique menu and stylish interiors!

I was sold out when I read reviews of how cool the place is and its nice food offerings. Their social media is not that active though, postings are only once in a month, perhaps they don't have a social media manager for now but I already got it on my to-visit list.

When the parents went to Dumaguete City for their passport renewal, I decided to bring them here before we go home to our town. We went for dinner but it was still a little early when we arrived so the sun was just setting.

Upon entry, I noticed this collage hanging on the wall just right after the door. It's quite interesting because it shows a face of a Filipina, I am assuming she's a Filipina because of how her earrings and the things on her head. If you look closely, the photo collage is made of so many magazine papers of different photos and it's really amazing how the artist had combined these things and form into this piece!

Just look at the details! Can you see the eyes? What do you think is that? Well, there's even a rose in there too!

Anyway, we moved on and look for a table. There were no other customers around, the staff welcomed us and recommended we check the long table at the end. There was no air-conditioning but it was okay as there was a breeze coming from the sea. They got a good view of Panglao Island too and we could even see the bridge connecting Panglao and Tagbilaran City. It would have been nicer if my husband was able to bring a memory card for our drone but he somehow left it so no drone footage for now.

The lady staff handed us their tropical-designed menu, a huge thick board! It was overwhelming scanning through the menu. I had to ask the staff what is this and that because it was our first time to see such unique names! The main courses include something like Curry Laksa, Mole Flautas, Pyanggang, and more! They got bowl options too and their desserts are also interesting! They got all-day brunch, salads, and sandwiches. As for the drinks, they got craft soda, shakes, coffee, tea, and even alcoholic ones! What's really nice is that they got vegetarian-friendly, vegan, and Gluten free choices!

With the help of the lady staff who took our orders, we can finally get to taking photos! Since we were the only customers at that time, it was easy to take pictures around the cafe.

Their wall colors are really vibrant and the furniture too! There were colorful chairs, some of them were even rocking chairs! I can't let that opportunity pass by without getting a photo of the wall with the word Cool in it.

The combination of colors was great and they also have living plants inside! This modern Mexican and Filipino interior are just looking amusing to the eyes!

Don't you just love those tables and chairs? For me, it's just adorable! The owner, according to the staff loves traveling and had applied what they have discovered from traveling to the interiors as well as the menu.

The room can accommodate a lot of customers, there are long tables for groups, some are just good for two, and lounges too! Unfortunately, they only have one high chair. My little one was sleeping when we arrived and woke up when we were halfway through our meals. I saw one customer with their toddler on a wooden high chair and I asked for one too but they said they got no other.

Native bamboo woven baskets used as light lamps! It's cute and artsy! Oh, the cafe also sells different kinds of loose leaf tea!

Here, they got art for sale too. And they also sell items which are helpful to the environment such as bath essentials. Chido is committed to environmental sustainability, from reducing energy consumption, to elimination of single use plastic, waste recycling, and vermi-composting all organic material.

And yes, they are part of those group of restaurants in Bohol which aims for a plastic free island, they ban single use straws too!

Aside from that, they also exhibits artwork by local talents, and trendy handicrafts and jewellery by Tamsi, a not-for-profit initiative. I appreciate the cafe owner's supporting local artists and I believe that these items are a great addition to the aesthetics of the cafe! It's hitting two birds with one stone! I love it!

I can't remember again how long the serving time was, my husband and I were enjoying the place so we didn't mind if that took time. A few other customers arrived too and they were I guess like us, very well entertained by the aesthetics of the place! It also has this homey vibe which makes customers comfortable and of course gram-worthy!

One by one, our orders came but the first thing that had arrived was their complimentary popcorn which was served with a calamansi. It's my first time to see a popcorn with a citrus fruit so I squeezed it and added into the bucket. I was about to give my little one a few pieces when my mother exclaimed that it's spicy!

I can't think of any other place in Bohol which offers this type of pop corn and not even had one in Cebu too! So it's a pleasant thing to have something to munch on while waiting for the rest of the orders.

This was my bowl which was named Goodnight Saigon. It was made of grilled lemongrass chicken, shredded carrot, singkamas, red pepper, picked cucumber, green onion, fresh herbs, nuoc cham dressing.

I was just curious with the word saigon though but it felt like this was good because there's singkamas and carrots and I like how the dressings sounds like. And according to my research, it is a Vietnamese dipping sauce and dressing which is salty, sweet, and tangy made from fish sauce, garlic, lime juice, sugar, chilies, and vinegar.

I am quite sure they only added a few drops of that sauce because it was not overtaking the taste of all the ingredients.

By the way, there's rice underneath! I had to mix it so I can get a few of those rice under.

This one was my husband's order, the Pyanggang Suluk. Pyanggang suluk is made of burnt coconut and lemongrass sauce, turmeric rice, fresh herbs, green mango salad. Suluk mean chicken breast.

When it was served, I thought it was dinuguan! It looked really weird and displeasing! The coconut on top of the turmeric rice was almost negligible! But according to my husband, it was really good! There's a green mango salad on the side which was actually good.

My mother said this sounds like a Tausug term, her brother lived in Sulu for more than half of their lives and she had visited them a lot of times so she was a little bit familiar with the term.

True enough, pyanggang is actually a Filipino dish from Mindanao in the Tausug tribe. The chicken is marinated in a curry paste made from blackened coconut.

The Buddha is a vegetarian bowl which has red curry and peanut tofu, mango, shredded carrot, red cabbage, young alugbati leaves, crushed peanuts, green onion, fresh herbs, coconut yoghurt dressing.

I am not sure why it's called The Buddha but it looked really good! My mother said she saw the word alugbati and so she got interested with it. I am glad she did because we could try this vegetarian option!

Actually, it was good as well! I liked the combination of these fresh veggie ingredients especially that there's sweet mango and boy, the serving was huge!

But looking at the ingredients, it was mentioned that it should have red cabbage however, I guess they ran out of it because there's only white cabbage instead.

This was my father's order. Cool Runnings was made of Jamaican jerk pork, mango salsa, charred red peppers, chili fried banana, fresh herbs, ginger-lime sour cream dressing.

This was also good and though the serving was generous, my father was able to finish it! He said it looked weird especially that there's a topping which he wasn't sure what was it but after mixing the bowl and getting a spoonful of every element, it all was like celebrating in his mouth.

I am glad that my parents enjoyed their food options. It was indeed a good idea to bring them here because we got to eat some healthy bowls!

It was evening already but my father requested for black coffee! So I ordered two sets of black coffee and they served it with milk and sugar!

Because my little one would surely not eat any of the orders we placed, I decided to get a Mexican mini pizza for him. However, he still didn't eat it. So we shared the pizza amongst ourselves

Below were the drinks we ordered, the Ginger lemongrass for th husband and I got Butterfly pea lemonade. While I also got one for Matti, their babycchino, it was recommended by the staff, a drink for the kids!

Overall, we had a good and delightful dining experience at Chido cafe. My husband and I are planning to return soon and try the other things on their menu such as the salads and sandwiches. We also want to try their specialty coffee by Yardstick Coffee.

I am surely glad we found Chido. I appreciate their efforts in showcasing exotic flavors from around the globe and I am just happy this gem is located in Bohol! It's exact location is at KN Plaza, 0676 V. P. Inting Ave, Bool District, Tagbilaran City!

I highly recommend this place and it is for sure one cafe that I'd like to go back again and again to try all of their food options and enjoy the view! And oh, it's just near by the Blood Compact Shrine so you can jump to that tourist spot before or after dining!