Announcing a slight departure from our pre-occupation with porcine delights over the last few years. Yup, this is the reason for all the posts on seafood over the past month or so. ZUBUDAGAT is our attempt to bring some focus back to the extensive bounty from the Visayan seas. Seafood restaurants have really suffered in the past few decades and it’s quite hard to find good fresh (and dried or preserved) seafood in major cities for several reasons. First and foremost, seafood is WAY MORE EXPENSIVE than say chicken or even pork. It is HIGHLY PERISHABLE. And it’s supply is incredibly UNPREDICTABLE. So instead of pursuing a fully seafood-centric type of place, we will instead introduce the ZUBUDAGAT brand WITHIN a new ZUBUCHON outlet that will hopefully open by mid to late-July in Cebu. Think of it as a ZUBUDAGAT Kinilaw Bar and Seafood Menu. We are starting off with a limited selection of kinilaws or ceviche (which pair beautifully with a main dish of pork), a few soups, several seafood main courses and a range of dried and preserved fish/seafood items for visitors/tourists to take back home with them.
And this snazzy talakitok or mamsaa in blue is our new logo for this latest commercial experiment. And yes, it has been registered with the IPO office, in case you were wondering. Some folks have tried to register Zubuchon in several forms (name and logo) around the country in the past three years and we are going after each and every known one of them to protect the brand and logo which has long been registered with the IPO office.
But at the heart of it all, is the answer to the question, why isn’t there more emphasis on local seafood products? And how can we help drum up business for the fishermen and women who actually toil to catch and prepare the fish? How do we get their products to consumers in a fresh and beautifully presented manner? And ultimately, bring more income directly to the folks who deserve it? Of course, it isn’t all altruistic. Ever had a really good kinilaw or sinuglaw lately? It’s a marvelous dish. And we wanted a place where we could eat it whenever the freshest catch was available. Even if it’s pricier than say an imported fillet of white fish. So stay tuned for Zubuchon’s newest experimental sibling, ZUBUDAGAT. We hope to have it open in time for the wild influx of tourists and participants for the Ironman race in Cebu in early August 2014. :)
52 Responses
Hi MM,
Congratulations on your new business venture!
I’m hoping that someday I would be able to taste Zubuchon.
So great to hear when a local business has bigger plans than just making money for itself. Thank you for thinking of ways to strengthen communities and small industries! Yey for Zubudagat!
wonderful! congratulations and good luck! and what’s a cebu seafood menu without linarang?
nice logo MM
Hi MM..congratulations to your new business venture. can’t wait to try for your maiden offers of fresh kinilaw among others in coming months at Zubudagat..cheers!
congratulations MM. :)
Congratulations to your new venture! would love to try it once it is open and when we get there again! Looking forward to a future trip to both places!
Hi MM I suggest this brandname to help ease your IPR problems:
TANGAGUMAYA
or
LAGOTKUMOPYA
looking forward to this. it’s a shame that despite being surrounded by waters, we don’t get to sample the bounty of the sea that much. i wish you all the best
Hi MM,
Been a long time reader (since 2007?) and sporadic commenter. Next year, my family and I are going to Philippines to bury my mom’s ashes, do a vow renewal, celebrate numerous family birthdays on both sides, and participate in our town’s fiesta. Even with all of these happening in a 3 week time span, I will make a Zubuchon trip happen! And now that there is a Zubudagat, this is added incentive to work those overtimes.
I love the idea of promoting seafood and helping our fishermen to boot, but what about the questions of sustainability and best catch practices? I’m sure you’ve already thought about those, though. Fellow MM readers, how can we consumers help make sure we aren’t depleting the ocean by overfishing or destroying corals by dynamite fishing? What are the questions we should be asking when we patronize a restaurant or our suki fishmonger? How do we ensure they are telling the truth?
woohoo to the talakitok in the logo! :)
congrats MM on your new endeavor.
Cheers! High Five! MM please don’t forget to have sashimi on the menu :)
MM, finally i can come to your restaurant, because i don’t eat pork, i only introduce Zubuchon to my friends who come to Cebu! yey! i will go home in September, hopefully visit ZubuDagat! God bless u more MM!
I can’t wait! ZUBUkan ko agad yan next time I’m in Cebu ;-)
Congratulations! MM. But I will miss Zubudagat for now. Will check it out next year na pud. Enjoyed reading about your sojourn up North. And yes, thank you for bringing to the fore front our local seafood.
Congratulations! I hope you will serve crabs too!
Great addition to an already grand enterprise. Good luck MM, keep on creating new specialties.
another reason to plan a trip to Cebu! congrats on the new venture MM!
Goodluck with zubudagat! I’m sure it’ll be a big hit like zubuchon :)
Congrats MM! Love the logo too. Can’t wait to visit the Philippines end of this year, go to Cebu and finally visit Zubuchon. And now… I have Zubudagat to look forward to as well.
Umm… why dint I catch on that the Bantayan posts were an incubation of a compelling enticement to make a visit.
@Betchay, crab without the “s” does not elicit any snickering.
Exciting! Time for another trip.
WHAT?? Something healthy with the lechon?? hehehe. Good luck to you!!! Each time I go to Cebu, I go to your restuarant, or at a worse case scenario that I have no time, Im in your airport outlet to buy for home. This is gonna be exciting! :)
I knew from foregoing the other more luxurious vacays and lingering in Bantayan instead that MM was incubating something.
I am sure the new endeavor will be a success. With thorough research , attention to details and proper planning, MM has all the ingredients for another successful venture.
Love the new logo.
Re comments 17/21: I have already snickered but did not have the nerve to comment:)
I’m more of a lurker than a commenter. But I was at a conference of Filipino scientists at North Carolina State University last weekend and one of the most interesting talks was by a BalikScientist, Dr. Ann Villalobos. Her talk was about her work with botanists at the Central Mindanao University on indigenous ferns. There are, of course, many different ferns in the Philippines, but they concentrated their work on edible ferns, known but slowly being forgotten. They collected various ones on the mountains near the university and are now propagating them on campus. They’ve done information dissemination to farmers and foodies in the region and they even had a cooking contest using ferns as main ingredient. I know you are interested in such things and I wonder if your farmer suki’s in Luzon might want to propagate these ferns and (re)introduce them to the present generation. I can send you Ann’s contact if you email me.
congrats!!! Nice logo
Good luck with the new venture! Exciting!
Can’t wait for the next post about someone plagiarizing the new logo for their own seafood product. Just kidding. Hehe!
Good Luck and God Bless always!
Ha!ha!ha! Of course I was referring to my fave seafood but I’m sure the Zubu staff will gladly accomodate the other one!
love the zagat-font derivatives on both logos [https://www.zagat.com/]. [HELVETICA? https://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=5367%5D BTW, the maestro, signore Vignelli, who used that font very liberally — for Bloomingdales, the NYC subway maps and signage, et al… died today- https://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/massimo-vignelli-1931-2014/38336/
Looking forward on visiting Cebu again…. Waiting for Cebu Pacific Promo Fares… Congrats Mr MM
Like Marichu, I am hopeful that MM has considered the sustainability aspects in this new venture.
dear MM, i love this brilliant idea, dont worry i will help you spread the word, er advertise this in the area where i live, esp. with my brother who frequents cebu.
MM, i hope you have plans expanding here in Manila :)
Long time reader here.
I have attended the annual Rootcon Hackers Conference in Cebu for the past three years and each time I’m there, I see to it that I have at least one meal at Zubuchon. I am now looking forward to our conference this year (3rd weekend of September) and hopefully I’ll get to have a taste of Zubudagat offerings.
More power!
Zubudagat is very VERY good news for this self-confessed kinilaw addict.
I am looking forward to that outlet where I can stuff my face with kinilaw, lamayo, and possible tinowa or a good fish-head sinigang when I visit. Whoop whoop!
CONGRATULATIONS!! Hope you will have an oyster bar as well.
Congratulations! :) Looking forward to my Zubuchon and Zubudagat fill!
mm you have a very good business sense.
Mid to late July? Absolutely perfect as it coincides with my trip to Cebu! I always make it a point to have a meal or 2 at Zubuchon whenever I’m in town (about 2-3 times a year). My wife just loves pairing zubuchon with the kamias shake, bp be damaned lol. Over the last 4 years or so, I have managed to see MM (seen not met) at the store on several occasions but was just to embarrassed to introduce myself. I usually visit the One Mango Branch as I stay mostly within that area, but will surely try to go to this new store with the seafood bar. Hope to see MM and finally meet the man :)
Mid to late July? Absolutely perfect as it coincides with my trip to Cebu! I always make it a point to have a meal or 2 at Zubuchon whenever I’m in town (about 2-3 times a year). My wife just loves pairing zubuchon with the kamias shake, bp be damned lol. Over the last 4 years or so, I have managed to see MM (seen not met) at the store on several occasions but was just to embarrassed to introduce myself. I usually visit the One Mango Branch as I stay mostly within that area, but will surely try to go to this new store with the seafood bar. Hope to see MM and finally meet the man :)
Sorry double post :(
I like it.
I haven’t even been able to visit one of your branches yet, and now you have a venture focusing on seafood. Capital A-mazing. And kinilaw! Woohoo!
This is great news. Hopefully, this venture will call attention to the great paradox that is fishery in the Philippines: we are located smack in the middle of the coral triangle, the most diverse marine ecosystem in the world, filled to the brim with edible marine products yet the poorest of the poor in the Philippines are those living near the sea.
Oh yes please!! While echoing the other commenter’s bit about making sure it’s all sustainable and environment-friendly.
Incidentally, that the logo at first glance seems to read “ZAGAT” is a good thing, right? ;)
Wow, exciting! Thank you good sir for another worthwhile offering for us! :=)
Why doesn’t the fish look as happy as the pig? :(
Looking forward!
mid-July, you say? it’s perfect! i am going home again to Cebu on early Aug. can’t wait!
At last!!! more power MM!