VINES by Garden Cafe

When dining out in Davao City, there's a shadow of undecided look and sneaking eyes roaming around the corner. Once you get past the overwhelming question of where to eat, you're still faced with the menu: WHAT TO ORDER?

VINES by Garden Cafe, is the new Thai restaurant in Davao—owned by Chef Rayhan William Teo.

College: Institute of International Culinary and Hospitality Entrepreneurship (ICHEF) Davao City

Course: Culinary Management (2010-2014)

Additional Studies: International Culinary Center (formerly: French Culinary Institute)Manhattan, New York City

Course: Professional Culinary Arts Program

Chef Rayhan started cooking way back High School, he cooked for his family and friends. Just a simple dishes that usually learn from the internet as nothing was accessible during that time, unless they would go out to eat as a family in local restaurants in Davao City. His knowledge of food was very limited but cooking was his go to thing on Sunday's. His parents noticed that he did fairly well with it and decided to let him choose what he wanted to do later on in life. He timidly answered "to be a chef". But of course he had already taken other entrance exams to different colleges. Some were for I.T. and one was for Biology, which was kind of funny since he was not the type of person who would sit down and read a books. Even so, his parents were very supportive and told him, he should go and do what he wanted to which he was to enroll in a culinary school. He was very lucky to have a supportive family who saw what he wanted and gave him the chance to do it. Every opportunity he had in life would not have been possible if it wasn't for his parents and family.

Vines offers family-style meals—provides an easy answer to both of these questions, where to eat and what to order.

There's a lot of Thai restaurants in Davao, but sad to say some didn't survive. One of the factors is the difficulty in finding some of the ingredients in the city. So, the decision of having a Thai restaurant was diverted to a cafe that is to cater students and their parents since the cafe is just fronting the school. Sadly, pandemic came and almost businesses were closed. And during the hard lock down and the lowering of the quarantine level, the cafe opened however sales were still low and customers are rarely to be seen.

The cafe suffered a lot that's why they started to sell and market online a few of their original Thai dishes that were supposed to be there from the beginning. And noticed that a larger portion of their sales was from PAD THAI and SATAY.

PAD THAI

PORK / CHICKEN SATAY
Photo Credit to Anna Alfafara

A sign that they need to change in order for their cafe to survive, so Garden Cafe become VINES—a Modern Thai Restaurant. There menu is small at the moment but slowly planning to add more item, made it more pleasing to the Filipino taste, while still trying to keep the Thai food essence.

It's a very Thai way to eat, a new experienced in Davao City. A modern style, but countryside Thai. Very homey and unmodifiable, served dishes that's good for two.

Even your Filipino palates will find solace with their Hot & Spicy TOM YUM SOUP (SHRIMP).

For those who seek spice without that heat, better try their THAI GREEN CURRY CHICKEN. A way different with turmeric curry chicken, this time a chicken meat in a rich coconut milk added with some veges.

One of my favorite, THAI BAGOONG RICE. What I like about this dish is that it may taste a little different because of the herbs and spices used for this recipe.

It taste like our owned home-made fried rice, but it cook different because of its ingredients. The taste of a shrimp paste, dried shrimp, green mango, chilli peppers, tomato, onion, dried minced garlic into one dish. You have to simply mixed it together on a plate, and the delightful aroma of different ingredients will surely hit your nose.

Every bite, you will feel the crunchy fried dried shrimp and the mixed combination of sweetness & sourness of the mango. For me, it's more than just a dish!

By the time you get to dessert, the choice is especially easy: as of now they serve simple menu, which will change eventually. Who can't resist MANGO STICKY RICE? The taste of this tropical rice pudding is irresistible—love to eat it again and again.