BEST OF DAVAO: PANCIT CANTON GUISADO

For the second run of Best of Davao 2019 segment, we asked help from netizens and invited judges to pick which is the Best Pancit Canton Guisado in the city.

Pancit Canton is often tagged as "pampahaba ng buhay" which makes it always present in birthday celebrations, fiestas, and even on random daily meriendas. Sometimes, Filipinos are fond of eating it sandwiched in a bread bun, with rice, or just as it is sprinkled with calamansi. Whatever way we want our pancit canton guisado, one thing is certain, it will always be a staple food merienda for every Filipinos of all ages.

In Davao City, there are a number of homegrown restaurants that offer pancit canton guisado with recipes they have learned to master over the years of operations. SunStar Davao decided to ask help from our followers and invited judges to see which of the homegrown restos in Davao offer the best according to the Dabawenyos' palate.

We invited SunStar Davao's Editor-in-Chief RJ Lumawag, Miss Chinatown 2018 2nd runner up Carly Jane Chua, and Diwa ng Davao 2018 Cindy Pauline Benedicto to assess which of the top three pancit canton guisado deserve to be called the Best of Davao.

Combining the judgement of all three of them, we come to recognize that the best pancit guisado is that which has thin and easy-to-eat noodles, the flavor complementing and in-sync with that of the meat and the vegetables. With or without the calamansi, the best pancit guisado should still be flavorful and enticing.

All in all, the three judges picked Davao Shanghai Restaurant as having the best pancit canton guisado. The restaurant, which is located along R. Magsaysay Avenue, Davao City, has been catering to Dabawenyos for several generations now. It had been a household name that's why it never failed to land on the comment section of the online poll of SunStar Davao proving that the brand is one of the Dabawenyos' favorites.

The three judges especially loved that the restaurant's pancit canton guisado is not dry, the meat and other ingredients are tasty and are cut in just the right size. In the same way, the flavor of the noodles does not come out too strong and is just right.

Dabawenyos' memory of the restaurant involves after-school merienda with their parents, birthday celebrations in the restaurant, or even office meetings with the resto's food on the table.

CINDY PAULINE BENEDICTO DIWA NG DAVAO 2018

It’s pale yellow so it’s really not that enticing. But the cuts of the surrounding ingredient is just enough unlike the one before it. You would not hesitate to eat it and won’t consider it a very heavy meal already.

RJ LUMAWAG SUNSTAR DAVAO EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The flavor is friendlier, more peppery. It’s not that salty - it’s just right. It’s a happy dish... What made this pancit really good is the flavor is really there. Masarap talaga siya.

CARLY JANE CHUA MISS CHINATOWN 2018 2ND RUNNER UP

The size of its noodles is just right. It’s not dry. It has a saucy flavor. For the ingredients as a whole, the sizes of the cut are just right, even with its vegetable ingredients. As a whole, it deserves a 4 out of 5 for me.