Big Bite Northern Mindanao Food Festival. Jeeves De Veyra

CAGAYAN DE ORO - Ayala Malls Centrio in Cagayan de Oro recently won Gold at the Titan Awards for The Big Bite Northern Mindanao Food Festival.

The recognition of the marketing excellence of Big Bite was announced last April 5, during the closing days of this year's event. 

Now on its 11th iteration, Big Bite consistently boosts the mall's sales figures and foot traffic every year. For ten days, Ayala Malls Centrio had an average of 113,000 daily visitors, more than double what they drew last year. 

The 97 booths, 70% of which were new Big Bite participants, took in P26 million in sales--up 48% from last year.

Hammer Roa, Ayala Mall Centrio's general manager, attributes these numbers and awards to the community. "It's more than a selling event, it's more of a community partnership between the mall and the food industry of Cagayan de Oro," he said. 

Roa added that Department of Tourism director for Region X Marie Elaine Salvana-Unchuan noted how the festival attracted visitors from all over Northern Mindanao, highlighting the importance of food tourism. 

Hammer Roa with the Bronze Stevie trophy. Jeeves De Veyra

It's always been the aim of Big Bite to attract small food businesses so they can test themselves in the high-traffic, high pressure selling environment of the mall--and Centrio offers incentives to deserving participants. 

The latest Big Bite veteran to move into Centrio is Chloe Bakery and Cafe. Young Le Cordon Bleu-Pastry alumna Chloe Lu delighted Big Bite visitors last year with her French fruit tarts and Parisian flan. 

Lu followed in the footsteps of her mom, whose restaurant Candy's is an institution in Cagayan de Oro's dessert scene. While Chloe already has a branch in the Uptown district of the city, her success at Big Bite exposed her brand to a new market and reinforced the decision to move in.

Chloe Lu of Chloe's with her mom, Candy. Handout

Cagayan De Oro is a coffee-crazy city, and Ayala Centrio is a reflection of that. While relatively smaller than other malls, it has 12 coffee shops--and more than half of these are local, independent concepts.

Bowerbird Coffee, which has been in Big Bite for eight of the festival's 11 years, proves there's room for one more. For frequent visitors, specialty coffee power couple JR and Che-Roa Caballero are a familiar sight.

The mall branch is wide and spacious, which they needed because their original, located just a few blocks away from the mall, couldn't handle the influx of customers.

Che and JR Caballero at Bowerbird. Jeeves De Veyra

As mentioned, there were was a whole lot of new faces this year. Camille Chiong and her siblings, who operate the delivery-only business Bella Bagels, debuted The Sandwich Club at Big Bite. 

They have a lean menu of three sandwiches on sourdough -– the Morning Muse with whipped vanilla bean ricotta, mango jam and granola; the Boozy Bird with fried chicken and a spicy vodka sauce; and the Shroom & Bloom, filled with mushrooms, caramelized onions, and pesto. The Shroom & Bloom won this year's Big Bite Savory Food Discovery Award.

Camille Chiong with the Shroom Bloom. Jeeves De Veyra

Another newcomer that caught my attention was MIMO Café. Aside from their eye-catching branding, their donuts and French pastries were superb. 

The bibingka croissant--a hollowed out croissant with rice cake, cheese, and salted egg in the middle--and their espresso canelé that had that properly crisp outer skin would be perfect with a cup of coffee.

Canele and Bibingka Croissant at MIMO Cafe. Jeeves De Veyra

Sweet saucy chorizo and barbecue are sure crowd drawers. These are from another new Big Bite participant, Vonchok's Kabkaban, made affordable with their filling barkada trays.

Chorizo and barbecue at Vonchok's Kabkaban. Jeeves De Veyra

For past paticipants and established mall tenants, Big Bite is a testing ground for new ideas like It’s A Wrap from the Minindal Group that owns two concepts in the mall. Think of those familiar pita wrap sandwiches with Filipino favorites like lengua, caldereta, sisig, dinakdakan, bistek, and Ilocos longganisa, making these easier to eat on the go. 

George Gamboa joked that guests just say "it's a wrap" after they try these, as well as some new chicken croquettes that could be the start of another concept.

Pita sandwiches at It's A Wrap. Jeeves De Veyra

Speaking of street food, Cucina Italiana's baked rice domes reminded me of Japanese onigiri sans the nori wrap. These are made with risotto filled with Italian beef stew and baked until golden brown outside.  

These stayed pretty firm and were great to munch on while exploring the rest of the festival.

Baked rice domes at Cucina Italiana. Jeeves De Veyra

Big Bite veteran Natish Singh, owner of Khana Sutra, aims to give a positive spin to "Bumbai." I'd say his Sari-Saree Rolls could have been called Lumpia Bumbai--think of an Indian lumpiang shanghai with chicken tikka inside a crunchy wrapper, drizzled with tikka sauce and yoghurt. 

This year, he made his dishes a bit milder because of the local crowd, but these can be made authentically spicy upon request.

Sari-Saree Rolls at Khana Sutra. Jeeves De Veyra

Sharmaine's Cake and Pastries' version of that viral Dubai Kataifi Chocolate Cake was a winner, with this booth struggling to keep with demand. 

The additional pistachio cream meant to be drizzled on top of the cake made this cake look as good as it tasted. The cake won this year's Big Bite Sweet Food Discovery, and deservedly so.

Pistachio Cake at Sharmaine's Cake and Pastries. Jeeves De Veyra

For Banana Pudding, Messy Kitchen's version was the most in demand among those available at Big Bite that they had to impose a limit of two per order.

Another Big Bite veteran, this may be the next concept to be a Centrio locator. Owners Camille and Martin Cabrera are just scouting for the right location before they take the big step.

Banana Pudding at Messy Kitchen. Jeeves De Veyra

The Big Bite festival just keeps on growing and breaking their own records each year. 

The awards aren't just validation for what Ayala Centrio has been doing--it's a way for them to take much bigger and better bites in the years to come. There are still some vacant spaces within the mall, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these become permanent Centrio sights soon.