Ginayumatized!

UP Teacher's Village is a treasure trove of small nice places to eat. It's still a "village" for all intents and purposes, the place is full of houses mixed in with some small time restaurants that quickly grew in to what they are today. Yes, they grew.... but Teacher's Village doesn't have that "commercialized" feel, it still managed to stay homey despite all the restaurants sprouting about. That's the "flavor" of the place, a small slice of Philippine Suburban land with a healthy sprinkling of "this and that". A "Village" with everything you'd ever need.

Where's a good place to eat?

If you drive down to where Maginhawa and V.Luna meet, you'll find this pretty little gem.

As the name implies, Gayuma ni Maria is a date place / trap, a place where you bring your date so that he or she will fall in love with you because "ginayuma mo siya". Built inside a small house, the place is nice and cozy with the right mix of comfort and sappy love references, a real girly place.

How about the food? the so called "Gayuma"? Gayuma ni Maria loves LOVE! And they name their food with all sorts of crazy hints at love, from sappy to downright naughty!

They even have a special treat every Wednesday, a surprise meal just for 69.... pesos! (what? thats the peso price! hehe)

They say that chocolate puts people in a romantic mood, It's been a staple of the dating scene for years and I doubt it'll go out of style anytime soon, So Maria went on and decided that chocolate isn't just a dessert: It should be the main course!

They also say that "Once you go Black, there ain't no coming back!" which is what Maria hopes to achieve with this dish! The "Once you go Black" is pan fried dory with a side of fries. What makes it so black? CHOCOLATE! These fish are covered with Chocolate and Cheese! As Maria would say... "once you go black...."

Its good dory, don't get me wrong. The Chocolate is an exciting concept but once you try it you'll soon see that the taste of the fish overwhelms it. On the first few seconds of the first bite, the warm chocolate is there, but after that its just plain dory. (It's all dory from there as the chocolate cools off, you soon forget that there was chocolate in the first place!)

It could be said that too much chocolate would make it a dessert dish, but I think too little chocolate just makes it regular Dory. Maybe this gayuma is playing a bit too safe, a lot more people would eat regular fried fish than one covered in chocolate. But doesn't that defeat the point? I think the combo would work, they didn't clash at all, the dory just overpowered it. Maria, if you read this, amp up the chocolate on this baby! That'll make for one helluva potent gayuma me thinks!

Think different? Want to try to go Black like i did or try out what other crazy gayuma Maria has to offer? Here it is on Google Maps, head on over there and let me know what you think!

View Gayuma ni Maria in a larger map