Abli - Review - Cebu City - Cebu - The Infatuation

"Abli is a casual café-restaurant serving modern Cebuano food with a sense of humor, turning local dishes and references into sandwiches, pastas, pastries, and cocktails that are far better than the punchlines suggest. The Morta (a Cebuano portmanteau that translates to “like a torta”), a cheeky take on northern Argao sponge cake, retains the original recipe’s bounce and slight sweetness while adding flavor through various toppings like mascarpone, and the chicken soup-inspired cocktail is exactly what you’d want in flu season if flu season involved gin. Dessert jumps toseisleches, because tres just isn’t enough, and the undecided should order the Hmmmmba, or braised pork doused in extra-spicy sauce. People walk in to cool off after a Saturday afternoon at the nearby weekend markets, and with no reservations required, it feels like dropping by a friend’s family home for a quick bite." - Chandra Joshua