Story Kristina S. Tabon
Photography Benjie Ordoñez

At Phat Thursday, eating good food and sharing a great meal with family and friends is like enjoying an awesome ball game. Located at the second floor of Banilad Town Center (BTC, as Cebuanos call it), this newly opened sports bar is smartly perched on an enviable spot from where you may ponder north-bound traffic…or the controversial Banilad-Talamban flyover, if you wish. Whatever your bent is, take less than a hundred steps from the car park and you’re there—bright-eyed, perky and bushy tailed for a feast.

The 214-square-meter sports bar-cum-family dining place can easily seat 80-100 diners. Designed by architect Jonji Belen, its pared-down industrial-meets-sporty aesthetics is spruced up with slotted metallic sheets in the same gunmetal gray as the walls.

Owner Terence Yee wanted to recreate the hearty ambience of American-style home cooking, which is why burgers dominate the menu, alongside a wide variety of other luscious eats. The dishes come in manly portions and their prices won’t break your bank account.

Start with the Clam Chowder, made from scratch and filled with chunky bits of Poseidon’s treasure. It sets the stage for the party that’s about to happen in your mouth! If you wish to start off with salad, try Chinese Chicken, which has sticky peanuts worked through the bed of greens littered with fresh oranges and chicken strips, making for a sweetish, citrus-y aftertaste. Crowning it all are crispy wanton wrapper strips, made more fun with sesame-oil-hoisin-sauce dressing.

Then, for your main order, give your mouth muscles a good flex with the tallest burger in the menu— the Pineapple Teriyaki Burger. Their Phat Burger isn't for timid eaters either, with its overload of the good stuff: juicy tomato slices, lean beef patties, Spam slices, fried eggs, caramelized onion rings and some greens, and with a dish of fried fries, done just right, on the side. Craving for some hot stuff? Then go for Chili Cheese Burger. Then there’s the crunchy Monte Cristo—a ham and cheese sandwich baked ‘til golden after a good dunking in egg, milk and breadcrumbs. It has stopped many-a heart served fresh from the oven, dusted with confectioner’s sugar and topped with a dollop of strawberry jam.

Now go on a home run with dessert. Chocoholics will cheer for the Molten Chocolate Cake—molten because through its chewy core oozes dark, bitter lava-like chocolate played up even more by the vanilla ice cream served on the side. Now if you’re not part of the chocoholic demographic, go for the Apple Betty, vanilla ice cream with nicely braised diced apples buried beneath a layer of sweetened breadcrumbs.

As if these were not enough, Terence has a lot more up his sleeve with a constantly evolving menu.

For general inquiries and reservations, email terenceyee@gmail.com.

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