Kiko's Family Restaurant in General Santos City - Philippines

Only last year did the nightlife of General Santos welcome a new kid on the block. Kiko's Family restaurant seemed like an unusual kid in the resto biz but it has rapidly built up a reputation as serving a variety of meals that are new, refreshing, and health conscious.

Kiko's family restaurant is managed by Gary and Cherry Ocampo who have been in the business of preparing and cooking them for quite a few years now. They opened the restaurant upon suggestions of their friends who enjoyed their food so much that they said they could launch a resto based on their own recipes. The couple soon agreed and opened a small resto beside the DTI office along South Osmena street.

The original resto was small, a bit tight, and had no air conditioning. Since then, they have renovated the place and the store looks modern and cooler this time with several air-conditioners blasting all at once.

The al fresco dining area has a moisture device attached to the fans that regularly disperse fine mist of water to lower down the hot temperature. Incidentally, the garden part is where many people prefer to eat since the atmosphere of the food here is best eaten out in the open, and not inside the closed resto.

Kiko's Family restaurant is famous for their grease-less fried chicken and their beef estofado.

Owner and chef Gary stresses that for the food to taste good, careful care in preparation and cooking must be maintained. A good example is the deep friend chicken. He says that the chicken must be deep friend for 20 minutes - no more, no less - before it is served to their customers.

If seafood is more your game, Kiko's family restaurant serves a mean crispy tuna "panga" and a hefty grilled tuna belly. At the resto, they make every effort to produce tasty meals and the thing they would want to avoid most is to be treated or branded as if they were just another faceless restaurant in Gensan.

Since Kiko's Family restaurant is geared for all ages, they have a fixed menu for desserts that would make anyone think they were a blessing amidst the scorching heat. Kiko's has their trademark halo-halo which uses only the freshest fruits and also pure whole milk - not those substitutes that most fast food joints use.

Indeed Kiko's family restaurant is a very wholesome place that you can bring your grandfather and grandmother to without being ashamed of the atmosphere. Be warned! They might like the place so much that they might edge you to bring them there all the time.