Even though durian trees take 5-8 years to start producing fruit, durian farmers typically grow what the market is buying NOW — not what people will want 5-8 years down the road. Bernard is a future-thinker. He’s on a campaign to get local durian farmers to preserve their old varieties for the future. And he […]
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Sonnen Berg Mountain Durian Paradise at Crossing S, Marilog
At 4:55AM the sky was already grey-blue. Far below clouds rolled over each other, mirroring the sky as it turned to pink and then to gold and then to orange. By 6AM we could see peeks of wrinkled green mountains marching into the distance. By 8:00AM, we were eating bitter, numbing, ivory Arancillo on a […]
Samal Island Durian at Isla Farms
The view tumbled 980 feet to a sea shining that unreal Instagram turquoise, fading to the hazy outline of Davao City across the water. I was pretty sure we’d found the best place to eat Samal-grown durian on the whole island. It was luck. And some aggressive Googling. About Samal Island Samal Island is a […]
The Earliest Durian Seller at Magsaysay Durian Park: Toto Willy
In 2012, I began bringing all the friends I like to a small, crowded little shop opposite to the Magsaysay Durian Park (here’s the earliest post about Toto Willy). Just like the small hand-painted sign promised, the durians at Toto Willy’s were fresh. And they were tree-dropped. And the uncle selling durians there was so […]
Climbing 1,083 Steps to Durian Heaven in God’s Hand Sitio Karilongan
It started raining in the night. When I woke and headed out for my run around 5:30 AM on the second day of the Philippines Durian Tour, it was still raining. I examined the sky, hoping that I spied an area of lighter grey toward the east, which would signal an end to the rain. […]
D’Farmer’s Market Davao Durian Restaurant | Philippines
Davao City has a lot of durian. Piles of it, and at some of the cheapest prices you’ll find in Asia. But if you’re a durian connoisseur, you’ll quickly find that Davao has a lot of bad quality durian. You have to eat this bad durian while standing in some of the busiest traffic you’ll […]
The 10 Best Durian of 2017 – My Year in Review
When I tell you where I ate my 10 best durians of the year, I’m telling you a story about me. “Best durian” are deeply personal. They’re where I was and what I was doing and what was important to me when I ate them. This post, The 10 Best Durian of 2017 is essentially […]
Rosario’s Durian Restaurant at Bankerohan Market, Davao
Maybe because I travel so much, I use durian sessions to keep track of time and places. Sometimes I’ll sit down to durian with old friends, people I’ve known for half my adulthood, and we make a new memory, one more for the log book of our lives together. Sometimes I sit with complete strangers, […]
In Memory of Philippines Durian Farmer Severino Belviz
The Duyaya Durian is a heavy topic. When you open it, all conversation along the table stops as durian lovers take in its rich buttery folds, bright yellow, so corpulent it practically drips over the sides of the shell. Duyaya is one of the fleshiest durians in the world. It was discovered by Severino Belviz, […]
