CRAVING for a bite of fresh, homemade dim sum on a steaming basket? Caitlyn's Dumpling Bar might be the place you can consider.
Located in Circumferential Road, Marfori Heights, Davao City, one of the city’s food hub, this thriving dim sum house has managed to remain as one of Davao’s bests despite the stiff competition and the mushrooming of restaurants here.
Their strategy? Homemade products.
Alexander Aurelio “Ikloy” Buyco, owner of the dim sum diner, shared that he believed that there is something with homemade products that made a hit to most customers.
“We are [an] authentic dim sum house. We concentrate on our dim sum, dumplings and noodles. All of these are handmade and homemade,” he said.
He also took pride of the restaurant’s identity of being preservative and filler-free restaurant that offers premium quality dim sum products.
Since its launching last August 2014, customers keep on coming for its house specialty -- Xiao Long Bao, taosi spareribs, matcha buchi, and pork and shrimp siomao, among others.
“And just recently, we offer a spicy wonton (with or without noodles) and surprisingly, it became a big hit,” he said.
What’s new?
Though the diner strengthened its dim sum product line, Buyco also recognized the fact that in order to keep up with the competition, innovation is key. Now, Caitlyn’s is more than just your dim sum destination.
“For the past two years, we focused on dimsum and dumplings but a lot of our customers requested us to add some desserts and drinks [so] we listened to their requests,” Buyco said.
Now, Caitlyn’s offers homemade tarts that come in matcha and cheese flavors which are available every Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Buyco emphasized that their menu is constantly evolving.
Still growing
To better cater its growing customer, Caitlyn expanded its store capacity that can now hold 45 persons at once from what was only 15 persons, previously.
By next year, Buyco shared, they will also open a branch somewhere in the southern part of the city.
“We are keen in opening a branch somewhere in Matina or Ecoland because we have a lot of regular customers living in the South. Once opened, they no longer have to go here (Marfori Heights). It will be a lot more convenient to them,” he said.
To serve those customers in the south, Buyco said they innovate to offer frozen products to the customers so that they can just cook their favorite Caitly products at home.
Frozen packed products such as siomao and siopao are available at P130 for every 12 pieces.
