DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental — 1988 Bistro & Bar has reopened along Dumaguete Boulevard, returning one of the city’s fine-dining fixtures to a restaurant strip that has seen steady turnover in recent years.
Kuryente News dined in shortly after the reopening. The short version: the kitchen has visibly stepped up on plating and the floor service is sharper than before, while the traditional dishes that built the restaurant’s following are intact. It remains one of Dumaguete’s better sit-down dining experiences.
The Room
The atmosphere is the first thing that registers. It reads family-friendly rather than stiff — warm wood, soft lighting, tables spaced for conversation — while still carrying enough polish to work for a business dinner or an anniversary. That balance of Filipino comfort and bistro formality is the identity 1988 has always traded on, and the reopening keeps it.
What We Ordered
1988 Kinilaw (₱395). Served on a wide black plate in a pooled coconut-cream dressing rather than the sharp clear vinegar cure many diners will expect. Diced fish with red onion and tomato, finished with shaved spring onion and a blistered cherry tomato. Richer and more composed than the standard kinilaw, and the clearest single example of the kitchen’s new plating direction.
Cream of Broccoli with Crab Bisque Soup (₱285). The house soup, and a sensible opener before the heavier plates.
1988 Salad with Grilled Chicken and Bacon (₱355). Chopped romaine with halved cherry tomatoes, thick-cut bacon and sliced grilled chicken breast under a mustard-forward vinaigrette. Generous protein for the price — this plate could work as a light main on its own.
Pompano. A whole fish, plated with ginger, leeks and carrots in its broth on a long white platter. This is the dish the restaurant’s regulars come back for, and it hasn’t been reinvented. Good.
Chicken Roulade with Chorizo (₱345). Breaded and rolled, sliced into medallions across a rectangular plate with a cream sauce and dried herbs. The chorizo runs through the center of each round. The most technically ambitious plate of the night and the one that most clearly signals the kitchen is aiming higher.
Pan-Seared Salmon (₱380). Arrived under a crumb crust in a pale cream sauce with a side of broccoli, snap beans and carrots. Cooked through rather than left rare — worth noting if you prefer a pink center; say so when ordering.
Alimyon (₱290). The house cocktail, pale gold over ice with a dehydrated calamansi wheel and cucumber. Citrus-driven and easy drinking rather than boozy. A good pre-dinner order.
Choco Lava à la Mode (₱180). Served hot in a ramekin with the ice cream melting into the surface. At ₱180 it is the best-value item on the menu.
The Verdict
The reopening has improved two things that matter: presentation and service. Plates come out composed rather than piled, and the floor is attentive without hovering. What has not changed — deliberately, it seems — are the dishes Dumagueteños already return for. That is the right call.
The Full Menu, With Prices
Chef’s Special
The two headline plates are the Black Angus Ribeye Steak at ₱650 per 100 grams and the Ribeye Salpicao at ₱680. The steak’s per-100g pricing means the final bill scales with cut size — worth confirming with your server before ordering.
Appetizers
- 1988 Kinilaw — ₱395
- Pork Dinakdakan w/ Chicken Liver Mousse — ₱390
- Calamares w/ Sweet Potato Chips — ₱285
- Flaming Gambas — ₱410
- Pork Sisig — ₱350
Salads
- 1988 Salad w/ Grilled Chicken and Bacon — ₱355
- Caesar Salad — ₱340 (add-ons: grilled chicken, bacon, egg — ₱30 each)
- Greek Salad — ₱295
Soups
- Cream of Broccoli w/ Crab Bisque Soup — ₱285
- 1988 Native Chicken Soup — ₱485
- Bulalo — ₱499
Pork
- 1988 Crispy Kare-Kare — ₱310
- 1988 Ribs — ₱399
- Crispy Pork Tadyang — ₱390
- Lechon Kawali — ₱340
- Crispy Pata — ₱895 large, ₱685 medium
- Pork Binagoongan — ₱390
Chicken and Beef
- Honey Garlic Wings — ₱295
- Chicken Roulade w/ Chorizo — ₱345
- Sizzling Pochero — ₱560
- Mongolian Beef — ₱320
Seafood
- Pan-Seared Salmon — ₱380
- Grilled Tiger Prawns w/ Miso Teriyaki Sauce — ₱435
- Poached Sea Bass with Coconut Milk — ₱370
- Sizzling Bangus w/ Mango Salsa — ₱365
- Paksiw Pompano — ₱599
- Grilled Pompano — ₱599
- Grilled Stuffed Squid — ₱385
- Grilled Fish — ₱340
- Fish & Chips — ₱250
Pasta
- Aglio Oglio — ₱250
- Bolognese — ₱290
- Crispy Chicken w/ Lemon Pasta — ₱300
- Seafood Pasta — ₱385
- Carbonara — ₱390
- Ribeye Steak Pasta — ₱850
Rice and Veggies
- Plain Rice (cup) — ₱55; platter — ₱250
- Garlic Rice (cup) — ₱65; platter — ₱265
- Bagoong Rice w/ Grilled Pork — ₱360
- Yang Chow Fried Rice — ₱380
- Chopsuey — ₱350
- Stir-Fried Veggies — ₱330
Dessert
- 1988 Sizzling Ice Cream Croissant — ₱325
- Choco Lava à la Mode — ₱180
Cocktails and Beer
Four house cocktails anchor the bar list: Alimyon (₱290), Spicy Maldita (₱300), Amaretto Sour (₱280) and Pangandoy (₱280). Bottled beer — Stallion, Pilsen, San Mig Apple and San Mig Light — is a flat ₱90.
Coffee
Espresso is ₱80. Americano runs ₱100 hot and ₱110 iced; flat white ₱110 and ₱120; café latte and cappuccino ₱120 and ₱130; caramel latte ₱145 and ₱155; salted caramel and vanilla latte ₱155 and ₱165.
Soft Drinks
Bottled water ₱60, sparkling water ₱100, Coke Regular, Coke Zero and Sprite ₱90 each, and lemonade at ₱70 in cucumber, blue and pink lychee.
The Wine List
The wine program is the most unusual part of the offering for a provincial city menu, with bottles from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia and South Africa. House red and house white are ₱260 by the glass.
Sparkling: Azimut Cava Rosé Brut 2022 from Catalonia, Spain (₱1,250); Tenuta Civranetta Moscato Vino Spumante Demi Sec and Tenuta Civranetta Prosecco Vino Spumante Demi Sec, both from Fidora in the Veneto (₱1,600 each).
White: Bistro Blanc 2023, a Chardonnay-Mauzac-Sauvignon blend from Anne de Joyeuse in Languedoc-Roussillon (₱980); Convento da Vila Branco 2023 from Adega de Borba, Alentejo (₱960); and Alkoomi Late Harvest Riesling 2023 from Frankland River, Australia (₱1,700).
Red: Bistro Rouge 2023 from Languedoc-Roussillon (₱980) and Convento da Vila Tinto 2022 from Alentejo (₱960) open the list. Above them sit Al-Muvedre Tinto Monastrell 2021 from Telmo Rodríguez in Alicante (₱1,200); Dehesa Gago 2021, 100 percent Tinta de Toro, also Telmo Rodríguez (₱1,600); Talo Negroamaro 2022 from Cantine San Marzano in Salento Puglia (₱1,600); The Musician Cabernet Shiraz 2021 from Majella in Coonawarra (₱1,700); Diem 2021, a 100 percent Merlot from Château Tire Pé in Bordeaux (₱1,850); Laurus Côtes du Rhône Villages from Gabriel Meffre in Gigondas (₱2,000); The Nessus Shiraz 2020 from Mitolo, McLaren Vale (₱2,000); and a pair of Waterkloof bottlings from Stellenbosch, South Africa — Circumstance Syrah 2018 and Circumstance Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, both ₱2,100.
What It Costs to Eat There
Our table — a cocktail, a kinilaw, a soup, a salad, three mains and a dessert — is representative of a small group dinner. For two people ordering an appetizer, two mains and rice, expect roughly ₱1,200 to ₱1,800 without alcohol. Adding a mid-range bottle of wine pushes a couple’s bill past ₱2,500. A ribeye dinner for two with wine will land closer to ₱4,000 depending on cut weight.
That positions 1988 above casual Boulevard dining and squarely in the occasion bracket — anniversaries, business dinners, visiting family and holiday bookings.
Visiting
1988 Bistro & Bar is located along Rizal Boulevard, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. Prices listed are as printed on the reopening menu and are subject to change. Diners are advised to call ahead for reservations, current operating hours, and confirmation of steak pricing by weight.
Kuryente News paid for its own meal and does not accept payment for restaurant coverage.