There are restaurants that serve food, and then there are restaurants that serve memories.
In Cagayan de Oro City, where familiar faces often greet one another across dining rooms and family celebrations can stretch well into the evening, Bigby’s Café and Restaurant has spent the last 26 years doing both.
Long before food halls, viral dining trends, and endless social media recommendations became part of everyday life, Bigby’s was introducing Kagay-anons to flavors inspired by the wider world. Today, it remains one of the city’s most beloved dining destinations—a place where oversized portions, comforting flavors, and warm hospitality continue to draw generations of diners back to the same tables.
The experience begins even before the food arrives.
Step inside a Bigby’s branch, and the atmosphere feels instantly welcoming. The dining room hums with the energy of families celebrating birthdays, groups of friends catching up over dinner, and longtime customers returning to order dishes they have loved for years. The space is lively but never overwhelming, familiar yet full of possibility.
A Warm Welcome and Heartfelt Hospitality
It is the kind of restaurant where conversations linger, where servers greet guests with genuine enthusiasm, and where first-time visitors quickly understand why so many people have made Bigby’s part of their traditions.
We pride ourselves on giving our customers a very warm welcome to our store,” says co-owner Henrik Yu. We treat them like family.”
That philosophy is evident throughout the dining experience. There is no sense of rushing diners through a meal. Instead, the restaurant encourages something increasingly rare in modern dining: staying awhile.
The Origins of a Globally Inspired Menu
The story of Bigby’s begins in 1998, shortly after Henrik and his wife, Anne Yu, returned home from college.
Both had spent time as exchange students, traveling abroad and experiencing different cultures through food. Their travels exposed them to cuisines and dining traditions that were difficult to find in Cagayan de Oro at the time.
When we came back, there weren’t a lot of food choices here,” Anne recalls. We wanted to offer international comfort food to the city.”
What emerged was a restaurant built around dishes that captured memories from their travels. Instead of replicating recipes exactly, the couple infused them with their own interpretations, creating a menu that feels both globally inspired and deeply personal.
In many ways, dining at Bigby’s is like flipping through a travel journal written in flavors.
Big Portions, Bold Flavors
That journey becomes especially clear when the food arrives.
The restaurant’s famous baby back ribs arrive first, commanding immediate attention. Tender, generously portioned, and glazed with a rich, savory sweetness, they remain one of Bigby’s most iconic dishes. The restaurant was the first to introduce baby back ribs to Cagayan de Oro, and decades later, they continue to define the menu.
A plate lands on the table with the kind of visual impact that still prompts diners to instinctively reach for their phones before their forks.
Yet unlike many social-media-friendly dishes, the ribs deliver substance behind the spectacle.
That balance between abundance and flavor is central to Bigby’s identity.
We’re big on the taste, and we’re big on the portions,” Anne says.
The phrase sounds simple, but it explains much of the restaurant’s enduring success.
Portions here are intentionally generous, designed for sharing and celebration. Platters arrive loaded, sauces are unapologetically flavorful, and meals feel satisfying in the most comforting sense of the word.
For younger diners accustomed to carefully curated tasting menus and minimalist plating, Bigby’s offers something refreshingly different. There is a certain charm in a restaurant that embraces abundance without irony.
The food is comforting rather than complicated. The flavors are bold rather than restrained. And somehow, that feels remarkably current.
Connecting Generations Through Nostalgia
Perhaps that is why Bigby’s resonates with multiple generations at once. Parents who visited during the restaurant’s early years now bring their children. College students discover dishes their families have been ordering for decades. Friends gather around familiar favorites that have remained unchanged while trends have come and gone.
There is a nostalgic feeling to it,” Henrik says. People have grown up with Bigby’s.”
That nostalgia is powerful, but it is not the only reason people return.
What keeps the restaurant relevant is its ability to create an experience that feels both familiar and welcoming. In an era when dining can sometimes feel transactional, Bigby’s still understands the value of hospitality.
Every greeting feels intentional. Every meal feels generous. Every visit feels like returning to a place that remembers you.
Expanding the Spirit of Belonging
Over the years, Bigby’s has expanded across the Visayas and Mindanao, with branches in major cities including Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, General Santos, Zamboanga, Dumaguete, Tacloban, Ormoc, and Butuan.
Yet despite that growth, the restaurant continues to carry the spirit of the small dream that Henrik and Anne brought home from their travels more than two decades ago.
The result is a dining experience that feels remarkably timeless.
At Bigby’s, comfort arrives in generous portions, hospitality comes without pretense, and every table offers something increasingly difficult to find: a genuine sense of belonging.
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