Cebu’s Best Sutukil

A-one Tinola ug Sinugba D’original

A-one Tinola is a well known restaurant in Cebu which caters Tinola, Sinugba, Kilawin and some other dishes wherein the top most ingredient is fish meat from sea.

The History of the Business

“A-one” as most of the customers address the business, was founded in 1984 by the late owner, Sotera “Lola Soting” Basio, a native Minglanillahanon. She started at a small unestablished along the street stall near the port of Cebu, pier 3 specifically, where she, together with her oldest children, serve fresh fish dishes known as “sutukil”. Sutukil stands for three methods of cooking. “Su” means “sugba” or to grill, “tu” came from the word “tula” which means to stew food and “kil” stands for “kilawin” or cooking fish in vinegar.

Newly cooked Tinolang Isda (Stewed Fish Meat)

Sinugbang Isda (Grilled Fish Meats)

Nilarang nga Ubod (Sour & Spicy Eel)

Kinilaw nga Isda (Fish in Vinegar)

Sinugba’ng Nokos ug Tiyan sa Isda (Grilled Squid & Fish Belly)

Lato (Sea Grapes)

A-one’s Journey to Success

With pure dedication, consistency, hard work and eagerness to provide for the family, Lola Soting was able to transfer to a decent building named, A-one Construction. Her loyal customers continue to patronize their food and since the place was already bigger, huge numbers were being accommodated. The number of customers grew doubled then eventually tripled and the rest is history.

It was in early 90’s when an unfortunate event happened, a fire broke out in the establishment and Lola Soting felt the urgency to relocate, thus finding a spot in 2nd St., North Reclamation Area, Mabolo, Cebu City. They brought the name of the building with them, making A-one their business name.

The Legacy

On May 17, 2008, Lola Soting passed away due to multiple organ failure, leaving her legacy to her full grown 9 children.

Today, all the siblings take an annual term in managing the restaurant. One sibling at a time, whose main goal is to ensure that a stimulating atmosphere is constantly monitored most specifically on serving excellent quality freshly cooked fish meats because of course, it’s A-one’s signature dishes.

A-one is defined as a mainstream casual dining restaurant with a separate air-conditioned room that caters to customers who set short meetings with their respective businesses and private family matters. Prior notice is necessary for this of course because the room won’t be available specially during peak hours which is lunch time.

Phat & Boys Celebrating their 10 years of friendship at A-one

The management is very proud to say that after three + decades of serving this great city, A-one Seafoods, Tinola and Grill is still owned and operated by the same founding family.

—Source: Estrella Basio Cenita, A-one’s Corporate Manager