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Josephines is a rather expensive restaurant which served what seemed to be a wide variety of Filipino delicacies. In the evening they offer live music and traditional dance in which they encourage foreigners to participate. Unfortunately, we were there for lunch and missed the embarrassment.
We ordered several interesting native dishes. Mutya Ng Cavite a soup with squid, shrimp, crab (in the shell) mussels and clams. Lechon de Leche which is a suckling pig sliced in half and served on a large platter. It cost P300. Manok Sa Pinya which was chicken and pineapple. It cost P80. Lapu-Papu which was Philippine grouper fish. It was served whole on the plate. It cost P200. Pinakbet which was vegetables with bitter melon, eggplant and yard long beans. We also sampled green mango juice for P25. Total bill for the meal for 5 was P1,171 or roughly $45 US. This was the most expensive meal of the trip.
A pricey restaurant a couple of blocks from the Malate Pensione Hotel which catered almost exclusively to the Korean population. Most waiters were Korean, and had great difficulty speaking English. This was the only place we went where Lani's Tagalog skills were worthless. Add to that the fact that the waiters are none too friendly and you have the makings of an unpleasant dining experience.
There didn't seem to be any particular waiter for our table. Whoever happened to be walking by and could be flagged down was "our" waiter. We were unfamiliar with the menu item and they were not very patient or willing to help. We all ordered some type of fish stir-fry dish. The meals are cooked at the table, so the waiter brought out a portable butane burner, put a wok on it and left. He returned with raw beef, chicken, shrimp, and squid, placed it in the pan to cook and left again. Apparently, that was the end of his responsibility because we never saw him again. By watching other patron of the establishment we finally figured out we were to take over the cooking responsibilities. All of the Korean clients seemed to be having a great time tending to the preparation of their own meals. Once our meal was done we had to eat it out of the pan using chop sticks. This was a bit awkward, but seemed to be the only way considering we were given no serving utensils.
The final insult was delivered to me personally: I ordered ginseng tea and the waiter brought out a small cup of light yellow tea and a sugar bowl. I finished the small cup part-way through the meal and wanted another, only to be ignored by waiters for some time. Finally, I flagged one down and asked for "more tea" pointing at my empty cup. He responded "hot tea", and I said "yes". Off he went returning about ten minutes later with another cup and another sugar bowl. This time the liquid was much darker in color and fizzed a bit. It tasted a little strange but I assumed it to be some other kind of tea and drank it. When I got the bill, I found out this was instant coffee. Looking back at it later, I can see the mistake, coffee and hot tea do sound a little bit alike. I explained the communication mistake to the waiter who brought the bill. I asked if the charge could be removed from the bill. He apologized for the mistake and went away. A few minutes later a manager arrived at our table with the waiter who brought the coffee. The two of them started to argue with me about how I had in fact ordered coffee and would be paying for coffee. Having never had a restaurant manager argue with me about a bill, I was thrown a little off guard and all I could think to do was raise my voice loud enough that the neighbors could hear and tell them I was not happy with the service and I would not be eating here again. It was a true statement but carried little or no weight with the management. It was also a notably useless gesture but I felt better afterwards. I paid for the coffee and we left.
Apparently, Pizza is Pizza wherever you go. I was pleased to see that this American favorite of mine had a charmingly familiar taste even half a world away. The primary source of Coca-Cola most places is out of a bottle on ice. This restaurant though, sold it in a cup with crushed ice from a soda machine. I couldn't believe how much I missed that cold, crisp taste. True, I was a little thirsty, but I went through four glasses before I slowed down to eat the pizza.
This is the Filipino answer to McDonalds. Prices were much the same as you would expect to see in the United States. Although the burgers are advertised as being made of "100% meat", I didn't know if they meant beef. The hamburger had an unusual taste compared to burgers at McDonalds and was rather small. A regular order of French fries is also very small. There were two armed security guards with shotguns waiting to open the door for you when you entered or exited the restaurant! I've heard reports that robbery is rampant in restaurants even in the middle of the day!
The Bario Fiesta served a wide variety of traditional foods at moderate prices. This is a good place for great Filipino food - weird too! We ordered "kare-kare" a native dish with softened mauls, meats and various vegetables - banana blossom, eggplant, etc. This dish has a peanut sauce base and is served with "bagoong", the infamous salty condiment made with fermented shrimp. The smell is very unacceptable to anyone not used to it; to the Filipino, it smells very good! Another dish was a crispy "pata" or pork hock with the skin and everything else deep fried. This was good, but there was hardly any meat. Service in this restaurant was good.
This restaurant is known for a small dining area built in a tree. We considered eating in this tree-house private dining room but decided against it because it was rather poorly lit.
Surprisingly enough, there were no dogs or cats hanging around in the dining area. There were however several lizards hanging on the walls and ceiling. One was hanging directly over Kurt's plate. He was getting worried that it was going to fall into his food but Lani assured him that they very rarely fell. It did manage to keep it's grip throughout the remainder of the meal.
I ordered steamed Talakit which is a local fish. It cost P105 and then I added steamed rice for P10 and stuffed eggplant for P40. Total bill for the meal with drinks was P190 or just under $8US. The Talakit is a moderately bonny fish from which you should find some bone removal training very helpful. My first un-aided attempt at consuming the fish was a bit frustrating and I found eating the fish was practically impossible. Lani showed me the proper way to remove and pick around bones and eating became much easier. The fish was served with a heavy tartar sauce covering and once I got past the bone crises, it was very enjoyable. Gina and Tad ordered Sinigang Na Tanguingue. Sinigang in Tagalog means soup with a sour base - tamarind is used in most places. Tanguingue refers to the type of fish used. I tried a little of it and it was pretty good too.
A final note about the Kamayan Restaurant was their napkins. They are presented in fancy silver holders and appear very high class. The napkins themselves however appear to be exact same size and texture as single square of toilet paper. I have no proof for my TP theory and Lani assured us that it was possible to purchase napkins like that in the local market, so the case will have to remain a mystery.
This restaurant specializes in German cuisine and draws a great deal of German clientele from the predominantly German hotel next door. There is a large selection of foreign beers available here. The food was reasonably priced and a welcome change from Filipino food. I had fettuccine in an alfredo sauce. It was dry and I sent it back. The manager came back out with it to make sure I was satisfied with it the second time.
This was one of the places we would not have know to be a restaurant until our trusted local guide took us to it and said "You eat here". It was a combination of hotel, restaurant and general store. The food was nothing special and we had to compete for it with the two dogs, three cats, and one-hundred plus flies that were near by. Their hamburgers were very small and plain compared to American hamburgers. Their hot dogs were half a frank split in two and placed on a hamburger bun. I had an order of beef steak with fried rice because places like this out in the middle of nowhere seem to do better at local and Chinese dishes than American favorites. It was good but the beef was rather tough.
We ate breakfast here. This was another combination of hotel, restaurant and general store. The owner/operator was a woman who did not speak enough English to deal with us properly. Kurt ordered an American breakfast which consisted of one egg, three pieces of toast, fried pork, and a banana. Kurt had ordered bacon but the waitress apologized by saying "all we have left is pork, but at least it is flesh". No butter or jelly was provided. How they figured this as an American breakfast I don't know. Total cost of the meal was P35. I opted for an American favorite of mine, a pancake. This took longer to prepare and finally arrived as one large pancake as big as the plate with one small spoonful of strawberry jam adorning the top. No butter or syrup was provided. Given the language barrier, I opted not to even attempt to discuss with the waitress such an abstract concept as syrup.
This was one of the more expensive restaurants we ate at due to the fact that Banaue Lodge was a rather exclusive hotel. We ate here two nights. The first night was a $10 US buffet. The food was good but getting a waiter to refill a drink was next to impossible. This was the only place we ate in the Philippines that offered a lettuce salad. We drank the water and ice tea here at the waiters assurance that it was pure.
The second time we ate there we were in a bit of a hurry to eat and go and they were a total let down. The food took a long time to arrive and the service was lousy. By the time the food arrived we had to gulp it down and go. I had a hamburger which cost $4.00 US and was small.
After two weeks of Filipino meals I was striving to find anything on the menu that was even remotely American. The only thing I found on the menu that looked palatable was a cheese and egg sandwich. To avoid possible communication errors, I even pointed to this particular item on the menu. The lady said "yes, egg sandwich", and Lani quickly corrected her by saying again "cheese and egg sandwich". When the food arrived, as you may have already guessed, the order was wrong. I received two sandwiches, a cheese sandwich and an egg sandwich. By this point I gave up on attempting to discuss the situation any further. When the waitress brought the bill, both sandwiches had been omitted. I was a nice guy and reported the error. The sandwiches themselves were not very good. Both were served dry with no mayonnaise or anything on them. The cheese was a rather dry slab of cheese that was much smaller than the bread. Lani had a good serving of pancit - rice noodles, smaller than Chinese noodles. This was served with a piece of bread.
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