Best Posts in Thread: Why i stopped going to (insert restaurant here).....

The first map shows Adamo and Alima. The best way to locate them is to go to Silliman Hospital (most know that location), look for the 7 Eleven opposite and to the left (with your back to the hospital) and use the map below.

Salaya is signposted (left turn) from the South Highway BEFORE Dauin coming from Dumaguete. It is signed from that road. See the second map below.

 

You want them served together? In many countries the appetizer is served ahead of the main course, along with drinks, to prepare your appetite for the main course.

I find this is easily fixed by ordering drinks and the appetizer and then, when they arrive, ordering the main course. Adapt and overcome the problem. Otherwise, you are allowing their failure to be your problem.

 

I have come across this here when I am told "But so & so will pay this much" I simply tell them to ''go and see so & so and deal with them then.'' Of course you cannot do that with a Restaurant, but I have noticed some foreigners who come here for a Holiday, do like to talk it up and say how cheap things are here compared to back home, making it that bit harder for us who reside here fulltime.

 

This review shows why it is good to have people here who can tell us the negatives so we are forewarned and can save our money and time for the best eating-out places.

So those who complain about (what they call) 'complainers' need to realise that we cannot just write a string of positives but have to use this forum to warn about the negatives in all aspects of life here. As long as that is done without insults then it is fine and any establishment has to be able to accept it OR lose customers.

 

And you know what? I keep telling my Wife IF she does do it, NOT to cater for Foreigners! THAT I believe is the number one rule for success here!

 

Not so much "out of stock" but foreigners have a very bad habit of telling owners that the meal and the price are "so great they could easily charge more" and the next thing you know my favorite meal is double the price. (Some exaggeration you think? See my rant in the pizza thread to see I do not exaggerate more than slightly.)

 

Spice in Valencia

Managed to go from only place in Valencia I wanted to go - to ain't gonna waste my time going there again. All in one visit last week.

Have been there many times, including several times that I texted in the morning to inquire if the Slow Cooked Ribs (for me) and the Shrimp Pad Thai (for my wife) would be on the specials that day. Talk about customer service - every time I did that they made sure those two items were in the specials list that day!

HOWEVER - last week, after doing the same thing and bringing another couple with us, we 'got hit in the face with a frying pan' by the nasty recipe changes. Not only was the BBQ sauce, previously so awesome I would order it as a dip for fries ect, recipe changed to taste like liquid saw dust, the Pad Thai had magically jumped out of the bowl it was previously tastily served in, onto a plate of tasteless nastiness.

We felt like idiots for suggesting the place and talking up how good it is. If only one thing was "off" I would have said something. Since almost everything was changed it was obviously a change in their philosophy.

 

the classic discussion, I find it funny, cz tastes are so different...some guys like dried fish, and are complaining it is not good enough here and there, others want their Filet Mignon, it is not good enough here and there...so cmon guys, we are in the Philippines, and here in Dumagute, things are getting better and better in my eyes, what a wide range of choices of food for everyone, native, mexican, indian, thai, chinese, german, french, swiss etc, I find it incredible - I can fill my stomache every day and i am satisfied and I can ignore the cheap stuff from Chowking, McDo, Jollybee, Inasal etc easily - I am really happy here because I know where to find what I want and I get it - this is not natural compared to other places in this Country - here is everything for everyone, except you are an spoiled 5 star Michelin guide user….Only thing I worry about is the street kitchens, they are by far not so great like in Thailand, Cambodia etc ….

 

Sadly I have yet to eat at any establishment in the Phils I could rave about. I’ve had some pretty good experiences and had some ghastly ones. I think it’s because I might have trained my palate too well over the years from my domicile before coming here. It has sadly turned me into a foodie snob. Please don’t get me wrong, I can enjoy roadside bbq with a Grande or go the extra few Pesos at a resort or a ‘fayne dining’ establishment in Duma (er, where?), Cebu or Manila.

BK (Before Kids) I used to splash out on 3 hour taxi rides across Manila so the now wife could sample Spanish Tapas or Lebanese Meze...but it still didn’t have that ‘zing’ despite being cooked or served by some very nice folk from their particular countries of origin. So wind the clock on a couple of years, still BK, I take the now wife to Seville, Singapore, Gujarat, or a Mayoune in Istanbul, the Djema in Marrakech and immediately she is on to a comparison. I guess the setting and local ingredients make the difference.

I miss a decent authentic tandoor too, so I build one at home. Apart from suffering 3rd degree burns up my arm it does the trick reasonably well and makes a half decent naan - but I can’t hold a candle to your genuine article operated by Sanoop on the road from Bubaneshwar to Chennai - but I would opt for my version over anything found here. I guess access to fresh spices and the edge that home made has makes the difference. Oh, and as Abu Dhabi is packed with Indians there are gallons of shops serving the Indian palate so my travel lite policy fails abjectly as the bag is packed with dals, dried Kashmiri chillis, spices and what not when I come home. Guess I could open a restaurant.

But what makes me really cross, no, incandescent with rage here in the Phils is the way some establishments can get away with flogging something that it isn’t. I have my eyes on you, you frauds. Three examples stand out over the last two years: “Atlantic Wild Salmon”. As a boy I used to fish ‘em out the estuary where I grew up. I also know the difference between that and farmed salmon. Wrong. Don’t ever. “Sea Bass” - er, you mean Patagonian Toothfish. And don’t try to persuade me either. Tie me a bowline waiter right here and now, tell me how it was caught, but don’t dare lie through your nose to me.

And finally, a source of National concern in the manner of authenticity and style of serving. It caused a thermonuclear lobby meltdown at Waterfront Airport in 2016. I haven’t been back. “Devonshire cream tea served with real Devonshire cream”. It’s an effing Cornish cream tea you ****wits!!! Not only that you don’t split the scone and put the jam on one half, and the cream on the other for the consumer. You let them construct it. If you are an inbred from Devon you put the cream on first and then the jam on top. Devon folk are ashamed of their cream and hide it under the jam. End of. To borrow and improve Trump’s refrain of “America First”, it’s Jam First. About time we built that wall too between Devon and Cornwall.

The most pernicious sin during this incident was the cream itself. I’m pretty tolerant of Devonshire cream, after all some of my best friends are from Devon. It differs not one iota from Cornish clotted cream. But a squirt from a can, some vanilla essence and sugar is not Devonshire cream. It’s the illusion of Devonshire cream. Just how long would one get for murder on ‘culinary-ethnic crimes of passion’ charges here in the Phils ? At the least the French used to get this sort of thing right when it came to affairs of the heart.

So my friends, alas, I’m sceptical and spoilt when it comes to dining out. I much prefer the DIY approach, provided I can get my mitts on reasonably authentic ingredients and know a thing a two about preparation and cooking. But I have yet to be “wowed” by restaurants serving fare from other nations here in the Phils. I wouldn’t give it 5*s, as I am not an Uber-fan of Filipino cooking, but for utility, reasonably efficient service, tastiness etc I’ll plump for Hay-a-Hay. But don’t get me started on the flavour of the fish, cold water grown = better flavour as it takes time, warmer seas, less flavour as the Isda is rapid growing. That’s my ha’penny worth. And you call that a crab? Looks like something that would crawl over my nether regions after a visit to one of your more untidy ‘massage parlours’...now a real crab....over and out.