flip'n travels

It isn’t my hobby to eat, especially when I’m at the beach. The act essentially ruins the my outfit. Not that I care a lot about bikinis and the likes, I don’t know how to swim. I just get uncomfortable. Besides, there should be more room for booze in my tummy than lots of deliciously loathsome oysters.

Boracay demanded not to be taken for granted. The island boasts hundreds of restaurants, food chains and bars that serve wide array of food choices ranging from Mongolian buffet to Greek desserts to Spanish paella. Good thing people don’t really mind you looking like a beach volleyball in a swimsuit waltzing around the pristine white sand.

We were welcomed by Gasthof’s pork ribs (Php375 half order), Breaded Calamares (Php120)  and my ever favorite beach food, Liempo (Php150). There were so many options on the menu but we were saving our appetites for the rest of our vacation, not to mention that we were tired from the long, arduous trip. We just wanted to drink the first booze of the first night and hit the sack.

Breakfast, unfortunately, was free with our accommodation so we had bacon, scrambled eggs and toast for three days. But that didn’t stop us from dropping by Real Coffee and Tea Cafe to taste their famous Calamansi Muffin (Php45) and Brewed Coffee (Php90). The place is tucked in a small alley so make sure you keep an eye for its landmark. Even with its bamboo seats, I find the place comfortable. It’s like having breakfast inside a bahay-kubo.

Ron’s craving for paella was satisfied by Red Coconut Beach Resort. At Php495 per plate, the meal was good enough for two. Had I not ordered another Liempo meal (Php250), I would’ve cleaned the plate. Note: the fabulously carved egg on top of the paella is probably worth 95 pesos and there was more than one garnish, so go figure. Oh, and that goes the same for my meal.

Dinner buffets are also popular ranging from Php230 to Php250. We found Mongolian buffet a little disturbing for a beach setting and the seafood buffet very very appealing. I never stood but once in a buffet; but the chefs at Eclipse Room and Bistro made me proud I had to get a second helping of crabs, shrimps and oysters. Thus the tummy ache that ensued an hour of puking while I was enjoying my jagerbomb at Pat’s, but that’s a different story…

We also can’t help but try out the more popular must-eats in the island raved about by everyone who went to Boracay. As my craving for street food is unbearable, I had hotdog-on-stick (Php30) and my ever favorite isaw (chicken intestines) for Php10 per stick a few hours after lunch. Ron and I were wondering what the hell Chori Burgers were and apparently, you can buy them at ihaw-ihaw stands that line the beach. It was grilled chorizo placed in buns. What a revelation… Another specialty we had to taste was Banana Choco Peanut Shake (Php99) at Jonah’s Fruitshakes. Unlike most reviews, Ron and I decided that it is, at some level, overrated. Sure it was good but only after five to eight sips. The flavor is too overwhelming that at some point, you’ll experience suya. Or maybe it’s just us. The serving is huge and I wasn’t able to finish mine even after chugging it while walking on the beach for an hour. Now I’m regretting not ordering mango shake instead.

For dessert, we had to try Zuzuni’s famous Mati Chocolate Sin (Php250). Ron said it was lust and gluttony served in one plate. I had to agree, but the flour-less cake also made me less guilty finishing one serving. The chocolate is not too sweet nor bitter and is complimented by some sort of Greek vanilla ice cream that balances off and neutralizes the taste. I had to find a confession box after stepping out of the restaurant. Well, because I felt like it was too much for me to spend the same amount for dessert for the price I paid for my seafood buffet. The piece of Greece is worth it but the price really hit a nerve in my pocket…

And what is travel without our fix? Of course we had to get coffee at Starbucks. Too bad because they’ve got an area outside with powdery sand cushioning your feet and a nice view of the beach, except that we did not see the beach because they’ve put up windbreakers in front of just about every establishment in Boracay because of the dang wind.

I’d say I was able to taste what Boracay has best, and that is the seafood. The Greek food, I can have here in Manila. The paella, I can probably ask my grandma to cook one. The Mongolian buffet, why would I want a Mongolian buffet? I was telling Ron of how people rave about the posh restaurants in Bora, and I’m not being bitter because of lack of budget. I just find it a bit off the equilibrium. Everyone should be enjoying what the ocean yields and should be eating those the way they’re meant to be eaten, fresh from the grill. I’s probably just us, but pizza and beach do not quite mix.

In the first world island at the southern-most tip of the mainland Asia, life is busy and fast paced. People move faster, eat quicker and travel from point A to B in a break-neck speed. Even the escalators in public places runs faster than the usual escalators would run. I’m not kidding! I lived the past 8 years in a country so laid-back that when I rode the Singaporean escalators, it made me grab the side rails for dear life.

The malls are inter-connected like a web laid across the city. So we opted to walk rather than taking the cab. With a limited time and so many things to do, we were running like headless chicken.

And yes chicken is the appropriate word, literally. It has been the theme of our food trips in Singapore. The meals that we had were really good and I must say, Singaporeans really know how to do their chicken right (sounds a bit off, but there’s no better phrase to express it).

Whenever I visit Singapore, I always make it a point to eat the two best chicken meals in town. Chicken Rice and Clay pot Chicken. Chicken Rice is Singapore’s national food/meal (McDonalds comes in next). It’s preparation is very simple. You boil the chicken and use the stock to cook the rice. Most hawker stalls serve this in different variety of cooking styles and preparations. My favorite happens to be the simplest, the chicken meal is served with garlic and chili paste (SG$2.50), perfect with a glass of pure sugar cane juice (SG$1). This meal is so popular they can put it in their coat of arms.

The clay pot chicken on the other hand is one rich meal savored and glazed with black soy sauce and oriental spices cooked on a clay bowl. One of the best clay pot chicken that I tried is from Moi Lum Restaurant along Maxwell Road (SG$6). This glazed chicken-topped pot of rice is usually in huge serving. I’m a man and I know if a meal is huge enough to fill a hungry bloke, and their serving is indeed, huge.  Check-out Moi Lum’s Menu, CLICK HERE

after a minute or so…

Hawker places are really popular among locals and tourists alike. It’s their version of carinderia and you can find one on every street across the city. With a very short time we cannot afford to book, wait and spend several hours for a fine dining meal (Or, we simply can’t afford… fine dining restaurants in Singapore, hehe!), so a hawker place is always a life saver for backpackers.

TIPS WHEN EATING IN A HAWKER STAND

‘Chope’ – It’s the Singaporean slang for reserving the table. It is ideal to reserve one specially during lunch time. You wouldn’t want to eat on your tray standing, so chope a seat by leaving a packet of tissue on the table.

No VISA or Mastercard – your cards are as good as Adam Lambert’s genes (READ: Useless) for hawker stalls don’t accept card payments, so be ready with your cash.

“Having here or Take away?” – don’t be confabulated when you hear Singaporeans use this phrase. It simply means “For here or to go?” (“Dine-in or take-out” for us Pinoys). Other popularly used singlish words would be “Same-same” which essentially means item of the same value or price; and when vendor or mall sales clerk say “finish already,” it means they ran out of stocks of the item or product that you are looking for.

Popular hawker centers are the ones at Tiong Bahru, Newton and The Esplanade.

Then the time for our Starbucks fix came. Just like in Macau, Starbucks shops are sporadically spread across the city. We were looking for one and it has been like the greatest quest to find the Holy Grail. From Esplanade we searched the perimeter and couldn’t find one, so we walked all the way to Raffles and across. After an hour and several kilometers of walking, we finally found one in Suntec Mall. Finding that al fresco Starbucks is a “choir of angels” moment for me and Monette.  Only to find out later that there’s a plethora of coffee shops, including Starbucks, in Merlion park, right across Fullerton Hotel. It’s a bridge away from where we started.

Lesson learned: Don’t look too far, maybe the one that you are looking for is right under your nose the bridge.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and should be taken seriously, although I can’t say I follow this rule religiously. But because of a memory long forgotten, I begged my aunt to take me to the market to get congee, fried noodles and deep fried bread to kick our day off. I was telling Ron about the breakfast I had six years ago when I last visited Hong Kong. The taste of the food haunted me. And now that I am back, there is no way I will miss the morning with that hearty breakfast combo.

Congee typically is added with different ingredients. My favorite is congee with minced pork and peanuts. Other options would be pig stomach and intestines, pig skin, century egg, octopus, pork meat, or minced beef. This is normally ordered with deep fried bread on the side or, my favorite, fried noodles. With the taste so authentically Chinese, I know I have to count years to eat that breakfast again.

Now if one is not so used to that kind of breakfast, Hong Kong has cha chaan teng. It is a Chinese tea restaurant that serves a wide array of food and beverages. They serve clear tea, cold lemon tea (they even put lemon in water, coke and other sodas), coffee and, of course, Hong Kong styled milk tea. The menu ranges from dimsum to sandwiches, noodles to pasta, and bread to cakes. Western breakfast sets (American, continental) are also available and prices would range from HK$20 – HK$25.

Cultural bits: Clear teas served in cha chaan teng are used to rinse utensils before a guest uses them. This is very customary for Chinese so you don’t have to freak out when the person sitting next to your table suddenly decides to do a little dish washing before the meal.

Walking around Hong Kong can be very tiring. When Ron and I went to Ngong Ping Village, we had to climb 268 steps to get to the Big Buddha. Not only that, we had to go around the village to check out some of the other sights. We were perspiring, hungry and dehydrated, and what do we find? Strawberries in kebabs. Introducing frozen calabash! We seriously don’t know why it is named like that but we can guarantee it’s going to refresh anyone who walked around much as we did.

And like what Ron says, we are caffeine fueled creatures. We cannot believe that we can find the two-tailed siren nestling in the mountains. We needed to recharge.

photos by ron cruz

We are both caffeine fueled creatures (Homo sapiens caffeinensis fabulousness). Starbucks is a basic necessity and it can be found at the bottom of our food pyramid. So it is imperative to say that whenever we travel we make it a point that we spend several unproductive hours sitting on an al fresco chair, shifting to trance mode while almost robotically sipping our fix.

It is also our way of recharging the energy that we exhausted while walking around the city. So we found a Starbucks shop (the only one, actually) in the middle of Largo Do Senado. It is a small space fitted in a turn of the century building together with other shop niches. It is narrow and the seats outside are limited. I guess residents of Macau are not a huge fan of this brand, because I realized that most of the customers are actually Filipinos and/or tourists.

photo by Ron Cruz

The Baristas are not as surgically obsessive compulsively neat as the ones found here in the Philippines; they don’t mind staining their aprons with coffee spills. The view in front of the shop is an endemic McDonald’s food chain, so it is not really compelling enough to do a prolonged hanging-out. So we opted to simply walk away with our cups to stroll around the plaza.

A tall cup costs around MOP36 (PhP200, US$4.20)

Santa Casa da Misericordia