Coron Gateway Restaurant

After Mt. Tapyas, we rushed down to our hotel (Coron Gateway) famished and exhausted. We went straight to the hotel restaurant on the ground floor to take our early lunch. Although we could do room service, cuzin' and brother had no energy to get up to our room and too hungry to wait. I on the other hand felt too sweaty and smelly to enjoy a good lunch. So while they were waiting for our orders, I went up to our room for a quick shower.

When I got back foods weren't completely served yet. Fresh and ready for lunch, cuzin' regretted for not doing the same. We were supposedly took our lunch here the day before but we saw how crowded the place with guests so we made a pass. This time thu, it was empty cos it was an hour early to lunch.
The place is facing the ocean with a wonderful view of the islands. Dining here was actually a scenic experience.

grilled stuffed squid

sisig

chicken________

I was not sure if it was the ultra-hunger but everything was delicious!!! although again lacking in authenticity to represent a Coron dish .

Kawayanan Grill, Coron

When we asked a staff of the hotel where we were staying for a popular eating place in Coron Town, she mentioned first ofcourse the hotel's own resto. But it was already around 3pm and lunch was already closed. Kawayanan Grill was suggested and off we went to have lunch at 3pm in the mentioned place.









Nothing fancy about the place. I've seen a lot of it around the country with nipa huts and tables al fresco. At the back was a ruin of old spanish stable. If they owned the place, I thought it would be more interesting if they would use it and set a dining spot there.

Nothing's special too in the menu. I was looking for more authentic recipe which the town could really own. Even the prices were as higher as Manila prices. Right away we realized that foods were expensive in this town, unexpectedly. On second thought, reasonable thu' cos every ingredient was being imported from other cities except for the seafoods which were abundantly available from the town's rich sea.

kinunot na pague

lato salad

So we tried to stick on the seafood recipes which we didn't find everyday in Manila like the sting ray (pague) in chili coconut cream and some sea greens (lato) salad.

Brother on the other hand couldn't live without beef so he went for a plate of beef stew.




Don't be fooled by our nege facial expression. All dishes were actually surprisingly delicious. It must be the bill we were talking here. Hence the faces, haha.

The best was this mango shake.

The Original Savory, Sta. Cruz

The original Savory at Sta. Cruz, Manila says it has been there since 1950. Wasn't born yet then, but I have to admit I grew up passing this resto through decades of my life. Yet I don't remember much eating there. Maybe because we're not from this area and not even near. I only see it from the road if I got to go to Chinatown. I don't even have any recollection of the dishes there or how the carrier fried chicken dish taste. I am more of Max or Aristocrat  foodie in this category. The thing is, I worked in a bank branch nearby but I didn't have the chance to try dining here in a whole year I was assigned there.

Finally and accidentally we went in to Savory when we went to buy Chinese delicacies from this area. We were tired and hungry, so going through unfamiliar menu was a tedious task. I suggested to the group to just order the dishes we usually eat in other resto with similar food list as Savory. And hey ofcourse_ don't forget the Savory chicken!

Admittedly old but surely already held a lot of grand memories, the resto looked generically like most of the Chinese restaurants in Manila. With big round tables and red linens. Always,the question of the status of the kitchen (given that the resto is old, would the kitchen be in anyway newer) makes me reluctant to enter an old establishment as this. Yet I had no doubt about the tastefulness of the dishes, I bet they had already mastered their recipes through the long standing years in the business. Besides, they wouldn't be here for the longest time if they didn't serve the best food.

pancit

And my guess was so right. Each plate on our table was delicious. Even the simplest dish such as pancit was one of  the best I've tasted in town.

Chinese cold cuts, mine & cuzin's fave

i didn't actually taste the rest of the cold cuts plate. i only had the sea weeds and century eggs

crispy pig intestine. loveth! i would definitely come back to Savory cos of this alone!

rice was fairly good too

i also like their version of chicken feet in ? sauce


And now. . (drum roll pls.>>) the Savory Chicken_________

Savory chicken

____  sorry lah, but I didn't try it! I had too much of the pig intestine I didn't have room and appetite for the chicken. No one even raved about it in our table. I guess it's just fair to say that we're not really fried chicken people ( except for KFC & Kenny R). We don't even like Max fried chicken. Fair enough Savory?

Citra Mina, Davao

I'm craving for this tuna chicharon of Citra Mina. I had done rounds of grocery tours ( here in Manila) looking for it or some other brand of tuna chicharon but found nothing. It's made of tuna (fish) skin. So crunchy and spicy, dipping it to a vinegar mix makes it so much more delicious.




Well, I guess I have to visit Davao again just so I could fully indulge on this awesome junk crunch. Unless, otherwise one of my kindhearted Davao relatives read this and you know send some lovin' package of Citra Mina's.




This was at Citra Mina in Davao City. I love this fish store with lots of  TUNA! Right  there were so much variants of tuna and at  lower prices compared to what we have here in Manila.

Cousin specifically pointed to us how we should not pass on the availability of the big eye toro ( huge variant of tuna with so much flavors ). She said it was rarely available so we made sure to take some pieces of it back home. While there in Davao, cousin had served some recipes around the special big eye.




tuna ceviche




tuna in coconut cream




So if you get to visit the city, make sure to squeeze in some time to visit Citra Mina. I also took home some of the processed cold cuts and they were good, especially the tuna longanisa. Chao!

Halal

As we entered the province of Cotabato, predominantly Muslim populated, I had to shout out to the rest of my relatives inside the car to look outside the windows and read what I had just seen by the road_ "baboy for sale, pang lichon" ( pig for sale, good for roasted suckling pig). As we all know, pig/pork is a no no food for the Muslim, very anti-Halal. so I had to asked one of my relatives who hailed from this province, yet is a Christian herself, what was that?!!!! Remember, I was there during the height of Ramadan of this year. She said that this particular town ( which name slips my memory at this time) which we were passing by was not a 100% Muslim town. Alright.

After few kilometers, she announced that we were almost in Cotabato City. It was high noon, brother said he couldn't wait to get to the town to eat. Cousin/host suggested a stop over to a pata house, a whaat?? pata!( pig knuckles)? Take note that this area was strictly Muslim majority.

The eatery was like a turo-turo in Manila where one points and orders what he likes from the pots.

Was it only me_ all dishes seemed alike to me. One color and all in tomato sauce. The server said they were three different dishes, one was chicken and the other two were beef dishes.




I ignored the three and asked for the namesake dish_ pata. I was surprised when a soup was served. I was expecting a pata tim (pig knuckles stew) or crispy pata (crackling pig knuckles). Not bad, it was like bulalo but was not. It was more like batchoy with beef innards and beef parts including in a kare-kare dish. The soup was so hearty I didn't finish a bowl, I'm kindah not so fond of highly cholesterol-led dishes. But it was delicious okey.








Half of the place was a pizza eatery. Had I not gotten full by the hearty soup, I might want to order its Halal pizza , might be a tuna to try.

Breakfast at Moon Garden

Settled in the best  breakfast spot (see here) in Moon Garden , we were ready for our hearty breakfast.



kapeng barako, fresh milk, fresh pure mango shake

courteous & efficient staff

plates making you hungry?

longanisa,egg, garlic fried rice & pickled veggies

my pick - homemade corned beef, garlic rice, egg, pickled veggies. . .yummmmmm!

adobo flakes, egg, garlic rice & pickled veggies. . . adobo flakes were too dry for me



crispy paksiw na bilong-bilong,egg,rice & veggies.. hubby liked this plate so much

french toast in honey, honeyed banana, egg

 fresh guyabano shake

flambe banana

natural yogurt w alfonso honey



need i say more?

{{If you were wondering why there were more than four plates_ they were combination of our weekend long bfast.