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Discover Boracay Dining
Story by: Dick Molenaar,
The hardest thing I have to do, is to inform our web visitors about dining
at Boracay Island, because we (my family and I) don’t finish dining at all
establishments at this terrific island.
Most of the time we are privileged to join the “cook”, bringing our wallet
and we selected the best available at the talipapa (the Boracay wet and
dry market, resurrected at a more central place close to station 2 after
be hit by fire when it was originally located at boat station 3).
Think about the BIG shrimps, magnificent Lobsters, Scallops, Crabs and the
variety of fresh (mostly spear-catched) reef fish like Coral Trout (Lapu
Lapu), Wrasses, Tuna, Blue Marlin (belly!!!) and so on.
Since we visit Boracay Island with the family we have to consider the
tastes of the kids, 9, 11 and 14 yrs old, thus one of our first
experiences was El Toro at Station 1 in a nice beachfront setting, serving
excellent Italian dishes as well International creations. We went there
several times even with our guest from Europe, because the setting is
quiet and service as it has to be… and very affordable.
Top of the line is at
Boracay Regency, actually the Café Christina at
Station 2, you have to bring a bigger wallet but you spend less as
compared with same level restaurants in Manila, they serve Spanish/Italian
and Norwegian dishes.
 We had a good time dining at Chicken Inasal (the famous Bacolod one)
marinated and grilled to perfect taste at D’Mall and at the same row of
shops we had a BIG Burger lunch, yummy and we never saw a burger that size
and eating one that tasty.
In 2005 there was a
“Wonderful World of Christmas” theme at D’Mall in
Boracay where about 40 different nationalities — tourists and residents —
show off the food, decorations and traditions from their countries. That
was a sight to see and taste! And if you miss Christmas pudding,
substitute it with some amazing “Ultimate muffins” from Real Coffee.
But not all is perfect as we experienced this march at a restaurant called Liebevoll,
In English: caring with love, probably meaning the guest-caring, the
ambiance and the cooking.
Well not complaining about the food, aside from the fact that the price on
the card is
lower as actually shown on the bill, but don’t dare to bring your own
bottle of mineral water what you carry along
the beach-pad walk and put that on the table. You get reprimanded!!!
This October we where with friends from Holland, Germany, Switzerland, USA
and Philippines again at
Boracay Island and a Dutch friend decided with
his group to dine at Liebevoll, except one who preferred the other
restaurant but opted to join them at the beach table....... Well that was
not allowed and complaining to the manager resulted that de customer has
to follow the managers rules, no food nor drinks from other source on his
tables. The discussion went foul and insulting.
I talk this over with my friend and Bourgondier Louis from Bacolod, who is
frequent visitor of this white beached island, and he ask me the location.
Well I told him close to D’Mall entrance at the beach pad. He reacted
shocked and mentioned “Gasthof??” I replied NO, but Gasthof I know is from
passing by and found it a bit messy opposite of Lonely Planet, the kitchen
to small? No! he said but too many satisfied guests….
He showed me an article what was publicized last year and I like to share
a few excerpts with you:
Gasthof, a beachfront restaurant in Boracay at boat station 2, serves
continental and Filipino favorites, not just German foods like Wiener
schnitzel and sausages. My friend who’s been to Boracay plenty times
swears by Gasthof’s mouthwatering baby-back ribs.
This house specialty which goes for P350
medium size (The large portion
P500 and the small for P250). They also ordered calamari’s for starters, a
chef’s salad, clam soup in a pot, and chili crabs, another specialty of
the house. Gasthof’s serving portions are ideal for sharing family-style, a
true Filipino style of dining: put all yummy things on the table and try
and enjoy all, they learn this from the Spanish rulers a long time ago and
as we experienced it myself in Spain: the Spanish people learned me that
dining is a fiesta, celebrated at full and I remember, while writing, the
absolutely mouth-watering juicy chicken breast fillet in kiwi sauce with a
dash of cream, can you imagine, but absolutely unforgettable, anyhow I have
to go back to the story:
The calamari’s came first.
The breadcrumbs coating is crunchy and the
rings of squid are thick and chewy, meaning they are fresh and after catch
"massaged". The clam soup next in a big clay pot, just the way Filipino
soups are traditionally served. The ginger-based soup is soothing and the
clams are plumper and juicier compared to what we are used to.( NOTE:,
Personally I do not like any use of clams for the simple reason that the
clam is the major filter at a coral reef, creating a balanced habitat for
all reef "occupants" and is on the list of protected species for that only
reason.
- Before, I enjoyed and made Tortue Lady Curzon, a clear turtle
broth with a topping of curry-cream and top-grilled, but it is a NO now
,and fully understandable...)
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The chef’s salad looks colorful and enticing in a clear glass bowl. Like
any chef’s salad, it has strips of ham, bell pepper, carrots, cucumber,
corn, hardboiled eggs, as well as whole green olives and mango cuts — all
on a bed of crunchy ice-berg salad and when the baby-back ribs arrive, it
doesn’t disappoint. It tastes as good as it looks. The meat is tender and
falls off the bone. Just don’t expect the smoked flavor in the barbecue
sauce. It’s sweet and salty like typical Filipino barbecue marinades.
The chili crab is a pleasant surprise. It’s not Chinese style as expected
but Bicolano style, floating in coconut sauce, chopped chili peppers,
garlic and spring onions. No coconut milk is used but coco-cream, a sauce
to balance the crabmeat to perfection.
Dinner for two here without wine would cost from P600-P700".
Guess
where we go on our
next trip
in March
2007........
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