AMPAO

The best ampao can be found in Carcar, Cebu. Our own version of rice crispies, it is a white, sweet and crunchy treat sprinkled with peanuts. It is rectangular in shape and has a thick width that would require one to open up his mouth wider than usual, else he would not be able to get a good taste of it at all. Cooked rice is layed out in the sun to dry up, making it crunchy in the process. So you could say that every bite has a little bit of sunshine in them. A piece of peanut or two can be found somewhere around its thick body. I have to admit the taste of the peanuts goes very well with the sweetness of dried rice. I just wish they put more peanuts in it; most of the time I can only find two.

DANGGIT

It is a salted dried fish that is best paired with hot rice and dipped in vinegar. Others prefer a mixture of vinegar, sliced tomatoes and crushed chili peppers with a dash of salt. Others might want to add a little bit more of spices to enhance the flavor.

DRIED MANGO

This ripe, sun dried mangoes is good for snacks and desserts. There are two kinds – dried yellow mangoes and dried green mangoes.  Both are yellowish in color and have a meaty and translucent appearance. It has a chewy consistency that makes its taste linger in your mouth. With its bite size, you can eat it wherever you are. At work, at the beach or in your house enjoying a bite with your love ones.

OTAP

A crunchy oval-shaped biscuit, crispy treat, which has become a trademark of Cebu. It is approximately 9 ms in length, 4.5 cm wide and about half a cm thick. It is made of eggs, flour, shortening, sugar and margarine. Otap has a unique flaky texture, a distinctive sweetness, and an accent of burnt flavor to it, that places this product as among the very best provincial specialties in the country’s baking industry. Sprinkled with sugar, a careless bite of this fragile biscuit would send fragments of it flying to the floor. But it is not as scary as it sounds; though one have to admit that eating otap is an art by itself. Little children are often told to be careful when eating it, they are supposed to put one hand under their chin to catch the sugar and fragments that might break off from its thin mass.

PUSO

Nobody knows where the word puso comes from. In the Tagalog language, puso means “heart.” But this puso we’re talking about is food. It is pronounced as pusô. It is rice wrapped in coconut leaves shaped like a diamond. At least that’s what it looks like to me.

The making of pusô is not merely clumping cooked rice in your hands and wrapping them in coconut leaves like what some people probably used to think. Truth is, the coconut leaves are first weaved into diamond shells. The master weaver then leaves a hole open. This hole is where they pour uncooked rice before sealing up the shell and putting them on a large pot filled with water and putting them over the fire. The usual way of cooking rice happens when all that is done – which is merely to wait until the water is gone and until the rice have grown and gone soft.

TOSTADOS

As the name implies, are toasted strips of bread. However, prior to toasting, each slice is coated with a mixture of sugar and margarine. It is perfect with coffee, or as siding for spaghetti, or ice cream.

SALVARO

A wafer-thin, crisp-brown biscuit, shaped into an elongated oval, and approximately ten cms in length and four cms wide. It uses entirely indigenous ingredients such as coconut, shortening, sugar and flour.

SUNFLOWER

A biscuit shaped after the flower with a diameter of 7.5 cm. It has a subtly distinct flavor and aroma evoked by the liquorice-flavored anise seeds that are strewn all over the biscuit’s surface.

HOJALDRES

One of the newest in the delicious product lines of Pinky’s Galletas, Hojaldres embodies the best characteristics of both a biscuit and cookie. Somewhat similar to”otap” in texture, but it is slightly more substantial. The hojaldres is approximately6 cms in diameter and about one cm thick. Its rich flavor and aroma and its crispiness and texture make hojaldres a much sought after treat from Pinky’s Galletas.

GALLETAS

A Spanish term for biscuit. This thin crispy treat comes in neatly wrapped packets of threes. Each biscuit is approximately 5.5 cms in diameter. Made of basic local ingredients in just the right quantities, galletas are subtle and simple, reserve in evoking a strong flavor, yet a delicious snack item that Filipinos love so much.

LINUNGAHAN

This miniature pie-shaped biscuit, approximately 5.5 cms in diameter, is basic enough in taste and texture to be a main snack item or dessert siding. The crunchy exterior “crust” surrounds a delightfully sweet brown filling with the added surprise of tiny sesame seeds. Its ingredients include flour, shortening, margarine, sugar, and salt.

ROSQUILLOS

Has been a household name for many generations in Cebu for its denizens and visitors. Rosquillos is a circular cookie about half an inch with a hole at the center. It is a sweet delight made up of eggs, flour, shortening, sugar and margarine.

CHICHARON

Chicharon is a crispy deep-fried pork skin, flavored salty and hot. One may choose from two classifications: in the “special” pack, the chicharon has a little strip of pork fat that comes with the skin; the regular pack is purely skin. The chicharon has undergone a highly tedious process of cooking. It is deep fried, sometimes sun-dried or oil-drained, cooled, and reheated. The process is repeated from three to four times.

The staff were extremely friendly right throughout the day from greeting us until complying with our request for a photo of us both. We would buy a day pass in the gift shop that was 2500 pesos per person. This fee would offer access to the resort until 6.pm.

We started with the included buffet lunch which was very well done. The only complaint I guess is that I would have loved some lobster but there were crab legs available. There was plenty of variety that included cuisine from various parts of the world, Indian, Philippine of course, Italian, Greek and other European delicacies.

We chose to keep it simple and have salads, variety of cold meats like ham and salami along with some warm and tender roast beef from the carvery. We also had fresh fruits, mousse, cheesecake and ice cream for deserts. We were pleasantly full and now ready to face a day of activity.

We started with a walk to the beach where we would have a 2 person game of beach volleyball. That was a lot of fun and a great way to warm up for a swim. My friend Anna was not a swimmer but I was planning to change that. After helping her put a cap on to keep her hair dry we jumped in the sea and enjoyed the tropical water. There were also a number of colourful fish species that would be all around swimming with us. That was one of the highlights of the day along with Anna learning to float on her back after some coaching.

After that swim we would then take a few photos before we would head off up to the health and fitness center to use the gym, spa and sauna that is all included in the day pass. Anna would proceed to bath in luxury in the sauna and spa etc while I would spend some time in the gym. The gym was everything you would expect in a 5 star hotel with the latest machines and enough free weights for the serious body builder to catch up on a regular workout. The gym has a nice view of the resort, great air conditioning and the sounds to pump you up for your routine.

The sauna was very nice, so hot at first and a long time since I had one but after a few minutes it felt a lot better. The shower had some top quality shampoo, conditioner and soaps to pamper yourself in luxury.

After the gym and shower etc we would then head back down and go to one of the two very large pools. It was an enjoyable time to swim in the pool but as an ocean lover I was looking forward to getting back into the salt water.

So after some more photos and more swimming in the beach water plus more photos it was time to head to the changing rooms and get ready to go. We would walk back out slowly, even if it was a bit after 6.pm and proceed to wait a few minutes for a taxi and say goodbye to the Shangri-La Resort.

It was a very enjoyable day with all of the best food, pools, gym and amazing views. Just being able to swim in some quite clean ocean water only a short distance from Cebu city is a nice experience and have some of the finest food and facilities at hand is very good. I would recommend everyone should spend at least one day at the Shangri-La Resort.

The place is not that big and there is very little seating, it really is made for dancing although the conservative crowd took awhile to warm up. It was crowded but not so bad you could not move. Rosie soon got underway and had the crowd grooving to her house/progressive techno beats. This London girl had the sounds and was putting together a great mix. We never stayed till the end as it was too crowded plus it would be better to have a table to sit down and put your drinks on. You would need to reserve one before hand though.

The Penthouse is a great place to hang out although we found the drink prices much more than what you would pay at most other places in Cebu but then this club is not just any club!

The best two malls are Ayala Mall and SM Mall.

Cebu Malls:

• Ayala Mall
• SM Mall
• Elizabeth Mall (known by locals as Emall)
• Robinsons Mall
• Cybergate Mall

The fish was pretty good but the filo was a but papery and if eaten in a few layers it tasted like paper and could not be digested. The sauce was great though with the coconut.

The spaghetti meat balls was quite tasty and a good recipe was used, I enjoyed that.

The big star though was the Fettucine Carbonara, it was the most delicious carbonara I have ever eaten, it was cooked to perfection, silky smooth sauce. I would love to get my hands on the recipe as I have made and eaten many carbonara’s and that recipe is a real winner – inspiring.

The Patio Ecila is an enjoyable and cosy place to eat, the Italian food was a winner for us while some of the other offerings could do with some more thought but it is a great place to dine out!

The food was absolutely delicious and world class. We could see the bald headed white guy on his laptop that I realized was the executive chef. He has put together a great menu that is influenced from Australian fine cuisine.

The only complaint I had was they cleaned our table as we were still eating. I prefer to finish my food before my plates ate taken from our tables unless they are obviously finished. A waiter took our plate that still had some garlic bread that I was planning to eat still. I told him and he was polite and apologized and soon had me a fresh piece of garlic bread on my table.

I’m really looking forward to return to the Canvas Bistro Bar restaurant soon.

For my meal I ordered Chicken Quesadillas& Beef ribs.

I wasn’t very happy with the food, the Chicken Quesadillas were hard, the salsa was premade and there was nothing fresh or tasty about it. The Chicken Quesadillas were better than the beef spare ribs though. The beef spare ribs had a taste of having been in the fridge for many days, the side dish of marrinade sauce tasted like the sickly crap you get at Jollibee with their b-b-q chicken, it was nothing more than cheap b-b-q sauce.

The only good thing about Moon Cafe was the mango shake which even that was quite small. The service was OK too, too bad about the aweful food and it was the same when I ate at the Moon Cafe in Ayala Terraces Cebu last year, I remember the food there was pretty

I was disappointed to see the burger came with a small plate of old & stale lettuce so the first thing i did was demand for some fresh lettuce and they promptly complied. the onion rings looked unappetizing so i never ate those. the burger was pretty good otherwise and the patty was a large beef one. It was also served a sprinkle of french fries and coleslaw so for 130 pesos it was quite a deal even if I had to request some fresh lettuce which was a BIG disapintment on what othewise looks like a good place to dine. It is amzing that they could not get something so simple right, serving someone lettuce that looks like weeks old is just not on.

The staff though were very friendly and nice so I gave them a small tip for the service. I would like to go back there as they have some good menu items that I would like to try.

It is now nearly a month I have been here in the Philippines and Cebu. The last 10 or so days were spent staying at the Stella Hotel. As I have mentioned before it is a nice and new hotel but I will go into some more details now about my experience there.

First, it is good value if you can secure one of the standard rooms as they have a promo on so you only pay about 999 per night. There is no free breakfast for this room though but really it is not a big deal since it is only less than 100 pesos to buy it there plus the breakfast is nothing to write home about.

So on the subject of food let’s start taking a look at this. I did get a free breakfast when I was staying in the room that cost 1288 pesos per night and at other times I paid for breakfast when I was in the standard room or it was past the free time of 10.am. The breakfast I ordered was always the American breakfast. It would come with a few tiny bite size pieces of bacon, two eggs, toast, butter, a dob of jam and a drink. The eggs were salted in my last few orders but I kept forgetting to request without salt, this was annoying as we should have the choice to put salt on if we like but in saying that I never seen a salt or pepper container. The toast varied in amounts; sometimes you would get 4 halves while other times 3. The jam was always right in the middle of the plate which was also annoying. I found out on my last day they had honey but I had to pay another 10 pesos for that and was still served the jam in the middle of my plate which I was trying to explain I didn’t want. The drinks offered were canned juice, cordial or coffee. The coffee was ok but I had to request only coffee instead of the 3 in one crap. They didn’t have fresh milk unless I was willing to buy a container of some weird looking stuff so I purchased a small packed of fried milk powder at the supermarket and would use that each morning. Overall the breakfast was OK but you had to tell them how to make it and often after you did you would find something else wrong. I have never known bacon & eggs to be so complicated. Please just serve me bacon & eggs without salt, without jam in the middle of the plate and don’t fry the bacon until it’s nearly uneatable.

I also ordered a sandwich late at night when I was hungry and that was disappointing as well, it was loaded with sickly and sugary mayonnaise which I tried to scoop out desperately but failed and as I was so hungry I ate the sickly sandwich anyway. I should have learned from that but I also ordered a fried chicken meal thinking I would get at least a quarter of chicken and rice but instead I waited nearly 30 minutes for a plate with rice and a few strips of green mango along with a small fried, dry chicken leg. The food at the Stella Hotel is disappointing at the least.

The room itself is very good although you soon spot the dodgy building work like one of my light switches on the wall was not secured properly and you could see all the dangerous wiring as it came out when I went to turn a light on. The materials in building the hotel looked nice; it was the workmanship was obviously rushed. The room felt comfortable and being new it was clean with no odors. I did spot a couple of small cockroaches though and I guess they had found their way from surrounding buildings.

The bed was comfortable but I had insomnia the whole time, it was probably me and not the bed as I had insomnia at the Diplomat too. There was some noticeable noise when other guests would shut their doors and a noisy bang would often be heard. The room did not seem to be sound proofed near the door which was where I could hear noise from other guests occasionally.

One of the things I liked was the large LCD TV that was wall mounted and it had most of the cable channels along with a printed list of the available ones which were not exactly right as I was not able to view the Australian Channel they said was available.

The bathroom was as good as you get it much more expensive hotels; the shower was efficient but not very powerful. The basin was small but ok.

So overall the room was of a high standard, nicely decorated and it had a great style. You also don’t have to carry a large key but instead the doors work on a card they give you that are the same size as a credit card so you can easily put it in your wallet when you are out.

Now we come to service…. This varied, first I was shuffled from room to room in my first week as some rooms were booked out. I explained I wanted to just stay in the standard room for 2 weeks and not have to keep shifting to other rooms. The woman who I think was the manager was helpful and she was able to secure me a room for 10 days as I wanted. When I first got there I found all of the staff very friendly but by the last day the women at the desk annoyed me as I was about to check out about 11.50am and I received a phone call from the receptionist to kindly remind me that checkout time was at 12.pm. That was very annoying and I told them when I walked down that “most people know checkout time is at 12pm” they never said goodbye as I was walking out and ether did I after they done that and because of that I would hesitate to go back there again. There was another girl who worked there but was away that day and she was always friendly and welcoming.

The cleaning lady’s were very nice and did a great job of cleaning my room each day but it was annoying that I had to request they clean my room, why not have a door sign?

The porters where the best I have come across, always friendly, always ready to help and never expected a tip even though I often tipped them. The same goes for the two security guards who worked there, they were great guys and we all shook hands when I left. It’s a shame that the girls at the desk were not consistent in being friendly to the customers as they let down my experience there at the Stella Hotel which I would have said was excellent value.

My next hotel to stay in would be the Golden Valley Hotel. They have rooms starting at several hundred pesos which would have been OK but I was not able to pick up service for my mobile network “Sun” so I requested another room and they were able to put me in a room they call a “single room” at a cost of about 1090 per night. I stayed here and it was the first time in weeks I was actually able to get a proper nights sleep. I’m not sure why but maybe it has something to do with the air conditioning at these other hotels? Anyway, this hotel is not as stylish or new like the Stella but the staff seemed friendly, great porters again and the room was quite big. The bed was comfortable obviously but it was actually 2 X single beds together. The big disappointment though with this room is that the TV was in a far corner up high and it was difficult to watch as it was so small.

I ordered some food, a BLT sandwich (without dressing) and a mango shake with no sugar and only a little ice. They had no mango’s so I changed to a banana shake. The food came as I ordered and it was great to see they listened to what I wanted and only gave me that.

I will stay here for at least one more night before deciding what to do next as I would like somewhere with a bigger TV especially as the Wimbledon finals are on this coming weekend….

OK, so after about 3 nights at the Golden Valley Hotel and a little tired of viewing the small TV it is time to move on. I have been very content at this hotel though, the food was OK but nothing fancy although I did enjoy the steak dinner as it was the first decent steak I had in Cebu for awhile. I was not impressed with their spare ribs which was just a few bite size bits of pork in a sweet & sour sauce, the green salad was nothing either. But overall the place was satisfying wit friendly staff and a comfortable room.

I have decided to try the Hotel Pier Cuatro and I will write my thoughts on this shortly…..

Ok, so this is my second night at the Hotel Pier Cuatro and it’s been quite pleasant overall. I feel relaxed here in the spacious and comfortable room. The staff are friendly and helpful. Although the location is close to SM Malls there is little else close by than I can see that can offer anything to the traveler. I thought there was a nightclub directly across the road but I was disappointed to find it’s just a strip joint.

The food here has been mixed, the free breakfast is not suited to the westerner but more to Philippine people. The snack I ordered at lunch was pretty horrible, the fries loaded with salt. But tonight I ordered some spaghetti with meat balls and it was enjoyable although I’m not sure why they served some of that ghastly sweet white bread that is found here? The pasta was ‘al dente’ and the sauce had some veggies and was overall tasty but slightly on the salty and sweet side as is often the case here.

The room itself is fairly comfortable although this one at 990 pesos or something only comes with two single beds that they joined together for me. The tv is small but at least it’s fairly close to the bed as opposed the the last hotel and it’s good enough.

The waitresses seemed a bit off their game, that was one of the first things I noticed. The place was only 20% full but they seemed overworked and distracted with their own interests. I was often waving my hands in the air for some attention as were other patrons while the waitresses were standing at their counter with their backs turned and in conversation with other waitresses and staff. They sometimes forced a smile and their was one that was not that bad.

The older Italian man that was sitting near me must of been the owner as he even had to ask the waitresses to come and serve me. I eventually got to order bruschetta from memory and pasta along with a beer that was not cold, even when poured into the semi chilled glass it was still not cold. I was going to order a pizza from the very complicated and messy menu but when I was told it was cooked in an electric oven I cancelled that.

I was served a small basket of fresh french style bread as a complimentary appetizer which was nice with butter but it could have been warmed. When the waitress served me and made my table there was no friendly smile or greeting but I was completely ignored.

My pasta arrived in good time but I was disappointed with it. To be honest, I was not expecting a lot after the crappy service from the waitresses which is often a sign of how good the food will be. Actually the food was much better than the service but no where near as good as you would get normally at a proper Italian restaurant. The pasta sauce was just that basically, it was not that tasty but most disappointing was there was hardly any veggies, it was extremely salty and not anywhere near authentic but at least better than what you would get at any of the fast food outlets in the mall that serve wannabe Italian food.

I also ordered a glass of house red wine, hoping it would be better than the meal. When I was finally able to wave down a waitress I got the wine 5 minutes later and it tasted like watered down piss water. Probably the weakest and most watered down glass of red wine I have had in my life from memory.

I was still starving since the pasta had no substance to it and was quite a small meal so I thought I could order a piece of garlic bread. I was wrong, it was not going to be easy as the waitresses were still engaged in their own conversations and had no interest in serving me or the other customers who were also waving their hands in the air for attention. I guess they had no reason to be on their game since the man that looked like the owner had left quite some time ago.

I got up, grabbed my things and decided to just walk the the counter instead of waiting there for the bill that was never going to arrive. I was quite mad by this time but I politely told them that I had been waiting for them for sometime but they didn’t seem to understand. I paid the bill and the woman serving me was extremely rude, she grabbed the money and never said thank you, so I walked out of that hole to never return again.

A quick search on the Internet seems I’m not alone in my disappointment with this place. http://chefmoz.org/Philippines/Visayas/Cebu/Idea_Italia_953598191.html