Eating in Philippine restaurants vs dining at home

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 minute ago, Jack Peterson said:

This is a new one on Me Anyone else

SWMBO is She Who Must Be Obeyed

[frosty (chris)]

7 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 OK  I'll Bite!  This is a new one on Me Anyone else?

She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO)

 

[Jack Peterson]

Just now, Dave Hounddriver said:

SWMBO is She Who Must Be Obeyed

AH! AH! Yes! I remember now, So toss one of these in the cart EH? They will Love it 

 

 Thank You Sir, I am duly RE enlightened. a favorite saying Of Rumpole   

[Tukaram (Tim)]

We live an hour from the city so we only eat out a couple times a week.  But yeah, places like Mang Inasal (or Jo's Inato) do a pretty good meal - cheap. 

When we go into town I eat at Bong's (a local soup joint). A bowl of arroz caldo, a pork saipao, and a Mt Dew for p50!  No way I could that at home, for the price.

There are lots of expensive options, but we tend to do those rarely. ...by expensive I mean p300 a person or more ha ha 

[Sander Martin]

Alot of Filipinos have a "one day millionaire" mentality. Have you ever seen so meny pawn shops anywhere in the world? The mentality seems stronger the more "pure breed" the Filipino is. Im lucky that my fiance is half Chinese, so shes good with money. Im the impulse buyer :D.

[not so old china hand]

An interesting topic. I've found myself making cost comparisons and come to the conclusion that, here in Beijing, it is cheaper to cook at home compared to eating food of comparative quality in a restaurant. It is possible to eat more cheaply by buying precooked food from 7-11 but it smells unappetising and tastes little better. Even then it would be difficult to buy a basic meal of a hot dish, rice, and a soft drink for less than the equivalent of PHP100.

For the same money I can cook a portion of brown rice, grill a half chicken breast, and steam some veggies. One of the pluses of living in Beijing is the availability, low price, and quality of fresh vegetables in the local wet markets. One can also get good value meat, providing you are happy to stick to chicken or pork. Fish comes at luxury prices. A wide selection of fruit is available, mainly in specialist shops which sell nothing else. However prices are quite high (I think because fruit is regarded as a luxury). Compared to the Philippines tropical fruit such as mango and pineapple are rather disappointing because they are picked early to ripen as they travel and so are always rather sharp.

 

 

Edited April 13, 2016 by not so old china hand
correcting typos

[Jollygoodfellow]

5 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

 If you go there for a leg of bbq chicken with unlimited rice and a coke,

Sounds good but I know if we mean a drumstick then I would need two otherwise in my case I would have to bloat up on rice. 

[robert k]

When I eat out and it isn't a special occasion it will cost between 200-300 php because I am going to try to have something satisfying, not just filling the void. This is the reason I will walk out of Chowking if they don't have Coke, the food is still ok but my satisfaction rating would go way down if they are out of coke. 

Somewhere else my dinner companion one time had fries, chicken wings and a mango float which added up to about 400 php and they didn't finish the chicken wings. I warned them that next time, IF there was a next time, that we would sit there until they finished all of it even if we had them turn the lights out to make us leave. It's hard to get people to respect money when they didn't work for it. 100 php wasted wouldn't break me but then 100 php would buy you a decent lunch at C&L chicken too.

[Mike S]

2 hours ago, robert k said:

When I eat out and it isn't a special occasion it will cost between 200-300 php because I am going to try to have something satisfying, not just filling the void

I agree that's why we only eat out once a week and at that I'm getting tired of the lack of choices  .... at home I know how the food is prepared and cooked with the seasonings I like and no way I can eat rice at every meal .... even once a week is to much for me .... but plenty of fresh veggies and a meat or fish or chicken is great .... most cheap foods I have found here are full of salt or sugar .... two of the Filipinos staples in diet .... 

[Sander Martin]

13 minutes ago, Mike S said:

I agree that's why we only eat out once a week and at that I'm getting tired of the lack of choices  .... at home I know how the food is prepared and cooked with the seasonings I like and no way I can eat rice at every meal .... even once a week is to much for me .... but plenty of fresh veggies and a meat or fish or chicken is great .... most cheap foods I have found here are full of salt or sugar .... two of the Filipinos staples in diet .... 

The first thing you do when you move together with a Filipina is hide the sugar jar. Most Filipino food is way to sweet. ???

Im not a huge fan of rice either, atleast not plain rice. I like my rice mixed with vegetables and stuff. I love Ploff. Since its not common here i keep potatos in stock at the house and i allways get a potatoe meal if its rice time :D.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Sander Martin