Eating in Philippine restaurants vs dining at home

[manofthecoldland]

20 hours ago, sonjack2847 said:

I agree we go out a couple of times a week for food and it is not just the cost but also no dishes to wash after.

For me the cost is of secondary importance. I also like to give my wife a break, which she appreciates. She loves to cook and maintain her cooking domain, but also insists on doing everything... meal planning, shopping at several sources for the best quality and prices, and doing the dishes to her high standards. (she used to be a chief cook at a local HS and hates it when anyone visiting does the dishes and leaves soap residue on them or doesn't disinfect things properly. She re-washes and hot rinses everything, when necessary, to her specs.)

   Eating out for breakfast is the best option for her. Chow-King and some small local restos offer the best values, with the restos offering great seaside or plaza atmosphere. Good home cooking is hard to beat since you control the quality of the ingredients and portions. Costs are kept to the minimum. But its good to take a break and get out and about now and then.

   Home is convenient to the nth degree, but if we have shopping to do, bills to pay, or a socializing reason to eat out.....   why not? Variety is the spice of life.

   The best thing about eating out, nice as it is,  is that.... we then usually appreciate our home cooking all the more. I'm lucky in that my wife can duplicate or improve upon anything we are served in most restos. Its almost like a challenge for her to do so. Her dishes are garnished for display, even though there is just the two of us, so I make it a point to sometimes take a snapshot to keep her motivated and let her know that I appreciate all her hard work. Got to keep those virtuous circles, cycling.

All-in-all, the PI is a great place to eat in, no matter if you home-cook or eat out. Yes, a lot of Western and East Asian ingredients aren't always available or inexpensive, but good basic food is here to be had and enjoyed at a decent cost, whether dining at home or out.

[scott h]

I am with Cloud on this one. For me eating out involves air con, waitresses and a menu that's handed to me. The wife and her helper can cook all the Filipino food I like.

[manofthecoldland]

16 hours ago, scott h said:

I am with Cloud on this one. For me eating out involves air con, waitresses and a menu that's handed to me. The wife and her helper can cook all the Filipino food I like.

I am very happy that you enjoy your dining experiences. You probably have better trained service providers in Paranaque than we have in the Provinces... or at least where I live.

I also like the A/C and ceiling fans, but when it comes to being handed menu's, etc., its hit or miss on the service side in many places where I live. Even with 4 year degree in hotel and restaurant management, the staff often lacks the basic servicing skills that westerners have come to expect on their home turfs. Half the time, after seating, you have to ask for a menu. Ditto for non-mineral water. Sometimes also for a holder of napkins... and of course, almost always for common condiments.

I used to eat at a gourmet resto 3 years ago with 4-6 ex-pats every Fri. morn. We were the only clients, along with our wives. There were three lovely young, educated waitresses who pretty much stood there and watched, and chatted. The cranky guys would always get P*ssed because they never cleared the dishes, or offered to refill the coffee etc, unless specifically called to do so, despite the heavily cluttered table. They seemed to lack the ability to anticipate customer needs, despite it being their only true job responsibility from the ex-pat view point  

I've been going to another nice place we like now. The older waiter (who I always tip P20) is very attentive. However last Fri. he was off and 2 young ladies were there who seemed oblivious to me and the other 3 reg. ex-pats. I came in late. We had two tables pushed together and the place I sat down in had used, dirty dishes at it. No other room on the table. After 10 minutes of conversation over dirty dishes, I just moved them myself to the adjoining table and called for a menu. One of my friends had also come later and hadn't ordered either, so we called for a menu since none had been offered. There were only 2-4 other people there at the time, and we were regulars. When they brought my Lomi soup, I didn't even bother calling for black pepper and soy sauce that my trained waiter always brought along with a vase of iced water and glassware. Instead I went to the service shelf near the cashier and just got it myself, since I it was easier and faster. Same thing for the billing.... just gave us a bunch of combined, jotted down prices, all added together. We arrived separately. We sorted it out amongst ourselves, knowing that thats just the way it is here.

The point is, that even when you find a nice resto, with good food and prices, you can't expect the service that your wife.... if she's a good one.... provides for you at home. It sometimes negates some of the pleasure of dining out if the service is poor or brainless. P.S. I will meet and eat there again on the morrow and I hope my main man is working, because indifferent staff reminds me of things I read about communist country restos, where serving paying clients is looked upon as a major inconvenience to the guaranteed  salaries of the state wait staff. I sometimes think and hum...... 'Back in the USSR' while eating out.

[sonjack2847]

On 4/13/2016 at 9:55 AM, Dave Hounddriver said:

Another member mentioned that expats are considered wealthy because they can eat in restaurants at least once a day.  Do you?

I find that restaurant dining, in Dumaguete, can be just as cheap as dining at home. I do not mean dining at the high end restaurants, but lets take Mang Inasal for example.  If you go there for a leg of bbq chicken with unlimited rice and a coke, it will cost you just over 100 pesos (maybe 120).  So what would it cost to buy the meat, condiments, uling (local charcoal), rice and a bottle of coke?  While I have not done an exact cost comparison, it seems just as cheap to me to eat out in many cases.

My break even point seems to be just over 300 pesos for a meal for 2.  So dining out with the wife, 3 times a week, for under 1,000 pesos, seems to knock about that much off the grocery budget.  Comments?

I agree we go out a couple of times a week for food and it is not just the cost but also no dishes to wash after.

 

16 hours ago, manofthecoldland said:

For me the cost is of secondary importance. I also like to give my wife a break, which she appreciates. She loves to cook and maintain her cooking domain, but also insists on doing everything... meal planning, shopping at several sources for the best quality and prices, and doing the dishes to her high standards. (she used to be a chief cook at a local HS and hates it when anyone visiting does the dishes and leaves soap residue on them or doesn't disinfect things properly. She re-washes and hot rinses everything, when necessary, to her specs.)

   Eating out for breakfast is the best option for her. Chow-King and some small local restos offer the best values, with the restos offering great seaside or plaza atmosphere. Good home cooking is hard to beat since you control the quality of the ingredients and portions. Costs are kept to the minimum. But its good to take a break and get out and about now and then.

   Home is convenient to the nth degree, but if we have shopping to do, bills to pay, or a socializing reason to eat out.....   why not? Variety is the spice of life.

   The best thing about eating out, nice as it is,  is that.... we then usually appreciate our home cooking all the more. I'm lucky in that my wife can duplicate or improve upon anything we are served in most restos. Its almost like a challenge for her to do so. Her dishes are garnished for display, even though there is just the two of us, so I make it a point to sometimes take a snapshot to keep her motivated and let her know that I appreciate all her hard work. Got to keep those virtuous circles, cycling.

All-in-all, the PI is a great place to eat in, no matter if you home-cook or eat out. Yes, a lot of Western and East Asian ingredients aren't always available or inexpensive, but good basic food is here to be had and enjoyed at a decent cost, whether dining at home or out.

I understand giving your wife a break  but I do a lot of the cooking here,so maybe I need a break sometimes sympathy for me please!

[Jack Peterson]

3 minutes ago, sonjack2847 said:

I understand giving your wife a break  but I do a lot of the cooking here,so maybe I need a break sometimes sympathy for me please!

 

[sonjack2847]

The only downside to eating for me is the amount of salt they use in their meals.I had an omelette in Dalaguete and it would have been nice if they put some eggs with the salt.

[mogo51]

Gee Kev you are fussy, wanting some egg with your salt!  

We eat out once or twice a week here, have a couple of cheap little restauarants we go to that are basic, we neither expect or receive the niceties of better class restaurants, but the food is great.

If you are a cheap Charlie like me (out of necessity), you adapt.  But all of the experiences members have had, I have had also and it is annoying and I see no improvement when I go to Philippines sad to say.

[Domino22]

Good reading here. I normally only eat lunch as my main meal of the day. Weekends it may be two meals. In retirement I have a budget of $10 a day US for food. I like to cook but sometimes it is cheaper to eat out. But I will need to be able to cook what I can not get there.

[robert k]

57 minutes ago, Domino22 said:

Good reading here. I normally only eat lunch as my main meal of the day. Weekends it may be two meals. In retirement I have a budget of $10 a day US for food. I like to cook but sometimes it is cheaper to eat out. But I will need to be able to cook what I can not get there.

You will eventually find someplace that makes food you like at reasonable price. If you were in Dumaguete I would recommend D&C chicken. 1/4 chicken a scoop of rice and a can of coke for about 100 php. Much cheaper without the can of coke and you could get it to go.

I would occasionally go to Chowking for the Laureate not as cheap but they have rent to pay on more expensive property. To really eat good though I would eat at home, pork chops or yellow chicken curry. Most any meal can be eked out with noodles if you aren't too fond of rice, which I'm not. I learned to buy my cokes by the glass returnable bottle 27 php cold from the sari near my house rather than the 1.5 liter plastic bottle for 48 to 52 php at the market.

I saved a lot on my rent of a really nice place because it wasn't as convenient as a more expensive place but I had my own transportation so it really wasn't that big of an inconvenience to me. Learn as you go and make the best trade offs that you can to put you as close to where you want to be as you can get. If you are ever uncomfortable, it's an opportunity to come up with a genius idea.

[Domino22]

I have read that in Dumagete a lot of places cater to the university crowd. And those are the places to check out. For cheap food. I will bring my knives and a few other things to cook with. I had some great meals and so so meals last February when I went to Bohol and Panglao. I think my food budget is higher than my rent budget, but all is open to change as needed.