Observations on Philippine Dining

[Onemore52]

My pet hate, when in a local restaurant to keep the children occupied they bring along their iPads and any other shite that generates noise, so try and carry out a conversation is nigh impossible, but the parents are oblivious to this. 
 

Our solution is to only go out for lunch, which has the added bonus of not driving at night amongst the drunks and to not have an accident wit vehicles or push bikes that have no lights on.

[BrettGC]

17 minutes ago, Onemore52 said:

My pet hate, when in a local restaurant to keep the children occupied they bring along their iPads and any other shite that generates noise, so try and carry out a conversation is nigh impossible, but the parents are oblivious to this. 

Same, but unfortunately it's becoming the norm.  

Being on the phone at the dinner table is banned in our house, much to the Tik-Tok generation's disgust (our nephews and nieces).  I love those kids, and they're all really good kids, but phones.... Anyway, we all know the story. 

In restaurants if we're in a group, if any of the kids touch their phones there's no ice-cream from the 711 on the way home for any of them.  If it's the adults - my lovely wife has been known to commit the offence - they pay for everyone's drinks.  

 

[JJReyes]

Family Restaurant - In the West, this means children are welcome.  They have their own menu with staples like "macaroni & cheese" and freebies such as crayons and coloring books to keep them entertained.  In the Philippines, it means the restaurant has mostly tables for large family groups -- maybe 10,15 or 20 of them.  

Four of us went to Tagaytay Ridge for lunch yesterday, a Sunday.  Big mistake.  The traffic was bumper to bumper both going and returning.  There were about 30 people at the reception area waiting ahead of us, but we were seated immediately.  The reason is everyone else wanted large round tables seating 12 guests.  Their wait time was around 45 minutes.  I was given the honor of ordering food.  The time-honored tradition for both Chinese and Filipino dining is one dish per person in the group.  Another big mistake.  The dish size is meant for 12 persons, so the noodles alone was around 2 kilos.  We had one large, heavy take home bag.

I will be more careful next time.  

[intrepid]

21 hours ago, RBM said:

Once again I vow not to eat out just at home as my partner is a great cook.

Agreed!  I have told many people over the years that the only reason we go out to eat is to give my wife a break.  I do always try to help when I can and will do clean up and dishes.  Of course I will try try to do this as much as I can when we have guests just to show off.  A small price to pay in my view.

[intrepid]

17 hours ago, JJReyes said:

Four of us went to Tagaytay Ridge for lunch yesterday, a Sunday.  Big mistake.  The traffic was bumper to bumper both going and returning.

Living in Sta Rosa we liked to visit Tagaytay.  Many places to eat and shop.  Plus one of my daughters best friends lived there.  However, it did take me long to realize I will never drive there from Friday afternoons thru Monday mornings.  Even with visiting guests I refused to take them during those hours.  Just not worth wasting a whole day.  The drive could take hours one way.  The off times about 20 minutes.  Lesson learned!

Edited February 21, 2023 by intrepid

[RBM]

21 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

And it's a lot cheaper... The main problem is you need to wait your own table and wash your own dishes... Hmmm and the tip can be very nice!

Not so Tommy, my partner prefers I just sit.......Tip is a different story....

[Jollygoodfellow]

On 2/18/2023 at 2:55 PM, mountainside said:

 I'll be confident that the ice cubes in my San Miguel will have been made only with bottled water.  Then I won't have to fish the ice cubes out of my glass and wonder what to do with them . . .

I have never had an issue with ice in Cebu city. Restaurants and bars etc buy from an ice company so maybe the water is filtered but you can drink Cebu city water anyway. I dont think I have ever seen a place here with their own ice machine to produce ice on site.

[mountainside]

1 hour ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

I have never had an issue with ice in Cebu city. Restaurants and bars etc buy from an ice company so maybe the water is filtered but you can drink Cebu city water anyway. I dont think I have ever seen a place here with their own ice machine to produce ice on site.

My Cebuana wife reminds me that we were always OK with tap water and ice during our visits to Cebu City.  Her relatives in Mandaue, though, have water delivered for human consumption.  I think they'd serve me tap water only if I misbehaved . . .

[Kingpin]

3 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

you can drink Cebu city water anyway.

Maybe you can, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone though.

On 2/20/2023 at 12:55 PM, BrettGC said:

Being on the phone at the dinner table is banned in our house

As it should be, but it's not a bad time for a family movie though.

On 2/21/2023 at 5:41 AM, intrepid said:

the only reason we go out to eat is to give my wife a break.

Mostly agree but there's another reason. If you can find a really good international restaurant, what your wife eats, she can replicate at home...or at least have fun trying.

[Onemore52]

Where we are the tap water used to be quite good but then some  millionaire bought the facility and now it’s not so good.

When is too much money not good enough for these people?