small city on coast, mall, restaurant diversity

[Simon Sykes]

I like to surf fish. Don't need a beach per se, any coastline will do. Big enough city to support a mall, and a few pizza/Chinese/western/espresso/middle-eastern or other ethnic restaurants. 

I've read a dozen internet articles on 10 best beach towns in the Philippines. I don't mind at all if your recommendations are on that list. Most of the articles are generic, and appear to be written by bots with no one the ground experience with the locations.

All ideas are welcome. Thanks!

[Old55]

Welcome to the forum Simon.

For the most part shore based fishing is ill-advised or fished out. 
Most medium sized towns feature malls. Larger towns and cities more elaborate and numerous they are but nothing is certain in Philippines.  
Food and restaurants as you mentioned depends on many factors. Western style fast food is common place.
The market dictates types of restaurants. Wealthier filipinos and expats living in a particular area you may find sone acceptable choices including supermarkets stocking western foods.

 

[Mike J]

Welcome to the forum Simon.   Moalboal comes fairly close to your list except for the surf fishing.  As @Old55most shore lines have fished out by locals or are protected/preserved for snorkel and scuba.  A disadvantage to Moalboal is lack of major medical care.  The closest "real" hospital is 2-3 hours away depending on traffic.  Perhaps you could list the cities you read about?  I am curious and I think other forum members would also be interested.

[BrettGC]

Welcome  Simon.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a diversity of restaurants in a smaller city unless it's a larger by population provincial capital or a major tourist area like Moalboal that @Mike J mentioned.  As @Old55 stated, fishing is either fished out, jealously guarded by the local fisherman that make a living from it, or in protected areas. 

It's been my experience other than the smaller scale resto chains like Krispy King or Mr Liempo etc (fried chicken and pork belly respectively) most of the fare is generally versions of western fast food or Filipono food.  Provincial Filipinos that live in the smaller cities tend to eat what they eat at home when they eat out so foreign fare isn't really catered for.  There are of course exceptions in every area.  We live in a smaller city that's not tourist oriented and other than two or 3 little gems within an hour's drive of us there's not much on that front and definitely no ethnically diverse food unless you want to include pizza under that heading.  For any diversity we have a 2-3 hour drive to Bacolod or Dumaguete and even then the quality and range is hit or miss.  We cook a lot at home with ingredients we order online to satisfy our "exotic" cravings. 

It really depends on how you define "small" and the other facilities that are on your must have list. 

 

[craftbeerlover]

That would be hard to find in the Philippines.   Even relatively "bigger" cities like Tagaytay, you would be hard pressed to find diverse restaurants.   My best guess might be somewhere on Palawan (but not El Nido), much of the water is so polluted you can not even swim (speaking strictly to surf casting)    Or maybe even somewhere on Cebu.  Lot of coastline in the Philippines so maybe somebody on here may know a gem of a place that fits your desires. 

[Kingpin]

16 hours ago, jjcabgou said:

much of the water is so polluted

That's a problem everywhere in the Philippines, the fish are toxic and should be avoided completely, beaches are terrible, the only locations fit for expats here are a few major cities.

 

[Old55]

3 minutes ago, Kingpin said:

That's a problem everywhere in the Philippines, the fish are toxic and should be avoided completely, beaches are terrible, the only locations fit for expats here are a few major cities.

 

Respectfully disagree. My experience is very different.

[Mike J]

3 hours ago, Kingpin said:

That's a problem everywhere in the Philippines, the fish are toxic and should be avoided completely, beaches are terrible, the only locations fit for expats here are a few major cities.

 

As did @Old55, I would have to disagree.   I am happy here in Moalboal and there are quite a number of expats who came here as tourists and ended up making it their home.  Some folks want/need the amenities of a large city, others desire the more laid back life style in the province.  There are advantages and challenges to each.

[Kingpin]

5 hours ago, Mike J said:

Some folks want/need the amenities of a large city, others desire the more laid back life style in the province.  There are advantages and challenges to each.

You can have both though, that's part of my point. There's nothing more 'laid back' then a high-end city subdivision lifestyle, because it comes without province challenges of brownouts, few ATMs, internet, variety (and delivery) of foods, security, noisy roosters, drunk videoke, etc.

 

 

 

 

[Mike J]

7 hours ago, Kingpin said:

You can have both though, that's part of my point. There's nothing more 'laid back' then a high-end city subdivision lifestyle, because it comes without province challenges of brownouts, few ATMs, internet, variety (and delivery) of foods, security, noisy roosters, drunk videoke, etc.

 

 

 

 

With all due respect, you would not find my neighbors and their children in a gated compound in a large city.  They are poor in wealth, rich in goodness.  It is not our desire to recreate a western life style, but rather to be accepted as friends and neighbors regardless of social status.  Living in a gated high end subdivision is within our reach but not what we are seeking.