Buffet on the beach, with fellow touristsWe dined well in Palawan, with the settings as lovely as the food. The islands seemed to have arrangements with the tour groups—a row of thatched gazebos along the beach for resting and dining, plus a number of people living there to provide basic facilities. Both lunches were barbecue buffets of what was becoming our standard fare: pork, chicken and fish in savory sauces with the occasional stewed vegetable. And rice. Lots of rice.
Our evening restaurant in town was an upscale variation of that. A lush, partially open-air construct of local materials with a water garden and handicrafted art. Fish again. And panakbet, a popular veggie mix of squash, string beans, eggplant, tomato, okra, onion, garlic, ginger and shrip paste. It was pouring rain on the second night so we stayed at our hotel (a set of cabana-type cottages). Its restaurant was a set of gazebos also, and the servers delivered the signature chicken barbecue in pairs, one holding an umbrella over the other as they ran from kitchen to table.
A couple of things we forgot to mention earlier: Rice is an essentiall part of every meal. Plain rice, garlic rice, all different kinds of rice. The words for dining in Tagalog mean "with rice." . . .There are commonly five meals here. Morning and afternoon snacks are called merienda. Some restaurants offer neat little small plates in the afternoon only. During meetings, Adamson often served a twinkie-like cake in the morning and a bowl of pasta in the afternoon, with juice boxes. . . .Desserts tend to be Asian style, lots of sweet sticky rice. Green and red Jello cubes are often mixed in with coconut milk concoctions. . . . There's one major beer here, San Miguel. It comes in various brews and, according to our connoisseur, isn't bad.
Our evening restaurant in town was an upscale variation of that. A lush, partially open-air construct of local materials with a water garden and handicrafted art. Fish again. And panakbet, a popular veggie mix of squash, string beans, eggplant, tomato, okra, onion, garlic, ginger and shrip paste. It was pouring rain on the second night so we stayed at our hotel (a set of cabana-type cottages). Its restaurant was a set of gazebos also, and the servers delivered the signature chicken barbecue in pairs, one holding an umbrella over the other as they ran from kitchen to table.
A couple of things we forgot to mention earlier: Rice is an essentiall part of every meal. Plain rice, garlic rice, all different kinds of rice. The words for dining in Tagalog mean "with rice." . . .There are commonly five meals here. Morning and afternoon snacks are called merienda. Some restaurants offer neat little small plates in the afternoon only. During meetings, Adamson often served a twinkie-like cake in the morning and a bowl of pasta in the afternoon, with juice boxes. . . .Desserts tend to be Asian style, lots of sweet sticky rice. Green and red Jello cubes are often mixed in with coconut milk concoctions. . . . There's one major beer here, San Miguel. It comes in various brews and, according to our connoisseur, isn't bad.
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