Service Most restaurants tack on a 10% service charge (ie.
"Tip") automatically. Unfortunately, with the addition of this extra
cost goes all the wait staff's incentive to deal with you. Expect
service to be lousy or non-existent. Then, if a waiter does happen
to come over to your table by accident, you will be pleasantly surprised.
The rule of thumb seems to be: once you get your food, you are on
your own. You may need to stand up and wave your arms to get a waiter
over to your table after you have been served. back
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The
Food. Be prepared for everything to arrive at the table whole
and on the bone. Fish dishes will most likely arrive on the plate
sporting not only all the bones but the head, tail, scales (and possibly
a hook and line). Shrimp will also arrive intact with head, tail,
and legs still attached. Chicken will be served with bones not only
in main courses but even in soup dishes. back
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American Breakfast
Several of the restaurants we ate at offered what they referred to
as an "American breakfast". These orders usually consisted of one
egg, two or three pieces of toast, some bacon or sausage and a fruit
or fruit drink such as orange juice. How they figured that Americans
only want one egg on their plate is beyond me. back
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Ketchup.
Don't be surprised when you find the Filipinos have messed with
the traditional tomato ketchup we are so addicted to in the United
States. It is not at all uncommon to see banana ketchup used in it's
place. That's right, banana ketchup. At first glance the appearance
is the same. The name brand is even Del Monte. It had the same type
of glass bottle and same red color, but a close look at the label
reveals a picture of a banana instead of a tomato. The look and consistency
of the banana ketchup is much the same as tomato ketchup. It tasted
surprisingly like tomato ketchup, or should I say surprisingly unlike
bananas. I dislike bananas but had I not noticed the label on the
bottle I probably would not have even noticed the difference. Once
I knew what to look for I was pretty sure I could distinguish the
two, but a blind taste test would have been an interesting challenge.
Tomato ketchup is also available but it must have been more expensive
because we saw it more frequently in the better restaurants. back
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Dogs
And Other Animals In Restaurants Be prepared to eat with animals.
Many of the restaurants had some type of animals running around. Dogs
and cats are the most prevalent animals roaming around, but chickens,
pigs, and other animals will also be found on occasion. The further
you get out into the remote provinces the more acceptable these dining
standards become. Animals are not allowed in dining establishments
in Manila and popular restaurants outside Manila. Another interesting
observation is that all the dogs we saw were young. There were a lot
of dogs running around all over the place, but we only saw one or
two that had grown past the stage of puppyhood. From these observations
I drew the conclusion that many of the animals wound up served with
rice! The health of the animals is generally poor. Many are skin and
bones with large sores and patches of missing hair. They often seem
oblivious to the presence of humans and some, not surprisingly, are
a little wary of them. They all appear to be leading a rather miserable
existence. back
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Fresh
Fruits In The Markets The local markets are full of bananas, pineapples,
papayas, mangos, coconuts and countless other fruits. Only a few of
these fruits are available in the United States. The taste and consistency
of the of freshly-picked tree-ripened fruits available in the Philippines
are almost unparalleled. The bananas were smaller than those that
make it to the United States but everything else look about the same.
In Manila, there was even a 24 hour fruit market just around the corner
from our hotel. In the open markets you will see vendors selling sliced
pineapples, opened coconuts, and other prepared fruits. These items
look tempting but it is best to avoid them. Any uncut fruits are fine
but anything you buy that is already sliced could be trouble. back
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Coke
Coke and other soft drinks are available primarily is bottled
form. The soda fountain mixed drinks are very rare. Canned pop is
available in some locations but it was more expensive. The bottles
are worth as much or more than the fluid was and had to be left at
the store. If you wished to purchase a soft drink to go it will be
poured into a small plastic bag with a straw. back
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Dessert
Sometimes you never really know what you like until you are without
it for a while. The one dessert item in short supply in the Philippines
was chocolate. There wasn't a single restaurant we ate at that offered
a chocolate item on the menu. There is a Filipino chocolate bar on
the market, but it has a much different taste than American chocolate.
We did see a few places that sold Nestles and Hershey chocolate, but
they were few and far between. I brought a bag of miniature Halloween
Hershey bars with me from the United States and we relished them as
the last vestige of the country we temporarily left behind. One of
the more interesting dessert items we saw was gulaman which is basically
Jell-O. Uncooked, it is dry and comes in a small, elongated rectangle
of different colors which do not indicate any differences in flavor.
It is cooked by dissolving it in boiling water and adding molasses.
Retailers cool cooked gulaman in glasses and are sold without the
glass that formed them. Stores offering drinks serve sweetened diced
gulaman mixed with sago - round rice pebbles - and crushed ice, as
one of the more refreshing drinks around. (Unfortunately, I opted
not to sample this drink because of the questionable origin of the
water used in making it.) back
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