General Info

Over in the AC thread, they were having a good discussion on Food Safety in the Philippines.

This would be a good segway into my own comment post on Food Safety. I've just recently returned from the Phils, and was horrified at a couple of food safety issues. I had already made up my mind three weeks ago to make a special comment on Food safety.

The catalyst for my shock and horror was LA Cafe. I was sitting at the bar downstairs in the main area. If you go in the main door, walk ten feet, then bear to the left and walk another 10 feet, right in front of the wooden Abbot and Costello statue on the bar counter.

There was a MOUSE running around ON TOP OF the bar! I saw it run almost across my plate, then run back. He did not appear to be scared at all! I was pretty horrified. Maybe it's just my lilly white ass, but I am just not used to seeing rats in a restaurant or anywhere where I am eating. What's worse is that I called it out to the crowd of ladies near me, and they kinda shrugged it off as no big deal. "So what? It's just a rat".

Even worse, after sitting around a few more minutes and looking for the mouse again, I spotted a roach up on the bar! Disgusting. So there ya have it folks. Mice and roaches in one sitting at LA CAFE. It started to bother me because I had been eating there for several days! No more, though.

I am a regular watcher of Chef Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares" back in the states. Granted, I get it that it is all show, but every episode boils down to "10 Huge mistakes that restaurants make". One huge lesson is that where you have rodents, you have rodent droppings. If you have rodents in a restaurant, you can bet your sweet ass that they've found their way to the kitchen. Thus, I bet dimes to donuts that the LA Cafe Kitchen is covered up with roaches and Rodent droppings.

The other lesson about Chef Ramsay is to be wary of Restos that have 93 pages on the menu. This is pretty common, especially in AC where they are trying to cater to every taste and ethnicity under the sun. I was noticing on both Kokomo's and Margarita Station's menu that they went on forever! How can you possibly keep any semblance of freshness with a menu that long? The answer is they don't. None of it is fresh. There is likely no labeling system in the back to determine how old something is. The food they serve you is weeks or even months old.

My suspicion is that cleanliness inside places like LAC, Kokomos, etc. is all the same, rotten or almost rotten food swimming in Roaches and rat shit for the past month or two.

But at the end of the day, I don't go to the Philippines for the food. I don't go to LA Cafe because I have some idea that it has a Michelin Star. Just be advised that the back kitchen would receive a big fat F in any first world Food inspection.

Have a plan for when you get sick.

Fly under the radar when in the Philippines. Peace.

[QUOTE=WhatsUrName;1662497]
The other lesson about Chef Ramsay is to be wary of Restos that have 93 pages on the menu. This is pretty common, especially in AC where they are trying to cater to every taste and ethnicity under the sun. I was noticing on both Kokomo's and Margarita Station's menu that they went on forever! How can you possibly keep any semblance of freshness with a menu that long? The answer is they don't. None of it is fresh. My suspicion is that cleanliness inside places like LAC, Kokomos, etc. is all the same, covered in Roaches and rodent shit. The food is weeks or even months old.

But at the end of the day, I don't go to the Philippines for the food. I don't go to LA Cafe because I have some idea that it has a Michelin Star. Just be advised that the back kitchen would receive a big fat F in any first world Food inspection.

Have a plan for when you get sick.

Fly under the radar when in the Philippines. Peace.[/QUOTE]It is with interest I read your comments. One of my first times in phils (shortly 4 years ago) I was proudly sitting down in LAC (I think it was called MBC back then though, same shit though). Proud bcs I was inside the joint I've read so much about with all its pros and cons. I ordered some burger with fries and they put it on the counter next to my seatings. While smiling at a girl, turned slightly away from the plate, I just happened, in my side vision, to see movement on it. Thinking most of my order should be dead items this caught my very attention. It was a roach. The roach did not want the attention and hide itself somewhere at the counter. I alerted the staffs without them taking any action. I happens to know roaches isn't actually worried about health issues and hardly clean their legs before, proudly, walking over my plate and its meat / sidings. I slided my plate to the closest waitress present and she accepted this gesture as a free meal. Well she was warned so it was not like me beeing to cruel.

Until this day I never had anything close to a open btl in this place. I may have ate some pussy out of here but as long as they do a proper clean up before i get down i think this is far more healthier than the food at this joint.

It is a good observation regarding restos / bars / eateries and their mile long menues. Decent and good ones have the one or three specials of the day with a couple of starters / deserts (often attatched closely in its ingredients). They can also have a speciality course designed they know how to make (like mountaincaught trouts with mountaingrown mandle potatoes and fresh salads). Then you have chance to keep things fresh and obtain a healthy food safety level. Not only in the phils this sucks. Just saying.

[QUOTE=Skogis;1662349]David_33;

One time a few years back when I was in makati I was feeling the pain downstairs and some white / yellowish / greenish stuffs came out my Willy. I called my inhouse doc and he told me my best shot beeing in phils and everything was to buy myself a high dosage of Zitromax. I did and popped a few ones for the shock effect. After 1-2 hrs I was crapping like a hero (a sign the meds works) and the fluid from my dick stopped..[/QUOTE]My morning coffee suddenly doesn't taste so good!

[QUOTE=NattyBumpo;1662477]West, check out the Charles Schwab High Yield Investor Checking Account. I set up an account at Schwab with very little capital - $250 and I fund the checking account a few weeks before a trip with what I think I might need. Its great! [URL]http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking_account[/URL].[/QUOTE]Natty, thanks! To open such an account, with Schwab, does one also have to have their Investment account?

[QUOTE=EthanHunt123;1661849]Flight to Manila is almost $100 cheaper for me. Does it make sense to get to Manila and go to AC by road? Also what's the preferred option between Manila & AC. Taxi / Bus / Self Drive?[/QUOTE]Agree with WestCoast1 - fly to Clark. More time and money to spend buzzing round honeypots. If you do take taxi. Take a metered one. A lot of rip off merchants around the airport now. Might cost more but I think worth it.

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;1662567]Natty, thanks! To open such an account, with Schwab, does one also have to have their Investment account?[/QUOTE]Yes, but there is no minimum amount required for either the Schwab Investment account or the Checking (ATM card) account. I put an initial $100 into my Investment account just for the hell of it and have left it there. It earns a small amount of interest.

Happy New Year!

[QUOTE=WhatsUrName;1662497]Over in the AC thread, they were having a good discussion on Food Safety in the Philippines.

This would be a good segway into my own comment post on Food Safety. I've just recently returned from the Phils, and was horrified at a couple of food safety issues. I had already made up my mind three weeks ago to make a special comment on Food safety.

The catalyst for my shock and horror was LA Cafe. I was sitting at the bar downstairs in the main area. If you go in the main door, walk ten feet, then bear to the left and walk another 10 feet, right in front of the wooden Abbot and Costello statue on the bar counter.

There was a MOUSE running around ON TOP OF the bar! I saw it run almost across my plate, then run back. He did not appear to be scared at all! I was pretty horrified. Maybe it's just my lilly white ass, but I am just not used to seeing rats in a restaurant or anywhere where I am eating. What's worse is that I called it out to the crowd of ladies near me, and they kinda shrugged it off as no big deal. "So what? It's just a rat".

Even worse, after sitting around a few more minutes and looking for the mouse again, I spotted a roach up on the bar! Disgusting. So there ya have it folks. Mice and roaches in one sitting at LA CAFE. It started to bother me because I had been eating there for several days! No more, though.

I am a regular watcher of Chef Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares" back in the states. Granted, I get it that it is all show, but every episode boils down to "10 Huge mistakes that restaurants make". One huge lesson is that where you have rodents, you have rodent droppings. If you have rodents in a restaurant, you can bet your sweet ass that they've found their way to the kitchen. Thus, I bet dimes to donuts that the LA Cafe Kitchen is covered up with roaches and Rodent droppings.

The other lesson about Chef Ramsay is to be wary of Restos that have 93 pages on the menu. This is pretty common, especially in AC where they are trying to cater to every taste and ethnicity under the sun. I was noticing on both Kokomo's and Margarita Station's menu that they went on forever! How can you possibly keep any semblance of freshness with a menu that long? The answer is they don't. None of it is fresh. There is likely no labeling system in the back to determine how old something is. The food they serve you is weeks or even months old.

My suspicion is that cleanliness inside places like LAC, Kokomos, etc. is all the same, rotten or almost rotten food swimming in Roaches and rat shit for the past month or two.

But at the end of the day, I don't go to the Philippines for the food. I don't go to LA Cafe because I have some idea that it has a Michelin Star. Just be advised that the back kitchen would receive a big fat F in any first world Food inspection.

Have a plan for when you get sick.

Fly under the radar when in the Philippines. Peace.[/QUOTE]You only saw one mouse and one roach? It must have been a slow evening. With all the food dropped on the floor and tracked in and out on the bottoms of customers shoes, I'm surprised and yes SHOCKED that you saw only one mouse. The rest of them must have been out having an after dinner smoke. I'm certain that mice and rats scurry in and out of all of the restaurants and stores all over asia. Its just life as usual in most countries. Hell even here in the good old USA you will find rat traps everywhere around food prep facilities and restaurants.

Enjoy your meals gents. Happy pooning. LAT.

Be careful of Cebu Pacific airlines fares. They have jacked them up recently. Example:

Just booked a flight MNL-BKK-MNL by Philippines airlines:

Cebu Pacific promotion fare, no baggage allowance, poor schedule times, no meals, net fare: Peso 14,000.

Philippine Airlines, promotion fare, 30 kg bags already included in fare, convenient times, meals included, net fare: 11,177.

Say no more.

Jesus man, what is wrong with you? The roaches are part of the staff, and they eat the rat shit, cleaning the place. It is all about teamwork!

[QUOTE=WhatsUrName;1662497]

Even worse, after sitting around a few more minutes and looking for the mouse again, I spotted a roach up on the bar! Disgusting. So there ya have it folks. Mice and roaches in one sitting at LA CAFE. It started to bother me because I had been eating there for several days! No more, though.


My suspicion is that cleanliness inside places like LAC, Kokomos, etc. is all the same, rotten or almost rotten food swimming in Roaches and rat shit for the past month or two.
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Cons68;1664330]Jesus man, what is wrong with you? The roaches are part of the staff, and they eat the rat shit, cleaning the place. It is all about teamwork![/QUOTE]Agreed, got to respect those Roaches!

[QUOTE=Fastpiston;1664287]Be careful of Cebu Pacific airlines fares. They have jacked them up recently. Example:

Just booked a flight MNL-BKK-MNL by Philippines airlines:

Cebu Pacific promotion fare, no baggage allowance, poor schedule times, no meals, net fare: Peso 14,000.

Philippine Airlines, promotion fare, 30 kg bags already included in fare, convenient times, meals included, net fare: 11,177.

Say no more.[/QUOTE]As a regular practice, I always compare PAL and Cebu Pacific side-by-side before booking. They keel changing, as to which one has the better fare and / or service. Some domestic routes are not available with PAL. Just perform your due dilligence.

RG.

[QUOTE=RadicalGuy;1664399]As a regular practice, I always compare PAL and Cebu Pacific side-by-side before booking. They keel changing, as to which one has the better fare and / or service. Some domestic routes are not available with PAL. Just perform your due dilligence.

RG.[/QUOTE]Cebu Pacific can be a very cheap carrier if you book it far enough in advance and decline all the add on BS. You have to decline a dozen different options to keep the rate low.

Its important to estimate your exact luggage weights on each leg or they will hammer you with at the gate charges. Their best deal is on promo fares. I took my Cebu GF to Siem Riep in 2013 for $265 round trip for 2. Luckily I had known her for a few years and could book it with confidence in advance. There was some poor sap ahead of me trying to bring a Pinay he just met out for a vacation and I think they wouldn't let him do it.

The cheap airfares in the Phils for domestic is one reason and one incentive for me to always try to convince manila based girls to get the hell out of Manila metro with me to a resort in whatever province I can get a cheap flight to. The money spent on airfare will be saved on lodging and food and ground transport. Plus the air will be cleaner, no beggars, 99% less scammers and traffic, prices are fixed for foreigners and you don't have to battle for every simple transaction.

I used to be Premier Elite on Phil Air due to the LA-Manila route before the Delta NW merger and I finally spent all my built up miles last year and now check them as a last resort. But I have my best experiences lately on Cebu Pacific. Hell the Phil Air domestic lounge didn't even serve booze so what was the point anyway?

[QUOTE=Pantot;1664512]Cebu Pacific can be a very cheap carrier if you book it far enough in advance and decline all the add on BS. You have to decline a dozen different options to keep the rate low.[/QUOTE]Altough I doubt anything will come of it, at least one politico is calling for an investigation into CP's refund and charging policies as well as their practice of not using available jet ways and making passengers walk on the tarmac to / from an aircraft.

From the article:

[QUOTE]List of complaints

Colmenares ([I] the politician calling for the investigation[/I]) listed the following issues against the airline:
Long queues
Delayed flights
Overbooking
Expensive rebooking fees and penalties, but when it is the airline that cancels or changes schedules there are no penalties or refunds for the passengers
They offer a deceptively low initial base fare, but in the end the fare shoots up due to big tax and surcharges that are even higher than that of Philippine Airlines (PAL)
'Ridiculous' web administration fees
Why passenger tubes are not used even if passengers pay for their use[/QUOTE][URL]http://www.rappler.com/nation/79202-congressional-probe-cebu-pacific[/URL]

[URL]http://www.rappler.com/business/industries/171-aviation-tourism/79042-cebu-pacific-investigation-flight-cancellations[/URL]

Something else of interest is the recently enacted "Passenger's Bill of Rights". In theory it sounds good, but in realty, who knows, this is the Phils after all, LOL.

[QUOTE]MANILA, Philippines - The Air Passenger Bill of Rights is out and will take effect December 21.

As an airline passenger, these are the key things you need to know:

1. Offloaded baggage

If your checked-in baggage were offloaded from the flight you're in due to "operational, safety, or security reasons," the airline has to inform you ASAP, give you a report, and ensure that your offloaded baggage is carried in the next flight with available space. The airline should deliver the baggage to you within an hour from the time the flight carrying your baggage arrives at your destination. The airline must pay you P2,000 for every 24 hours that your baggage is delayed. A fraction of a day shall be considered as one day.

2. Overbooked flights

An airline is allowed to overbook a flight -- an industry practice of selling more than the seats the aircraft has, based on demand-supply for a specific flight -- as long as the passengers who are bumped off do so voluntarily. If you volunteer to choose a different flight, the airline will offer you compensation in the form of amenities or cash incentives. If the number of volunteers is not enough to resolve the overbooking, the airline is mandated to increase the compensation package by adding more services until the required number of volunteers is met.

3. Airline promotions

All airlines have to outline their limitations and restrictions in both English and Filipino. When advertising promotions, along with disclosing refund and rebooking policies, baggage allowance policies, government taxes and surcharges, other mandatory fees and charges, the airlines also have to include the number of seats offered.

4. Check-in

If you arrive within the designated check-in area at least one hour before the flight's published time of departure, you will not be considered late and the carrier is obliged to make sure you are checked in within the deadline.

5. Flight cancellation

If your flight is cancelled, you have to be notified beforehand via public announcement or written notice such as through a text message. If an air carrier cancels the flight because of force majeure, safety or security reasons the passenger shall have the right to be reimbursed for the full value of the fare.

6. Flight delays.

In the case of delayed departures, airlines are required to provide free food, drinks, Internet access, phone use and, in extreme circumstances, hotel lodging until the flight departs. Your flight is considered cancelled if it is delayed at least 6 hours after the original departure time. You have the right to be compensated accordingly.

[/QUOTE][URL]http://www.rappler.com/business/17692-rights-you-have-as-an-airline-passenger[/URL]

Don't the PA systems in the airports have to be working for them to "notify beforehand"? LOL. And free food? Rice and warm buko juice for everyone, hahaha.

[QUOTE=PipJaeger;1664584]Altough I doubt anything will come of it, at least one politico is calling for an investigation into CP's refund and charging policies as well as their practice of not using available jet ways and making passengers walk on the tarmac to / from an aircraft...[/QUOTE]Pip sounds like a politico on the take of PhilAir is trying to take down a lower cost rival based on orders from his masters.

Granted Cebu Pacifics Manila originating flights are always a keystone cops operation as far as gates go. 90% of the time 3 minutes before boarding they announce a new gate and the entire load of passengers troupe down to terminal 117 from 130. After that its always a bus transfer across the tarmac but really who cares that's standard operating procedure. The flights generally go of on time relatively speaking and the price is right if you buy smart. In my experience domestic Air travel in the Phils while certainly not up to western standards is light years ahead of all other forms of transport, in fact if you play your cards right and book in advance, you can fly round trip to virtually any city in the Phils for less than the cost of a one way taxi or hotel private car Manila to AC 2700 to 3000.

I'm trying to pay my cards right now and both websites for both airlines are down. What an e'ffin country.