Manila

[QUOTE=GoodEnough;1499921]For the most part, Filipinos know little about culinary excellence, and quantity and low cost transcend quality. Chain restaurants are, for many, the epitome of excellence.[/QUOTE]Quite right GE, just walking through any mall will prove that. I almost always notice that the finer resto's have very few local patrons and the fast food places are packed with them (even well heeled ones) ; especially Jollibee's and McDo's. Even the few girls I've met who come from better families and are well educated generally prefer fast food over a finer resto; and if they do accompany you into a better establishment they will almost always order a Filipino dish or pasta (which many cover with hot sauce or worse plaster with ketchup, yuk!).

[QUOTE=Fast Eddie 48; 1499893]To Hutsori.

The land of the garlic eater even pussy taste like it, I spend 2 month in Seoul back in 1988 during the Olympic everything is much cheaper then, I know price is much higher nowdays you cannot compare the two city S Korea is a more devlope country than PI and there are much better international cusine in Seoul than Manila.

Fast Eddie 48[/QUOTE]Your original comment was this: "I think Manila have the worst in Dinning for a big city in Asia." You made no mention of economic development level. So yes, I can compare the two because you did.

I spent many, many years in Seoul. Manila is far better in number of restaurants, diversity of fare, quality of those, and price. That's true for 2013 and was even more so in 1988

Seoul and Manila I can survive easily. The worst food I ever had was in Taipei. Since then I know the value of Burger King, the Whopper saved me from starving.

[QUOTE=Ekspat;1500359]Seoul and Manila I can survive easily. The worst food I ever had was in Taipei. Since then I know the value of Burger King, the Whopper saved me from starving.[/QUOTE]You mean the oyster omelette wasnt to your taste? Or maybe it was the fermented tofu. LOL

[QUOTE=FreebieFan;1500362]You mean the oyster omelette wasnt to your taste? Or maybe it was the fermented tofu.[/QUOTE]Something like that. And some unspecified pork giblets for breakfast isn't my first choice either.

If you know where to go and don't mind spending you will have no food issues. Try the Sunday Brunch at The Shangra-la Makati and tell me the food sucks in the Philippines. Best quality food and assortment you will ever have. Lets not forget the Philippines has more Hotel Restaurant graduates than any country in the world and trains them for 5 Star service in fine restaurants and Cruise Ships. I believe the criticism within is unwaranted.

Agree with Hutsori, there are quite a wide range of good to excellent options in Manila.

Just in Greenbelt 5 and 4 (opposite to the infamous havana cafe) you can find some decent Filipino places, one good thai, one average spanish thing. Prices are VERY reasonable compared to other places of the same standard in other countries in the region (Jakarta, BBangkok) , you can either dine outside or inside, service is great.

[QUOTE=Hutsori; 1499254]You haven't been to Seoul, have ya? The Korean food is great of course, but every other cuisine is mediocre at best, more often done poorly, and over priced.

Overall I've been very pleased with dining here from basic canteens to fine dining. My chief compliant is many of the cheap places serve cold rice which I'm not a fan of. I would recommend staying away from the malls if you want to eat very well. Finding where to go is easy enough; Manila is a very info friendly city and the dining scene is well served by several dozen knowledgeable bloggers / reviewers. Just google "best ________ in Manila" or "top 10 _______ in Manila" and you'll find decent reviews and recommendations.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Mongerer69;1500385]If you know where to go and don't mind spending you will have no food issues. Try the Sunday Brunch at The Shangra-la Makati and tell me the food sucks in the Philippines. Best quality food and assortment you will ever have. Lets not forget the Philippines has more Hotel Restaurant graduates than any country in the world and trains them for 5 Star service in fine restaurants and Cruise Ships. I believe the criticism within is unwaranted.[/QUOTE]A friend of mine, European, who managed one of the largest hotels in Davao, once told me the Filipino HRM students spend four years learning how to fold napkins and make beds. He said they were "useless" for any management positions, but, with additional training, became good waiters. That's the assessment of a seasoned hotelier who received his training in Austria. As to the buffet at the Shangri-La, I find it at best acceptable, and fail to see how anyone can conflate buffets anywhere with fine dining. The Philippines also probably graduates more nurses than most other countries though I doubt that anyone would equate that fact with the argument that it has some of the world's best hospitals.

The bottom line for me is that while you can eat reasonably well in Makati and the Fort, even the best restaurants are no better than average places in most of Western Europe or Japan.

GE

Where can I find generic viagra in Manila? Malate Ermita area if possible.

I know they sell viagra and cialis in street but are Chinese made copy that I don't trust and I prefer indian made stuff sold in regular stores.

Thanks in advance.

[QUOTE=Ekspat;1500359]Seoul and Manila I can survive easily. The worst food I ever had was in Taipei. Since then I know the value of Burger King, the Whopper saved me from starving.[/QUOTE]Taipei wasn't a good dining experience for me either. The dumpling soup, I recall it's called "sway jow", was tasty, though. The very worst food poisoning I ever had was in Taipei. Arby's Roast Beef.

Taipei's food is bad, menus limited, restaurants are cramped and environment filthy. The night food markets are dusty and literally smell like shiit. I am very disappointed in the Taiwanese.

Chinese food in China is much better, actually fantastic, with large menus of fresh ingredients, prepared in exquisite ways, served in nice, clean, quiet private banquets rooms. Even the hundreds of night food carts near Tian An Men square offer large varieties of exotic food, all neatly and cleanly displayed in a nice clean pedestrian street.

Man, I would go to China just for the food alone, then after I am filled, I may even think of the sweet, pretty, sexy Chinese girls.

I am not impressed with restaurants in the Phil. But the food courts in malls in Manila and AC offer some large varieties of exotic food that seem to be favorites for the locals. The malls are also nice, clean, spotless, on par with the best malls in the US. Pinays are very creative in their cuisine, which uses fresh ingredients, spicier than Cantonese, with lots use of herbs and coconut juice.

I would recommend visitors to try any malls' food courts for the widest varieties of authentic Phil food in the tastiest, cleanest and most authentic ways. Also try the charbroiled chickens at food carts everywhere. I have to give Pinays good credit for making their charbroiled chickens the tastiest chicken in the world.

[QUOTE=Hutsori;1500504]Taipei wasn't a good dining experience for me either. The dumpling soup, I recall it's called "sway jow", was tasty, though. The very worst food poisoning I ever had was in Taipei. Arby's Roast Beef.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=LukeSkywalker;1500518]I am not impressed with restaurants in the Phil. But the food courts in malls in Manila and AC offer some large varieties of exotic food that seem to be favorites for the locals. The malls are also nice, clean, spotless, on par with the best malls in the US. Pinays are very creative in their cuisine, which uses fresh ingredients, spicier than Cantonese, with lots use of herbs and coconut juice.[/QUOTE]Been reading all the FRs on this and clearly some like and others dislike Filipino food. I am in the latter's camp on this one as it is horrible (except maybe for a little bit of lechon). How anyone can say a buffet is fine dining is beyond me (I agree with GE comments on this one) and clearly going to an expensive hotel in Manila cannot compare to the Fili restaurants people are speaking of. Go to the Dusit buffet. Same thing. In my days of long stay in hotels I would be advised by the staff which was the fresh food and which was a few days old tarted up in a sauce so definitely not fine dining.

There are nice restaurants in the Philippines for sure. See the Cebu board for examples. But NONE are Filipino food and all the restaurants I like are run by foreigners, some refusing to serve rice (ever!)

As for mall food courts. The only reason to go there is to find a cutie (plenty there at lunch time as I know LOL) as the greasy smell of the place seems to soak in your clothes and the food is generally awful and bland IMHO.

For many cuties Jollibee is exclusive dining so why go somewhere where they would feel out of place. The girls I see now were initially shy in good places but slowly learnt to enjoy and while still grabbing a McDo and / or Jollibee at times, are appreciative of good food and want to try new things (same as their sex life also. At least when I am involved LOL)

And finally we could start a thread on why bangers and mash, spotted dick (I mean the one with custard) , toad in the hole, fish and chips, pie and mash with mushy peas etc and in general British / Aussie pub food is fantastic but that would mean GE and I disagreeing which is not good for such good friends LOL.

There's been a lot written here over the years about a perceived lack of planning ability on the part of Filipinos, about their failure to save money and their lack of mastery of the art of delayed gratification. The link below doesn't re.

Acted specifically to this country, but it's written by someone who has spent a

Large part of her life being poor, and is a highly articulate attempt to describe the thought processes of those who realize that their economic future will likely be no brighter than their present. It's well worth reading.

[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-tirado/why-poor-peoples-bad-decisions-make-perfect-sense_b_4326233.html[/url]

GE

The best regional cooking comes from the Bicol region (South Luzon). Somewhat similar to Thai food, they use lots of chillis and coconut milk in dishes such as laing and bicol express. Very fiery and tasty and if made well (preferably by a Bicol cook) can be absolutely delicious.

Has anyone wondered why duck is seldom used in Philippine cuisine and duck meat is, in fact, almost impossible to obtain in local supermarkets and wet meat markets? I have because it is my favourite meat. Its not as though they are not bred here as they are the source of the infamous balut eggs (has any member tried one of these? I have. Disgusting!). I once asked a Filipino chef why this was the case. He too was perplexed but thought it was because ducks are considered 'dirty' in The Philippines because they will eat anything. The example he used was if you spit, a duck will gobble your spit up. Weird and a fine example of skewed Pinoy logic as this is a country where pig is king and we all know how choosy pigs are in their dining habits.

[QUOTE=Cunning Stunt;1500641]I once asked a Filipino chef why this was the case. He too was perplexed but thought it was because ducks are considered 'dirty' in The Philippines because they will eat anything. The example he used was if you spit, a duck will gobble your spit up. Weird and a fine example of skewed Pinoy logic as this is a country where pig is king and we all know how choosy pigs are in their dining habits.[/QUOTE]And the logic more misguided when the pinays gobble anything up we splurge (well the ones I know do). But mine splurge tends to be sweet tasting (so I am told by the cuties). AR is a past master in proving that LOL.

Duck is a good dish CS as long as cooked well and not fatty, love the meat and your explanation is helpful.