Experience A Taste for Green!

Got this from my Friendster Bulletin Board:

Experience A Taste for Green as FlapJacks launches its support for the Greenpeace I LOVE MY RICE GMO-FREE campaign.

Greenpeace is inviting friends and supporters to a fundraising event at Flapjacks on October 12, 2008, at 12 NN.

For only P500, you and a friend can have your fill of delicious food and help Greenpeace fund more local environmental projects.

TICKETS at P500 only! GOOD FOR TWO!
(Choice of lunch or dinner)

Lunch will be served from 12:00NN - 3:00PM / Dinner will be served from 6:00PM-9:00PM.
Hurry! Limited tickets available!

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FlapJacks is located at the G/F Level, Greenhills Theatre Mall (formerly Pilita's).

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For Tickets: Please call Supporter Services at (02) 4347034 local 110 or email at supporterservices.ph@greenpeace.org

Tagaytay: Bulalo sa Mahogany

This is the reason why we go to the Mahogany Market whenever we are in Tagaytay... the BULALO.

Bulalo, as we call it in the Philippines, is a soup made by continuously boiling beef shank and meat until meat is tender and the flavor comes out. The marrow inside the beef shank makes the soup so flavorful. You would just love a taste of this hot soup while enjoying the cool breeze of Tagaytay. Bulalo at Mahogany Market costs around P280.00 and is good for 4-5 persons.

Kamayan sa Palaisdaan (Part Two)

We visited Kamayan sa Palaisdaan again last Monday. As I mentioned in my first post on this place, table reservations and advanced food orders are highly recommended. Here are some of my not-so-good comments on this resto, still, the place is still worth visiting...

Does being a "famous" and "talked about" restaurant mean it's okay to sacrifice the quality of service??? Yeah, right, you have lots of customers... so, that does justify the poor and very slow service that you give your clients. Or does the word "SERVICE" even ring a bell to the management of this restaurant.

I just don't know how many times we have eaten in this restaurant, 10? 20? I guess more. It has been a traditional spot for families in Quezon to frequent the place because of its good food, reasonable price and relaxing ambiance. But during our visits, more than 60% of the time have we seen ranting customers complaining of the very slow service that they give, counting also the times that I was actually the one complaining. Personally, the slow service does not affect me anymore because we already got used to the system of calling in advance for table reservations and food order (as I have mentioned for the nth time in my posts). If you're a local of the place then maybe the poor service will not affect you that much anymore as you're already "so used to it".

It's just so sad to see people coming from faraway places just to visit the restaurant and end up very disappointed. How can we promote a very beautiful place that is almost a landmark to Tayabas, Quezon if the quality of service is just so poor???

Maybe I am just exaggerating but here are a few (very few of all that we experienced so far) examples of poor service in this restaurant and I'll let you be the judge:

• 30-minute wait to get a table
• 10-15 minutes to have a waiter visit your dining area and take your order
• almost an hour (if not an hour) wait for food to be served
• try to ask for spoon and fork (well, sorry but yes, customers sometimes still need spoon and fork even if it's supposed to be "kamayan" specially the ones with young children) and see if it will ever arrive. Yes, your request will be accommodated after asking for it 10 times and waiting for another 30 minutes. huh!
• ask for water and the same thing happens, wait another 15-30 minutes for it to be served!!! Yes, management of kamayan, your customers need "water" so that they will not choke to death.
  
• always check your bill before your pay for it... sometimes there are orders that gets placed under your bill even if it was from another table

Sad but true... these are my first-hand encounters in this restaurant. During our last visit, a lady I bumped unto in the washroom was so disappointed and furious that she was asking how can people even promote this place and be proud of it, SERVICE IS SO POOR, and that they will never ever return to this place nor will she ever recommend it to anybody! They traveled from Manila and ended up experiencing the stuff that sounded so familiar to me (the ones I mentioned above, hehe).

To the locals and frequent visitors of the place, please don't get upset with my post. I feel just the same as you do... I love the place, I really do, and it also hurts me when I see disappointed travelers and visitors ranting against the restaurant. I hope the management of Kamayan sa Palaisdaan will try to do something with the service that they offer their clients.

Well, as for me, I just don't complain. I have tried to talk to somebody from the management which I think was one of the managers or head of the waiters and expressed this concern.

As for the management of Kamayan sa Palaisdaan... I just hope you'll do something to improve the quality of service you give. Remember, you always boast of your Department of Tourism accreditation meaning you want tourists or travelers, may they be local or foreign, to frequent your place. How can they recommend your restaurant if your service is so slow and poor.

And to be fair with the Kamayan sa Palaisdaan management, the restaurant still has good food, reasonable price and worth visiting... just make sure you CALL IN FOR A TABLE RESERVATION AND ADVANCED FOOD ORDER!

Destination Quezon: Kamayan sa Palaisdaan

If you happen to be in the area of Quezon Province, Philippines this restaurant is a "must" to visit and dine.

"Kamayan" is a Filipino term that would mean "eating by hands" and "Palaisdaan" means fishpond. The restaurant's unique ambiance is what it boasts of. Here you will be able to experience dining in huts floating on a pond. The restaurant is situated in Tayabas, Quezon where they always have a cool climate. Lush vegetation surround the place that makes it very relaxing for the busy mind.

The restaurant only serves Filipino dish but for sure you will be more than satisfied with the fresh fish that they will serve may it be inihaw (grilled) or ginataan (cooked in coconut milk). Our order whenever we dine there would consist of "inihaw na spareribs" (grilled spareribs) as this is very famous to the kids, inihaw or ginataan na pla-pla (fish) and ginataan na suso (snails) with pako (fiddlehead ferns).


One advise though, if you're planning to visit the place on weekends or peak days such as local holidays, be ready to wait for long serving time. This happened to us several times already. I also strongly suggest to call them for table reservation and advance food order during peak season.

Kamayan sa Palaisdaan
Brgy. Dapdap Tayabas, Quezon, Philippines
Tel. No.: (042) 793-3654
email: info@kamayansapalaisdaan.com.ph
www.kamayansapalaisdaan.com.ph

San Miguel By the Bay

This is one of the favorite places that my children love to go to. It's like an improved version of Baywalk in Roxas Boulevard before and is more family-centered. Large spaces bounded by steel fences and several playgrounds in different spots makes it child-friendly. My children can run around, play and just have fun...


But, of course, the place won't be as much fun if there were no food places around. There are quite a number of restaurants now offering a wide variety of cuisine. There is the famous "Seaside Palutuan" where you get to buy fresh seafood from the market and have them cooked and served the way you like it. You will also find here the American bar and restaurant "Hooters" and several other bars such as Padi's Point and Pier One. Many other restaurants are mushrooming in the area and the last I noticed was of course a "Starbucks" soon to open.

Best thing in the area are the clean and well-maintained restrooms. Security personnel are also very visible everywhere which makes you feel safe and secure. There is also now a tram that services people who want to avoid the long walk of the whole San Miguel by the Bay strip.