Brunch at Tinto

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that circumstances had prevented me from attending the regular Thursday brunch with some fellow Americans last week. At one time we'd meet at pretty much the same location every week, but recently we've begun going to a new joint each week. Because I wasn't there last week, I had no say in where we'd meet this time. This week we met at Tinto on E J. Blanco Dr. in Dumaguete.

I arrived a little early and met the "first shift" expats who were leaving as we were to arrive.

As can be seen in the photos, the restaurant's decor is pleasant enough, but it's similar to choosing the proverbial book by the cover. It's the food that's important.

I made the mistake of ordering the fish and chips. I was hoping for something as good as the fish and chips at Thunder Road but I was sadly disappointed. The fries were not bad - pretty good, in fact, but the fish wasn't good at all, and the meal was way over priced at 330 pesos.

One friend had the chili con carne. It did not look at all appetizing and my friend said it tasted like left-overs (and not in a good way). Two of the guys had burger and onion rings. I didn't ask how the burgers were, but burgers are burgers in my book. The one good thing I can say about the place is that they are very generous with their onion rings. I thought one order was actually a double order.

All in all, I did not have a good dining experience at Tinto and it's unlikely that I'll return.

Dumaguete's Chinese Bell Church

I've been residing outside Dumaguete for three years, and before moving here, I had traveled here - off and on - for nearly 17 years. I was certain that I knew all there was to know about the city and its sights. However, I was very surprised, recently to learn of the Chinese Bell Church.

The church is located in an area where I hadn't roamed until a few weeks ago, and I probably would never had discovered the church had it not been for the repair work being done on one of the bridges that crosses the Banica River. It was while taking this detour that I first spotted the Chinese Bell Church.

This afternoon, I drove out to the church for photos - I took more than 75 photos. Of course, I won't be posting all of those here.

Naturally, I wanted to post a few of these onto the Google Maps website. In addition to these sample photos, I'm also including a map to the church which can be found following the photos below.

Daro Chinese Cemetery

Back in April of 2017, I published on another blog a post on the Chinese Bell Church in Dumaguete. Now, 2 1/2 years later, I've come upon a Chinese Cemetery located on the opposite side of the city in Barangay Daro.

I stopped by the cemetery early this morning to take photos. Of course, not only am I posting those photos here, but I uploaded the photos to Google Maps as well.

Dumaguete Filipino Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade

Not far from the Chinese Cemetery in Brgy. Daro in Dumaguete, we come upon the Filipino Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade fire station.

Of course, I'm posting a few photos.

A Tale of Two Barangays

In Philippines, cities and municipalities are subdivided into areas called barangays. For example, our house is located in the town of Sibulan - in Brgy. Magatas.

According to Wikipedia, there are 42,045 barangays in the country. As far as I know, each Barangay has a barangay Hall.

I would have thought that the barangay hall would actually be located within the particular barangay it represents. I know of at least one case where that isn't so.

As can be seen in these photos, the barangay halls for Brgy. Taclobo and Brgy.Poblacion 7 in Dumaguete are next door to one another. According to Google Maps, both are located within Brgy.Poblacion 7.

Cafe Mamia

Like every Thursday for ages, I met with a small group of American Expats for brunch at a local cafe today. At one time, we would find a suitable meeting place and return to the same place for weeks or even months at a time. Recently, however, we've taken to meeting at a different spot each Thursday.

Today, we decided on Cafe Mamia at the corner of San Jose Street and Sta. Catalina Street not far from Rizal Blvd. in Dumaguete. There were six Americans meeting this morning - one is a newbie -. Three of us had met at Cafe Mamia once before. We seemed to be in agreement that it had been two years since we were last there, but a check of photos that I had posted to Google Maps at the time show that we last visited the cafe in September 2018.

Today, we all agreed that the food was top notch. I had a bread pudding à la mode, which was absolutely delicious. With lots of creamer and brown sugar added, my coffee was not bad.

I had planned on trying a mango shake in order to add to my reviews. The menu listed mango smoothies rather than shakes, but no matter. Two of my companions ordered mango smoothies with their regular order, but I didn't want mine to come out with my coffee and bread pudding. I'd order my smoothie after the food arrived. Unfortunately, when I ordered my smoothie, I learned that my companions received had the last mango smoothies available. When it came to me, the cafe was "out of stock, sir".  One of the guys with me - who is also a regular reader of this blog wanted me to point out that he thought his smoothie was very good. We're planning on returning next Thursday, so perhaps I can have one then.

Something odd happened while I was paying for my food. The menu gives the price of brewed coffee as 55 peso, and the bread pudding à la mode as 105 pesos. The cashier had my bill and told me the total was 90 pesos. That's less than the price of the bread pudding - not to mention the brewed coffee. I pointed out to the cashier that the price was incorrect. She said the coffee was 55 and the bread pudding was 35. I was confused. When I told her that the price on the menu was 105 she looked confused as well, and said something to the waiter in Visayan. I'm hardly fluent, but I believe he must have explained to her that the à la mode increased the price.

If that's the case, then I'd hardly think that the addition of cream should raise the price by 70 pesos. I have no complaint because the menu clearly had 105 and the dish was delicious. I'm still finding it hard to believe that I could have had the bread pudding sans ice cream for only 35 pesos.

In addition to posting the photographs I took this morning, I'm including maps from Google showing the location. There will be two maps below. Google has two entries for the same location.....one given as Cafe Mamia and another as Mamia's Bar and Restaurant. There was a time when I would notify Google Maps of the duplication, but after seeing nothing being done to correct this in the past, I'm reluctant to point out the error now.