Octagon Sports Bar

Today being Thursday, I met with a group of Americans for a brunch of sorts. Me being the cheap bastard that I am, I always eat at home before going to these get-togethers. Not only is it a lot cheaper, but I can cook as good, or better than the folks here.

Today we met at the Octagon Sports bar in Bacong. In keeping with my usual habit, I decided on a mango shake. It's been quite some time since I've last reviewed a shake from a local eatery.

As can be seen in these photos, the shake was thick and creamy. This one was actually made with mango - you can't say that about all the mango shakes in Dumaguete. This tastes as good as it looks. It's price was only slightly above average. 80 pesos. It was certainly better than some I've had costing 90 and above. I'd recommend the mango shake although the restaurant is really too far from my place to go just for the shake.

Roadside Resto in Sibulan

Yesterday, I went with a group of fellow Americans to have lunch at the Roadside Resto in Sibulan. Today, I feel it is appropriate to review the restaurant.

I had been at Roadside Resto many times, and I thought I had reviewed their mango shakes for this blog, but I was mistaken in that. This post will serve as a review of both the mango shakes and the food.

I don't believe there is much - if any - fresh fruit in the shakes served there, but the taste and texture is very nice and I won't give the shake a bad rating because of this lack of fresh mango.

One of the favorites among my fellow Americans is the Roadside Burger. On this particular burger you get lettuce, cucumber, beef patty and cheese with pulled bbq pork, coleslaw and onion rings stacked on top. This incredible burger comes with a generous portion of fries and iced tea for 159 pesos (about $3.04 USD at current rate of exchange).

Yesterday, I decided to try the Chili-burger. This burger has the same lettuce and cucumber with the beef patty, topped with bacon, cheese-fries and, of course, chili. A word of warning - this chill is not for the faint of heart. The chili is very hot, and I doubt that I could eat a bowl of this chili, but atop the burger it is, for me, a manageable heat. The bun, burger and cheese fries help make the heat of the chili tolerable. This burger also comes with iced tea and a generous side of fries for the same 159 pesos.

All in all, I highly recommend this restaurant.

Thunder Road Bar and Grill

As I may have mentioned in earlier post, I meet with a group of fellow Americans once a week for (usually) breakfast and conversation. This week we changed our meeting time to a little later in the morning in order to accommodate one of the guys who takes his young son to pre-school. We also changed the location to accommodate another guy who wanted to check out a Mexican restaurant located on the south side of the city. We arrived at Los Mariachis at 10:00 AM, only to discover that the restaurant doesn't open until 11:00.

Rather than wait around for Los Mariachis to open, we voted on trying out a bar and grill across the street - Thunder Road Bar and Grill.

My three companions ordered burgers while I ordered the fish and chips. My only regret is that I failed to get a photo of my food. I have no complaints about my order; I'll have the fish and chips again.

Although I neglected to get a photo of my fish and chips, I did manage to get a few photos of the bar and grill. I can certainly recommend the place.

Los Mariachis

My son had been invited to a late afternoon/early evening birthday party yesterday in Brgy. Buntis, Bacong and after dropping him off, my wife and I decided to get a little bite to eat. Not wanting to travel all the way back to Sibulan, I thought we'd try Los Mariachis, located only 5 or 10 minutes away.

Neither of us had eaten at this restaurant before. A number of my American friends had recommended Los Mariachis - our group had even unsuccessfully attempted to have our Thursday morning brunch there but found that it wasn't open that early.

There weren't a lot of customers there when we arrived around 4:30 - there was room for me to park my car in front.

My wife and I split an order of enchiladas (with corn tortillas) with Mexican rice and refried beans. I had a mango milk shake; my wife had halo-halo. The refried beans were not like the ones I've eaten in the U.S.. These were made with white beans. Tasty but a little unusual. The enchiladas were excellent.

It wouldn't be fair of me to compare the mango milkshake I had at Los Mariachis with the mango shakes from other places in Dumaguete. This one had a generous dollop of mango ice cream. Most mango shakes do not include ice cream - the exception being Panda Ice Cream shop in Dumaguete. You get what you pay for. The mango milkshake was more expensive that any regular mango shake in town, but it was very delicious. Los Mariachis also sells a regular mango shake which is comparable in price to most places, but as I haven't tried it, I can't review it.

All in all, I'd recommend Los Mariachis to lovers of Mexican food in and around Dumaguete.

Video: Watching the Traffic Go By in Dumaguete

Last month, I published a post on what it's like to drive in Dumaguete. Today, while waiting in the car while my wife was on an errand, I videoed the traffic as it passed by.

What one sees in this two minutes is a relatively tame example. The traffic wasn't so heavy, so the driving wasn't horrible.

There are, of course, cars, buses, large trucks and small trucks. There are tricycles making u-turns, motorcyclists carrying umbrellas; some folks in shorts and others wearing hoodie jackets.

Maybe next time, I'll video the joys of driving near the downtown market during lunch. That will give an example of Dumaguete traffic at it's worse.

The Rollin' Pin

Tuesday, the day after writing my last post on this blog, I went into Dumaguete to take photographs which might end up, in one way or another, on the Dumaguete website.

Starting on Rizal Blvd., I made a snake-like path to Harolds Mansion, then a left on Amigo, left on Mango Ave. to Aldecoa Dr. by Silliman Univ. Hospital up to Real.

This was on foot.

Before Cang's, I took a tricycle back to Perdices. It was quite the exercise.

Early in my adventure, I took a left off Flores - which up until now, I believed to still be Rizal Blvd.-. This little road had no name that I could find on any Google map of the area. For those familiar with the area, you'll find the Charles Bachelor Building and Calderon Hall.

It was on this little road - next to DSS Fireworks- that I came upon a cafe called The Rollin' Pin. As one can see by the photo, The Rollin' Pin specializes in coffee, pastry and snacks. I couldn't resist the urge to stop in for said pastry and coffee.

I had the coffee, of course and a deliciously flaky pastry that looked a like a cinnamon roll - without the cinnamon. It was called a Norwegian something or other. I can't recall the exact name.

My little snack was very enjoyable. However, the most surprising thing about The Rollin' Pin was their choice of music playing in the background.

Voodoo Chile from Jimi Hendrix' 1968 Electric Ladyland  LP.

For anyone interested in finding this wonderful little cafe, I've included a Google map showing the location of DSS Fireworks. I've since learned that the name of the street is Cantada St.


Update:  I just learned that the cafe has it's own Facebook page.

Tarbush Restaurant Dumaguete

Depending on the time of day that I'm driving into Dumaguete, if I believe the traffic might be to heavy going via North Rd/Real street, I'll take a left on E. Rovira Dr to Hibbard Ave into the city. One morning while taking this alternate route, I saw an eatery on the right, at the corner of Hibbard Ave and E.J.Blanco Dr., called Tarbush, claiming to be home of the original shawarma. I promised myself I would return one day to give them a try.

So, today after Mass (and after going to Lee Plaza to replace a broken mirror) we made our way to Tarbush.

I've had shawarmas prepared in three different eateries in Dumaguete and I must say the ones at Tarbush are the best I've tried so far. Personally, I prefer the chicken to the beef. Tarbush is also a bit more generous with the vegetables they put in the shawarma. Their shawarma cost a little more but you get what you pay for.

On the down side, we ordered multiple items and they did not arrive at the same time. Unfortunately, that's pretty much standard for Philippines. The same is true of every restaurant we've ever been to here.