Dive-Monster Rhoody

Last evening I was dining in a Sandpipper ‘s Café, a new restaurant in Dumaguete. Don’t ask me why it is Sandpipper with three “P” and not Sandpiper like the bird. The staff there could not get me any info about that three-P issue.

I knew about the opening last Sunday anyway but a friend of mine could not resist to spam me each time she saw me online on Yahoo, Facebook and other Online-Platforms about the authentic American and Mexican Food and the outstanding Pizza. Well, I tried to put that spamming out of my head and went there at 7:30 pm with Rechel.

Stepping through the door a very positive surprise awaited me. I liked the interior as it gives a nice feeling, good colors and NO plastic chairs, just friendly and warm. The next positive point, three former Casablanca employees, two in the kitchen and the head waiter, so the food should be good and Roy, the waiter was one of my favorites at Casablanca.

I viewed Andrew, the owner of Zanzibar there and he invited us to join their table. Great, so I was able to see and taste even more different food of Sandpipper (by the way, even Google does not know what a Sandpipper is) . First order drinks:

Rhoody: Coke light
waitress: Sorry Sir, we do..
Rhoody: Ok, coke Zero
Waitress: Sorry Sir, we don’t have Coke Zero also
Rhoody: Well, Bottled Water na lang…

Of course things like that can happen, specially 4 days after opening and with about 1001 friggin shops around, and each and every single one of them is selling Coke Light or Coke Zero.

The menu is not really big, but has a nice choice of American, Mexican and local dishes. I asked Andrew and his friend what they ordered and we ordered something different at Sandpipppppper (well as there is no Sandpipper with 3 P’s I thought it doesn’t really matter if I use 5 or 6 or 19.)

So here is our total order at Sandpi_er (2p 3p 10p no p who really cares):

Southwestern Eggrolls
Chicken Fajitas
Kimchi Soup
Seafood Corn Salad
Breaded Pork (American Style)
Pepperoni Pizza
Classic American Burger
Mineral Water

So lets start with Sandpaper’s (just thought to mess up another letter, as “P” is getting boring). The orange description is original from Pandsippers menu:

Southwestern Eggrolls (Have the taste of the south, black beans, corn, grilled chicken, jalapeno and cheese wrapped in our house made flour tortilla)

Well, the house made fluor tortilla had the quality of an average fast food lumpia, but at least it was not fried in old oil so it had an ok taste. The magic cheese must have disappeared into invisibility or non-tastility (wow great new word)  somehow before I had the chance to taste it, or it might be the same cheese like on my burger so I could not taste it due to the lack of exactly this. The filling never saw a jalapeno in its entire life in the freezer. Where do I know about the life in the freezer? Well the Lumpia dough was hot and the filling stone cold …. Anyway, Rechel liked the dip …

Chicken Fajitas (Try one of our most entertaining dishes filled with sizzling beef/chicken, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, ready to jump into your mouth, wanting for more!)

Hmmmmm, like you see on the picture, nothing was ready, it was more like in a spare-part shop and you need to assemble yourself. After assembling, it really wanted to jump in my mouth… and it did… but I learned out of that mistake and avoided to give the next bite another chance to jump … As there was some Eggroll dip left, I gave the chicken a bath in it, left the bread aside and considered it eatable…

Kimchi Soup (Pipspanders –see at least I use all letters- special dish, so no description in the menu)
The Sandpipper’s (this time written correct -at least that’s what the restaurant thinks-, but only for search engine issues) Kimich Soup is a kind of sourish broth with lettuce, string onions and  well, I guess that’s about it, just leave a comment if you see some more ingredients in the picture… It is a far cry from Kimchi taste, but generally ok… just call it Sandpiper’s experimental vegetarian broth

Seafood Corn Salad (Come out of the box and try our delicious shrimp, fish and squid, mix with lettuce, corn, olives, cucumber, tomato, carrots and cheese. Served with bleu cheese dressing):

I did not taste it, but after investigating the picture I finally found out where the cheese of my Southwestern Eggroll went .. ALL 7 of them !!! Well I could not find the corn, but I assume corn is not that important in a corn salad …

Breaded Pork American Style (Pork fillet breaded with fine breading that will melt in your mouth. Served with Potato wedges and a side of gravy sauce.

It was new for me that a breaded pork actually uses fine breading to be breaded… One never stops learning, Anyway, the dish was a Vienna Schnitzel, 10 peso less than in Casablanca, but only a quarter of the size there. It is served with brown goo The Potato Wedges were RAW in the middle totally not eatable … funny that at this moment the waitress came to our table:

Waitress: Sir, everything ok?

Andrew: Well the Potatoes are raw.

Waitress:  But Sir, everything ok ?

Rhoody: hmm, if potato wedges are raw and uncooked, no it is not really ok.

Waitress: ok. (and was never seen again until we paid the bill)

As weird as it may sound for my valuable readers, but THAT was the good part of the dining experience so far … next:

Classic American Cheese Burger:

It is hard to describe and I am not an American, so maybe this is a classic American Cheese Burger and I have just no clue and Sandpfizer is correct and an American Cheese Burger is a sweet Burger Bun with a Burger Paddy stretched with at least 70 % other ingredients but not beef (I would say something like cardboard or sawmill leftovers), topped with a slice of cheep Lee Plaza Form cheese.

Don’t get me wrong, the Burger Paddy itself had a good size, but a bite in it makes the Burger Delight Chilly Cheese Burger for 4 am drunkyards at the Boulevard for 29 Peso appear like a Michelin 3 star dish compared to Sandpipers Classic American Cheese Burger. Everything more than 2 mm below the Paddy surface was raw and red, that is actually why I can estimate the 70 % of the ingredients!!! Then again, I am not American, so what do I know about All American Burger.

The Pepperoni Pizza.

The Size ok, but definitely no 14 inch like promoted (if that is 14″, my little Rhoody is 10 inch…. diameter). The Tomato-sauce was cheap-shit sweet philippino Spaghetti sauce, the Pepperoni also imported from Lee Plaza and the Mozzarella definitely the cheap local one and nearly without taste. Fluffy American style dough but tasteless what is (given the whole dining experience) actually a very positive point.  When the bill came I thought I got hit by a horse. That piece of sh_t (insert “i’ at the appropriate position marked with an underscore) cost fucking 445 Peso.

I apologize to my valuable readers and if you read my older posts you can see that I usually @#%@ or xxx this kind of words, but fuck me crazy, some of that stuff was just one tiny step away from food poisoning.

I can’t understand that 2 cooks working for years in Casablanca forget each and everything about food and its preparation and don’t even get a simple potato wedge correct on the plate. What a shame….

But I am also a lucky one. A friend of mine ( who is actually a trained chef with international accreditation) went there today at 5 pm. He could not believe the Horror Stories I told him about Sandpipper. They stole him 580 Peso for a ham and egg pizza out of his wallet.

He send me following text after his visit: Hui, waren gerade im saddingsda und haben ne Pizza fuer 580 Peso gegessen. Ausser dass das voll teuer is gebe ich dir recht.

Translation: Hey, we just were in sandwhatever and had a Pizza for 580 Peso. Next that this is expensive, I totally agree with you.

So let’s recall the good points of Sandpiper : nice place and a lot of headroom to improve. Rechel mentioned also one waitress had sexy legs … sus, I missed that

Anyway,I almost forgot there was at least one thing which was totally authentic:

4 Bottled Water really came as water in four bottles… recalling all the other stuff, at least I hope it was water at sandpipper (sandpiper’s) Restaurant in Dumaguete

Cheers

Rhoody

PS: For my spamming dear friend:

Whenever a relative, friend, lover etc works or opens whatever place, even a flee-circus for 7 legged retarted spiders doing backward somersaults,  keep your suggestions out of my profiles, chats and out of my freggin life !!!

PPS:Dear valued readers,  I even tried a polite Version for Dumaguete Info, If you are interested how to get that fuck up into a polite way, just click here

PPPS: This report is based on my private experience at one visit with 7 dishes and shall not be used as a general critics of the Food served at Sandpippers Restaurant in Dumaguete

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Mifune is a new Japanese Restaurant in Sta. Catalina Street in Dumaguete (actually they call it Mifune – Japanese Food and Bar) and finally on the third visit I could test it with Rechel.

That I needed 3 tries was not necessarily the fault of the restaurant.

The first time I went there was simply one day before it opened, the second time 3 days later but the air-con was not running and it was just super hot that I could not even sit down without being soaked in my own sweat. So now on the 3^rd try all was good and I could test-eat the delights at Mifune.

I really like Japanese food and don’t mind spending a few peso for some good stuff.  Well, we are in Dumaguete and of course I need to limit my expectations as a authentic Japanese restaurant would probably run out of customers after a week as people in Dumaguete are just not willing to pay for good quality.

When Rechel and I arrived at Mifume it was about 11:50 am and my first surprise, the air-con was running and it was very cool, perfect for fat sweating people like me. The interior is a bit on the “cheesy” side but I guess it needs to be like that to fit the philippino taste for flashy colors and plastic dust-catcher. My personal idea of a Japanese Restaurant would be a bit classier and for sure I would not put in the cheapest and smallest plastic-chairs which can be found in Dumaguete, where a long-nose adult-ass does not really feel that comfortable after a while.

It seems to me that there is a lot of staff for the relatively small place but hey, I don’t have to pay it and as long I get served I don’t mind. They were attentive and the service was friendly and fast. Let’s talk about food of Mifune. The menu offers a nice variety of Japanese food.  So I run through the Menu and ordered a variety of dishes including Mix Tempura, Chicken Teppan Yaki, Mixed Seafood Teppan Yaki, a Dragon Seafood Roll and a Tuna Teriyaki.

Naga the owner of Mifune and an old friend of mine offered me to try some fresh octopus but I refused as the last octopus in Dumaguete had the consistence of a bleached used trike-tire and I didn’t wanna take the risk to ruin my meal before it comes.

We got a small complimentary Salad so no critics about the green tomato and katsup-mayo-mix dressing.  Next came the Tuna Teriyaki, three slices of Tuna in a kind of BBQ Sauce, not really Japanese Food but good and no complaint for 139.- Peso.

The Tempura Mix for 180.- Peso looked good and tasted also very delicious.

The Chicken Teppan Yaki won’t be on my list next time as I get better chicken (and more) in other places for 189,- Peso. Our other Teppan Yaki dish, the mixed seafood, was Rechel’s favorite and she didn’t leave me a lot left to judge it accordingly. Last the Dragon Seafood Roll will be a “Do Again” next time I just will take care that the cook won’t mess it up with that horrible sweet philippino mayonnaise.

All together with all those Japanese food and two ice tea, we paid 918.- Peso in Mifune Restaurant, which is absolutely fair for that kind dishes. If you expect real Japanese cuisine you might be not 100% excited as I thought all the dishes were pretty much philippinolized missing a bit on originality.

I am also aware of the consumer structure in Dumaguete and therefore Naga and his staff in Mifune Japanese Food and Bar Restaurant did a good job and I can see a better future for him than for other “we are bored and know it all – let’s open a restaurant” – expat’s we had in Dumaguete before (and sure will have again).

Mifune will not end up on my “Must-do” recommendation list of restaurants in Dumaguete, but for sure it is for me very welcome alternative for expats who are searching for something a bit different.

Cheers

Rhoody

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I went to Zanzibar – Lounge & Restaurant in Dumaguete a week ago when it had soft-opening and my first impression was that this will be a cool hangout for me in the future.  Zanzibar – Lounge & Restaurant is a small place just across the famous Sans Rival very close to the Boulevard in Dumaguete.

I wrote about the soft-opening a little report on Dumaguete Info (click here: Zanzibar Dumaguete on DI), so for this post I wanna stick to the Grand Opening of Zanzibar Lounge and Restaurant in Dumaguete which was yesterday at 7:30pm. Well that was a very bad time for me as it also was the Kick-Off of the German Team at the Soccer World Cup in South Africa. Zanzibar has a nice big TV at the bar, so I was able to watch it there.

I always trust the philippino time and was pretty sure that I won’t miss a lot of the program. When I arrived there at 7:25pm the stage was not eve build and therefore I could watch the match which began in “real” time. Well, Germany lost but that didn’t really bother me a lot  as the mood in the bar was great and I had so many smiling faces and lovely woman around me to enjoy the evening.

After the game I went outside to find out that there was still nothing going on, but Mike of the Dauin Beach Resort arrived with his family plus Angela and Freddy, two friends of mine from Taiwan which had the last evening here before heading back.

Around 10:30pm (which is not too bad for philippino time) a band started playing and they were pretty good. They played 10 songs, which was definitely not enough and sadly in the middle of their set it started to rain a little bit. After their set a “fashion-show” started, well, I am almost 9 years here in the PI and if you seen one single provincial fashion-show, you have seen them all. (I hope you can wait for my “Fashionshows in the Philippines”-article, that’s gonna be a blast)

That’s why I skipped that part and my lovely Rechel took some pictures. I preferred to get inside Zanzibar and what can I say, the place was rocking. Everybody was in a party mood and the spirit was great.

Well as I am a bit older and had not that much sleep the last few nights, I decided to leave the party-zone around midnight.

Anyway, the Zanzibar Lounge and Restaurant – Dumaguete goes straight into my top3 hangouts in Dumaguete.

cheers

Rhoody

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Just as I roamed yesterday through the streets of Dumaguete I came across La Piccolo (The Small) which happened to soft-open yesterday. Of course I needed to stop there and  had a test – bite to eat.

La Piccolo is located in Noblefranca Street just next to Garahe (or however that famous hang-out is called) and has a tradition in “another lost chance” Italian Restaurant at or close to the Boulevard.

As it was soft opening I was told upon entry that there is only Pizza available but to special opening price of 150 Peso only.

The menu promotes that all Pizza are good for 2 Person. That was exactly what I was looking for as I had nothing to eat the whole day and can eat and look like 2 Person anyway. The Restaurant underwent a little bit a remodeling and has a very warm atmosphere.

My only critic point are some very strange painted stars on some red plywood under the ceiling. I wanted to order an “Angry Italian Pizza” (what I guess is a kind of sneaky side-punch to the two former Italian owners) but they did not have all ingredients, so I went for the “Death by formaggi” (4 kinds of cheese).

While waiting I studied the menu of La Piccolo and was surprised about the (in my honest opinion) low price. I was expecting a higher price as I also expect quality and not that crappy stuff like in some “faked Italian Restaurants” in Dumaguete. There is a big variety of Pizza for 249 Peso and 5 gourmet Pizza for 295 Peso. All different Pasta Dishes are between 149 and 175 Peso and Il Piccolo claims that the Pasta is  daily fresh homemade.  The soups and Antipasti are between 110 and 160 Peso. All together La Piccolo seems to me very reasonable priced, at least for what dishes promise on the menu.

My Pizza came after 10 Minutes and it was huge. The small problem was that it is just not possible to make pictures from that cheese-monster, well I tried but with all that melted cheese it just looks a bit like the “Death by Formaggi” was hit by a bomb. Anyway, the “live-view” was promising and it also tasted very good. I finished all and was pretty much stuffed. I think there is just a little work needed on the dough, which was actually very thin like I love my Pizza, also taste wise ok, just not he best I had in Dumaguete, that price goes to Italia. All the toppings were of high quality and not the cheap Quickmelt-Crap what you get in a famous place in the same price-range.

All in all a very pleasing experience and I will be back soon to taste more of the big menu. I will have no problem to pay 295 Peso for that huge Pizza and it is already one step above the Hayahay Pizza for me. Well if they would go back to quality-cheese it would be a closer race, as Hayahay scores of course with the location.

Anyway, I cross my fingers that La Piccolo will be successful and can only recommend La Piccolo as a nice Italian Restaurant in Dumaguete.

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Falling in line - Perfect demonstration

The “big” Robinsons Mall is open a few weeks now. It appeared before the opening that it is the reinvention of the wheel for Dumaguete. Unseen waves of excitement swapped through Dumaguete and I heard a lot of people talking bad about Lee Plaza and how great Robinson will be. This guys are exactly the same who are talking bad about Robinsons Place in Dumaguete.

So what is Robinsons Place in Dumaguete now… breathtaking, stunning, disappointing, a disaster? Ok let me get Rhoody’s opinion online. Robinsons is a perfect step in the right direction.  The Mall is simply a provincial Mall in a province-town.

Knowing some people I had the chance to enter Robinsons Place Dumaguete about one hour before the grand opening. I definitely like the place in general. The stores and shops are what had to be expected. Some local shops moved there and there is not a lot new. Like each Mall in the PI they have problems with stocking up for the opening and run out of stock after the first few hours.

Glamorous opening

That of course gave the “typical” complainer enough reasons to whine around again…. the traffic.. and the bike-turn-arounders at parking area, and it is too cold inside. Andandand…

My Rhoody-Award goes again to a part German – Speaking – Expat community here in Dumaguete for what I hear online and read on several blogs and internet-board. I really love Germany, but this “personalities” made me turn my back to the country, Rhoody can’t live with all that grumpiness. ood that their very limited English skills keeps them of Dumagueteinfo. I wouldn’t be a moderator for DI with those guys around…

Ok, here are my two cents. The traffic is less than before unless you go at 5 – 7 pm. But there is no way of going smooth in the city for the last 4 years and all this retired complainers can go there from 9 am – 4 pm, where there is absolutely no problem at all.

At present are 39 out of 100plus shops open and we are of course in the province and won’t have the shops many are dreaming of.

I have been there a few times now, alone, with Rechel, with the little one and never had a bad time. The little one has space, mama can look at shoes and high-heals and I go “talent-scouting”. We have a look at the Supermarket if they re-stocked (for all complainers, they had a lot of great stuff at the opening what you do not get anywhere else in Duma and it will come back.)

correct, keep Mall clean, but make trashcans bigger

Of course Robinson Place Dumaguete was a “Rush-Opening” and stores and shops are not finished, the staff is not very knowledgeable and things are out of stock , however there are already some new options for dining, shopping, watching a movie (81 Peso only !!!! ) or just roaming around, getting an overview and go to buy it somewhere else.

Listening to some people here in Dumaguete it seems they are “forced” to go there, bad luck to you !!! I am a kind of free and can decide where and when I wanna go. Having my little one Happy and smiling for some hours and seeing Rechel in different sexy high-heals (without buying them… hehe) makes me also happy and willing to pay 2 peso more for my coffee at Robinsons Place in Dumaguete City.

Cheers

Rhoody

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Neva’s Pizza and Pasta in Dumaguete is a great place I know since a long time, but for whatever reason never made it there. So 2 weeks ago a grasped my little one and Rechel and got into a trike to get there to check the place out for lunch.

It has been a hot morning and I actually was a bit afraid that I gonna sweat my big Lubot off as there is no aircon room there and with the location of Neva’s Pizza a kind of in the middle of the city it could get a sweaty affair for me. Surprisingly, I was OK there and the fan’s kept me on a level that I did not get soaky wet of sweat in a split-second and looking like the water-fountain in my garden…

Neva’s Pizza call them self also as the “Home of the Kuripot Pizza” in Dumaguete and after a quick look on the menu I could not agree more. The Pizza at Nevas in Dumaguete are available in the “Special” and “Kuripot” version, the “special” at Neva’s comes with Mozzarella while the “Kuripot”-version is with Cheddar cheese. Prices for a good sized Pizza at Neva’s are starting already at P 78 !!! The average “Special Pizza” is around 150 Peso, the “Kuripot” averaging at 100 Peso. Pasta and rice Meals from 47 Peso to 109 Peso.

Our order was the most expensive Pizza, the Neva’s Specialty with 218 Peso and my little one ordered chicken Milanese for 80 Peso, plus a pitcher of ice tea for the three of us.

The Pizza are prepared in a Wood Fired Brick Oven and it turned out to be pretty tasty. For that price you can’t expect imported stuff but there is another Pizza place (Italia Restaurant) in Dumaguete promoting imported ham, Mozzarella and Salami, but keep it in the fridge… at least I couldn’t find it on the Pizza at Italia… and that for a ridiculous high price.

My little ones chicken was also really good and I rarely saw her eating that much in that short time and she was excited that Neva’s was also not greedy with gravy.

Neva’s Pizza in Dumaguete seems to be a busy place (at least on that Sunday) and the reason is simple. Very good quality for that price, OK environment for being in that location, friendly staff (not like the grumpy Italia Restaurant Chef), definitely a place to go again.

I also saw two delivery – trikes in Front of Neva’s Pizza in Dumaguete, so we asked the Staff how much and where they deliver. If I understood correct, Neva’s delivers for free in Dumaguete when ordering a minimum of 150 Peso.

Call me Kuripot, but they can count me in as a steady customer. All thumbs up for Neva’s Pizza and Pasta in Dumaguete.

cheers

Rhoody

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Mikes Beach Resort in Dumaguete or better in Dauin is soon to open its gates. The Beach and Dive Resort had a tough head to head fight with Robinsons Dumaguete but finally made it and opens earlier.

Everybody who knows Mike from the Adventure Dive Shop in Dumaguete knows that his Beach and Dive Resort in Dauin was a big dream which finally comes true. As I am working as a freelancing dive instructor for the Adventure Dive Shop, I saw the growth and progress of the Dive Resort construction site in Dauin and know some of the troubles Mike went through.

Sometimes I still wonder how he can keep his great attitude with all that crap. Well I guess seeing the dream grow helps a lot.

Mikes Dauin Beach Resort will be a great place for guys who want to relax and having a great  time in a family atmosphere. With only 8 rooms and the huge pool it is designed very spacious and won’t get crowded.

The rooms of Mikes Beach and Dive Resort in Dauin have 2 categories and are priced with 2000 and 2500 peso. With that prices he will cover a market for guests and travelers which don’t or can’t stay in other Beach and Dive resorts in Dauin which charge over 100$ and more than 100 peso for a local beer.

But relaxing and Diving is not all Mike offers in his new Beach Resort 15 kilometer south of Dumaguete. He will tailor you a customized program for your non diving days whether you want some adventures or just a city trip to buy some souvenirs.

The kitchen of Mikes Beach Resort will have extended menu of his Waterfront Café in Dumaguete which is well known for its Mexican delights and burger. Well my favorite is still the breakfast until closing time.

So from my side all the best to Mike, Joan and his team of the Dumaguete Beach Resort in Dauin.

Cheers

Rhoody

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