BORACAY Escapade Part 3 Where to DINE

The culinary fare in Boracay is as diverse as the nationalities of its visitors. French, Australian, Belgian, German, Spanish and Thai----- they are all here side by side the native cuisine. Lending ample support to this virtual rainbow of gastronomic pickings are Boracay's famous selection of fruit shakes--- from sweet yellow mango, green mango , pineapple, coconut milk, cantaloupe and banana.

Trying out the local cuisine in a place is like giving you a good gllimpse of the people living in the place. And this is very true in Boracay. Having a taste of the local cuisine gives you a better understanding of the Boracay liefstyle.

One of my goals in Boracay was to be able to shoot great pictures of landscapes of the beach at dawn. Every morning I would get up at 4:30 am....  prepare my camera and Iggy and I would hire a tricycle to go to different locations on the island. By 6:30 am ..... we would be done with our photo shoot and head back to the Elizalde resthouse.... really hungry.... All we could think about was... WHERE to have good breakfast...



Iggy is very particular with his coffee... ( yes, he is a 100% die-hard coffee drinker ).... and to start off his day... he needs GOOD BREWED COFFEE.... unlike me, I am not that particular with my coffee...but.... since breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.... I am very particular on how my eggs would be cooked.

It was not that easy to find a good venue for our breakfast since most of the little restaurants do not open till 7:30 am.... but we were lucky to find these restaurants opened at 6:00 am...

**REAL COFFEE 

Calamansi Muffin -- this is simply fantastic. They taste like lemon squares in a heavy muffin form. I could feel my mouth watering thinking about the delicious mix of sweet and sour. These calamansi muffins costs 45 php each.

Zesto Pesto sandwich.


** ZUZUNI -- for their good breakfasts and LAVAZZA COFFEE! Iggy and I loved this place so much that every morning after our photo shoot... we would end up at Zuzuni for breakfast.... Iggy had his coffee.... and I had my  " sunny-side up " breakfast.

For lunch....  Iggy, Cris and I decided that we would eat only in places that was difficult to find in Manila.. We had some hits and lots of misses in looking for good food in the island... so I will dedicate this blog on all our HITS than our misses...

We decided to have our lunch at D'TALIPAPA... wherein you can buy the freshest seafood Boracay can offer and have them cook it your way..... Iggy and I would choose all the exotic shellfish we could find along with some all-time  favorite treasures from the sea.

Each lunch was a seafood feast, straight from the waters of Aklan. From the Diwal shellfish to lobsters.... we had them all grilled..

After having healthy grilled seafood fiesta everyday for nearly a week, we decided to  take a break and treat our palates to another kind of restaurant which is rarely found in Manila....  DOS MESTIZOS...

Owned by Binggoy Remedios and his childhood friend, the late Ramon Nieto. It is a good Spanish restaurant with a laid-back and inviting ambience. This was my best restaurant this trip.. It is located between the boat stations 2 and 3, behind the  tourist center and the police station. I recommend that you try out this place when you are in Boracay. I would easily say that Dos Mestizos is one of the best restaurants in Boracay.

While the caliber of the cuisine at Dos Mestizos would usually constitute fine dining fare in Manila, here in Boracay, we had our sumptuous tapas and ended with a tasty paella in our beach shorts and slippers.

we started off with TAPAS.... Here is what we had..

This was the best Salpicao I have tasted .... the beef was very tender and well-seasoned.

Croquetas de jamon

 The callos was really  savory and melts in your mouth.

and the piece de resistance......PAELLA MARINARA or seafood paella...

Overall, the food in Dos Mestizos is rich and flavorful and the taste is very Spanish! Their menu is undoubtedly Spanish, complete with tapas, braised meats, grilled and broiled seafoods. Their tapas are full of flavor and their meat is well-marinated as it's supposed to be.

We would have desserts at different places after our lunch. Here are some of the dessert cafes which we discovered ...

HALOWICH located at D'MALL. They offer a variety of shakes and patties. I recommend that you try the Green Tea Shake. It was refreshing, not too sweet.

LEMON iCAFE located at D'Mall.... this is my favorite dessert cafe in Boracay.  I fell in love with Lemon Cafe as soon as I st my eyes on it. It has a full-service menu but my eyes are already on dessert which was staring right back at me from the display case.

Lemon Tart

Mango Parfait

Had KEFIR Yoghurt instead of ICE CREAM... Here is the explanation what exactly is Kefir.

Finding a GREAT DINNER venue in Boracay was unusually difficult despite the sheer number of hotels and resorts on the beach. Iggy and I would go and shoot the horizon at sunset while sipping margaritas and mojitos. By dinner time,  all of us would end up a bit tipsy and tired from our whole day's adventure. It was but natural that we wanted to dine at some cozy, cool and quiet place where Iggy, Cris, Little Una and I can have some bonding time. We found 2 such places to have dinner ...

GUILLY'S ISLAND had a buffet dinner at 250 PHP/head. There were several food stations. I enjoyed the Mongolian BBQ, the grilled seafood the best..

and MANANA Mexican Restaurant.

Chicken and Beef Burritos

Enchilada Combination

Whenever you plan a visit to Boracay, do not forget to sample the local cuisine. Although continental, European, French, Italian, Japanese dishes feels like home, it is nice to veer away from them every once in a while. Sampling Boracay's local cuisine is also the best way you could understand the lifestyle in the paradise. If you have not tasted any local fare, you cannot claim about having the ultimate Boracay experience.

If you want to experience the place at its very best, you must be brave enough about sampling the local fares. Do not worry because Boracay's local cuisine is not too exotic, that I can assure you.

LET'S ALL GO TO BORACAY !!!