Eye in the Sky: Jewel Restaurant at Robert’s Resort Sabang

Showing posts with label Jewel Restaurant at Robert’s Resort Sabang. Show all posts

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Tribu Restaurant, Robert’s Resort, Microtel Inn - Dining in Palawan Part 2

Here is the 2^nd part of Puerto Princesa Gastronomy 101. Food got more sumptuous – and I got hungry setting up this post! LOL. Palawenos love to eat and it’s evident in the way they prepare their food. Although there’s no particular specialty that separates them from the rest of Filipino Cuisine (at least nothing that’s immensely popular), food is nevertheless cooked the way we Pinoys love them. In this post, we shall feature more restaurants and their food. Bon appetit!

Robert’s Resort’s Jewel Restaurant comes highly recommended by “your” van drivers, after an exciting visit from the Underground River. If at first, I was suspicious, I later found out I didn’t mind the hardsell. The place serves “buffet” meals. But unlike most buffets, platter after platter of food is served at your table – and are constantly replenished if you ask for more! Buffet costs PhP200 per person. We initially thought of ordering per-plate-meals, but the waitress smirked, which even motivated me to REALLY order a la carte. LOL. However, upon checking out the prices (pork or chicken adobo PhP130, lechon kawali PhP150, chopsuey PhP95, mixed vegetables PhP85, coke PhP30), a buffet meal is after all more cost-effective! Your PhP200 already includes the delicious buko (coconut fruit). Sabang Beaches have never been this sumptuous. Burp!

Adobong kangkong

Pork Adobo

Lechon Kawali

Buko (coconut fruit)

Look at the size of the rice plates. This is your PhP200.

Jewel Restaurant at Robert's Resort in Sabang, the take-off point on your way to the Underground River.

Microtel’s Clubhouse Sandwich @ PhP180 ($3.90)

Pesto Pasta @ PhP160 ($3.40) and Coke in can @ PhP50 ($1.10) at Microtel Puerto Princesa.

Soaking in at Microtel Puerto Princesa's Emerald Beach.

Fresh Café is a mix-themed diner that has a restaurant at the 1st floor and a bar at the 2^nd. They also serve cakes and pastries for those with sweet tooth. It is located along Rizal Avenue halfway between Jollibee to its right and the Provincial Capitol to its left. I enjoyed dining with my friend Elena and her kids, one of whom is a godson. Populating the café with us was a group from the Ophthalmology Department of a city hospital, discussing plans for a postgrad event that they are organizing. It’s really a place where people can hang out, discuss things and enjoy light banter with friends.

Fresh Cafe's 1st floor restaurant (above) and the 2nd-floor bar (below).

This is my buffet stash from Skylight Hotel’s restaurant. And it’s not exactly my favorite dining experience in the island. None, and I mean not a single entrée enticed me to get more. The embotido tasted bland. Tocino was a chewy piece of ligamentous meat. Even the danggit – which the locals call “lamayo” (dried fish) was bland. The tortang talong (eggplant/aubergines) was too fresh and undercooked – and as I rule, I do not partake anything that’s half-alive and freshly picked from the ground.

Squid dish @ PhP180 ($3.90) at Tribu Restaurant in Puerto Pension.

Puerto Pension and Tribu Restaurant are actually part of my first-day itinerary. It is located near the City Baywalk, just across Holy Trinity College. Accommodations here are highly recommended, and regarded as one of the best affordable-rate lodgings. This was among my picks for my stay in Palawan, but it has drawbacks. One, it’s not as close to the center as Skylight or Casa Linda. Two, the surrounding area is the wharf which gets pretty isolated and dark at night. So it isn’t the most comfortable place to walk around at night. The place is pretty impressive though. The compound teems with foliage. There’s a bar at the center. To get to Tribu Restaurant, you have to climb up a steep stairway that goes to the 3^rd – or 4^th? – floor. The view is spectacular! You have before you an aerial view of the San Isidro’s Baywalk as well as the South China Sea. If you’re in the city, I highly recommend visiting Tribu just for the awesome scenery. Dining is cozy and the atmosphere is sophisticated. So is the price. We ordered a squid dish, canton guisado and deep fried chicken with rice, and our bill was PhP880 ($19).

Canton Guisado @ PhP160 ($3.50)

Deep fried chicken with steamed rice @ PhP180 ($3.90). That salad is delicious.

The view from Tribu Restaurant - Baywalk and the sea.

Puerto Pension's front desk for your check ins.

Rooms at the 2nd floor and the bar.

Puerto Pension's airconditioned jeepney! It turns out that the people who run Puerto Pension also manage the exclusive Daluyon Resort in Sabang!

Chorizo and scrambled egg at Hibiscus Garden Inn.

This is the Eye in the Sky!

Check out more food and restaurants at this blogpost’s 1^st part - http://eye-in-the-blue-sky.blogspot.com/2009/10/ka-lui-restaurant-and-kamarikutan-cafe.html

Puerto Princesa Airport - http://eye-in-the-blue-sky.blogspot.com/2009/10/puerto-princesa-airport-chaos-in-small.html

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Ka Lui Restaurant and Kamarikutan Cafe - Palawan Dining Part 1

Local travel has some advantages. I don’t necessarily hold on too tightly to my extra cash! When I travel abroad, I am constantly scrimping, constantly conscious of the budget at hand! Many times, I end up going home with a substantial stash saved up. As heaven is my witness,

Myanmar

was a rude lesson. I had enough dollar but most of them were “unacceptable” (little scratches, a teeny-weeny ballpen mark, an imaginary fold, etc.) – and I couldn’t withdraw cash from my bank or credit card! I thought I couldn't pay for my airport fees! It was a nightmare! With local travel, it’s almost an unendless pit of resource. I said “almost”. LOL. And this allowed me to spruce up my travel with mouth-watering delights!

We have discovered so many gastronomic gems in Palawan, as we dined from one new place to the next. There are so many great restaurants and eateries in Puerto Princesa. Art galleries subbing as cafes are also en vogue (Kamarikutan, Ka Lui, Dang Maria). But we’ve also realized that this clean-and-green city, in terms of dining, isn’t as cheap as, say Davao, where a buffet can be had for just PhP199. In PP, that’s just a single dish!

Here is 1^st part of our waistline-busting, saliva-stimulating gastronomic adventures in Puerto Princesa.

Chicken Inato leg at PhP75 ($1.60)

Sizzling shrimp @ PhP150 ($3.20)

Adobong kangkong (water spinach) @ PhP40 ($0.85) and coke in can @ PhP20 ($0.40) – the cheapest in PP. Some coke in cans are priced ridiculously @ PhP50 ($1.10 - Microtel Inn & Suites).

Balay Chicken Inato along Malvar Extension, a block away from Hibiscus Garden Inn. Their chicken barbecue is stuff of legends. Don't leave PP without trying it.

Balay Inato Pension, located beside the series of sheds of the famous eatery.

Balay Chicken Inato is a compound of 4 to 5 separate dining areas.

Kamarikutan is a popular art gallery-cum-café serving light meals and coffee/tea. They do have full-plate meals but they’re rather expensive. Photography is not allowed inside. Popular singers like Joey Ayala perform several times in a year. This gallery features paintings and mixed art. They also sell CD’s of Palaweno music and local artists playing indigenous instruments. Surrounding the restaurant at the front is a pond housing gigantic (and seemingly ravenous) coy fish. The exterior is a sophisticated parade of bamboo and rattan interiors. It was too bad that we weren’t allowed to take photographs of the place. This place is a personal favorite actually. It’s very relaxing, and the atmosphere is laidback. Friends who love to talk can do lots of that in Kamarikutan.

Deep fried Prawns with Tartar Sauce and Steamed Rice @ PhP125 ($2.70)

Salpicado – tenderloin tips with garlic cloves and olive oil @ PhP175 ($3.75)

Gambas Rice @ PhP110 ($2.40). Coke in can is PhP28 ($0.60)

Ka Lui is a Filipino restaurant that, like Kamarikutan, has an art gallery inside. Though most orders are rather pricey, the serving is exceedingly gargantuan – good for 3 persons! Bamboos and dim interiors don’t actually make an intimate restaurant. This is strictly full-house!!! Upon entrance, leave your shoes/slippers at a rack outside, then you will be taken to your table. There is a virtual feast of people, where 60% of the population are foreigners, mostly Caucasians! The atmosphere is relaxed but festive! Though not entirely “expensive”, it’s not for the spendthrift either! If you are a solitary diner, then it will be a problem since serving is big.! We ordered the Ka Lui Special of the Day: fish steaks, prawns, veggies of the day, coco fish roll, rice and a starter, which costs PhP395 ($8.50). We also ordered sizzling seafood sisig and sea catch tempura. Coke in can is PhP35 ($0.75).

Deposit your foot wear here before you are taken to your table. This place packs!

Toilet. Haha.

Ka Lui’s Special of the Day @ PhP395 ($8.50). Coke in can is PhP35.

Sea Catch Tempura @ PhP150 ($3.20)

Sizzling Seafood Sisig @ PhP170 ($3.65). Sizzling sisig is a Philippine dish made from parts of pig’s head and usually seasoned with kalamansi or chili peppers.Variations of sisig can add any of the following: eggs, ox brains, chicharon (pork cracklings), pork or chicken liver, and even mayonnaise. It originated from the province of Pampanga. Ka Lui's version is sort of an alternative as it consists of seafood.

Lato, those grape like sea "weeds"

Birds of Paradise in wild bloom.

Kinabuch is your typical “beer garden”, located along Rizal Avenue, just beside the Provincial Capitol. It has a huge parking space with dimly lit interiors at night.