Pinoy Hospitality in Queensland - Meeting a World Class Chef and His Muse

At half past 3 on a sunny afternoon, I was famished and raring for a Fish and Chips. It was well deserved after a 45-minute hike from Helensvale's Oyster Cove to Monterey Keys.  I had covered 3 to 4 kilometers perhaps? The shop had an "open" sign by the door, but like its surroundings, it looked pretty much deserted. I went in and first saw a lady with a warm, welcoming face. She winced and I knew I stumbled onto something pleasant, but I didn't want to assume.

"Can I have one Fish and Chips please? A Dory?"

Then like a bottled up soda drink, the event fast forwarded into a fizzy. This was a Filipino shop selling very Anglican fare, and I found it in the middle of nowhere called Monterey Keys. Like long lost friends, there was a slew of revelry especially when a guy with an earnest smile joined us.

Salvador "Badong" and Nelia Littonjua left Manila's traffic-choked streets long time ago and fate has taken them to Australia as serendipitously as I've brought myself to their doorsteps.

Charming Filipino couple Salvador and Nelia Littonjua.

What's more impressive than this chance meeting was fraterniing with a world class chef, and if you think I'm fibbing, there's a framed collection of newspaper clips with headlines exalting a world class chef: "Chef's cuisine wins medals", "Pinoy Chef extra-ordinaire adds glitter to Ausie Chef's Ball", "Prize winning chefs", etc.

Badong - "Buddy in Australia", whispered Nelia - had in fact worked for Carlos P. Romulo, a former president of the Philippines, and for Senator Juan Ponce Enrile during the Marcos regime. The unstable state of political governance took the couple to New Zealand where Badong worked as Executive Chef for Hilton's several chains. This saw him flying over the Kiwi skies, hopping from one hotel branch to the next, overseeing the chain's culinary offerings. For 25 years, Badong and Nelly raised 5 kids away from their motherland.

In the mid-90's, they finally decided to hang down the culinary hat for a less stressful life. With the prodding of their children, the family moved to Australia's Gold Coast. They settled in Robina and opened a fish and chips shop in Monterey Keys. It has been 16 years since then.

WORLD CLASS

Thus - the fish and chips I ordered (below) are made by a world class chef - and it cost me a mere Aus$5.20! This actually made me want to taste other stuff from their kitchen, like the spring roll at $2.30, the barramundi at a pricier $7.20, their steak sandwich and chips at $10.80, and the interesting-looking chiko roll. They even have a mini puto pup which looked like some drumstick fodder. Yum!

At some point, we were making a lot of noise that the blond-haired, next-door lady manning a pharmacy came in to check out the ruckus. She told us to pipe it down before ordering something. Several other orders came in groups so I was able to watch the couple prepare their burger meals. Yum again!

After a while, I had to say goodbye to meet Girlie in Oyster Cove - and it was going to be another long walk; one I wasn't exactly looking forward. To my surprise, Nelia and Buddy had prepared gifts for me: a huge and sought-after, 16-inch packet of DeLonghi wood-roasted coffee beans, and three pieces of giant loaves of bread! This of course took me by surprise. Meeting them was the prize! Besides, what would I do with 3 humongous loaves of bread? I went to look for a place and came out with a considerable stash, one that could feed half a village in Zimbabwe!

As if that wasn't enough, Nelia offered to drive me back to Oyster Cove! What did I do to deserve such red-carpet hospitality? And I am telling you, it's this world-class Pinoy Hospitality working overtime! But there's more! As we were pulling out from the parking area, Nelia started playing a CD of Badong singing something jazzy. And I am being serenaded too? Talk about the royal treatment!

This is the Eye in the Sky!

My dory fish and chips at $5.20.

Gifts from generous souls.

Buddy's Cafe and Takeaway Fish N Chips is located at Shop 14/175 Monterey Keys Drive, Monterey Keys, Queensland - 4210, Australia. Google them for exact location and contact numbers.

A phoned in order.

Menu and price

Proofs of greatness

Painting at the shop

Nelia's yellow Holden is Badong's birthday gift to his wife. He doesn't drive.

Holden is the Australian subsidiary of General Motors 

In Search for a Sign of Life - From Oyster Cove to Monterey Keys (Gold Coast)

After exploring Oyster Cove's quiet community, there was nothing much to do - and I didn't fly all the way to Australia to watch television. It was time to move further away from this idyll. Girlie told me that whenever her mom would visit, she would take a leisurely walk to the nearest shopping village in Monterey Keys. Helensvale (the suburb) has four localities: Oyster Cove, River Links, Coombabah Lake and Monterey Keys.

On a dead and lazy afternoon, I needed to see a "sign of life" and a shopping centre should be the answer to that.

I locked the doors behind me and tried to remember the directions given to me earlier by Girlie: "Just follow the highway. At some point, there's a detour after the bridge, to a residential area. Go straight ahead until you reach the shops." With a hint of an Australian accent, I had to be obedient. Yes, ma'am.

Helensvale Road was wide  and spotless, but mostly deserted. Very few vehicles drive by so even on mid-afternoon, the place felt eerie. Were there walking dead, I'd hoped not. I wouldn't run because it was too hot to do so. Clean and intermittently breezy (there were lakes nearby), I could almost enjoy my leisurely stride. The shoulder of the road was as big as the highway, and the inner lane was lined by tall shrubs of Gumamela (Hibiscus rosa sinensis). The ecosystem in this corner of the world was so healthy, anything could grow here, I thought. Heck, even their grass bore orchid-looking flowers (see below).

Further on, I came into another lake, Saltwater Creek, an intrinsic feature of the geography of Gold Coast which is punctuated by a series of canals. It's like Venice - but spread far across the lands. I finally saw a man walking his dog. He greeted me with an ebullient, "G'day, mate!" Typical. People in Australia don't have qualms greeting strangers. Everyone I met greeted me like we're next-door buddies, an observation that rings true all over the Gold Coast.

After walking past the bridge, I took a detour, moving away from the highway; a narrow fenced-in lane that eventually lead to Lakeshore Drive (a street) in a residential village with manicured lawns and gorgeous modern homes. Like Oyster Cove, there's hardly a sign of life. No sound from these houses either. This lassitude needed to be shaken off. Sigh.

I looked at my watch and was surprised that I had been walking for almost 45 minutes already. I had a feeling that at the end of the lane was the shopping village. Then I saw a group of 9, 10 year olds on their way home from school. Since I was at the other side of the lane, I moved on without changing pace. Then, one of the kids shouted, "Hey, mister, are you lost?" Did I look lost? I didn't think so. But I was grateful for this act of hospitality. "No, I'm not. I'm on my way to the shop. This way, right?" Innocent faces nodded in unison, then they waved goodbye. Everyone in Queensland was nothing but charming and personable; a far cry from what I was expecting, based on my travels everywhere.

Five minutes later, I crossed the road and finally found Monterey Keys Shopping Village. Was it a holiday? There were 2 or 3 cars at the parking lot, and I didn't see people shopping. Indeed, at first glance, the whole shopping arcade looked deserted. But this was the Australian suburb and, as I've learned, this was business as usual.

To my surprise, the complex is an integrated commercial centre: a 24-hour fitness Jetts; a dentist, a medical clinic, an Indian restaurant, a physiotherapist, a florist, an interior designer, a bakery, a real estate office, a liquor store, a pharmacy, a hairdresser, take-away food; all these were services available at this seemingly desolate shopping village.

If I seemed culture-shocked, there was more surprise later. A pleasant one! But that's for another post.

This is the Eye in the Sky!

Flower of tall blades of grass.

A field of Gumamelas along the highway.

Gumamelas bloom along Helensvale Drive.

Monterey Keys' The Peninsula with their own pontoons.

Saltwater Creek isn't fit for swimming. The signs say so. It teems with algae.

First sign of life.

From the highway, I had to detour here to get to Lakeshore Drive.

Manicured lawns at The Peninsula's Lakeshore Drive.

Sheetal, a fine dining Indian restaurant. 

No one at the shops.

Map that follows my trail (the brown lane) from Oyster Cove to Monterey Keys.

Aerial view of Gold Coasts canals. That's a lot of lakes! This photo only courtesy of wikipedia's Toksave.

Home Alone at the Promenade - An Oyster Cove Exploration

I've always thought it was a sin not to explore the surroundings of a place I'm visiting, regardless of how seemingly droll or uninteresting it is. So - a day after visiting Southport (Gold Coast's CBD), with Girlie going to work, I opted to stay home so I could explore Oyster Cove Promenade, a community in the suburb of Helensvale.

Oyster Cove, you see, is one of the four localities of the Helensvale suburb; the three others are River Links, Coombabah Lake and Monterey Keys (the closest from Oyster Cove).

But droll it wasn't, and it was far from being uninteresting too. If you're weaned on the rancorous vibe of a city like Metro Manila, this place won't probably suit you. There's hardly a soul in sight, you could spend a good part of the day left to your own devices.

Personally, I couldn't wait to explore the area. Once Girlie drove away, I walked around the very quiet neighborhood. Well appointed homes beside the lake grace the area. RV vans were on sight. And instead of cars, yachts were a common fixture at every lawns. How's that for a residential facade? Only in Helensvale.

Girlie's rose bush which I started watering on a daily basis.

Helensvale's integrated communities are well planned, but the shops are a bit distant from most residences. You have to ring a taxi if you require one as there aren't any plying the mostly-deserted roads. Every household needs a car. While roaming around, I came to a gated community, the Serenity Shores which has 24-hour security and surveillance cameras.

With a man-made body of water dotting almost every cranny, there's always a quiet spot for when you need to gather your thoughts; an pensive corner to breathe the air and smell the flowers... so what do you need a park for? Having said that, the place is spotless - not a litter in sight. Unfortunately, you shall bask on an acute sense of isolation, as though you slept through a catastrophic event that dissipated most of the world's population - and you're its only survivor.

But if that were the case, you can be sure, you wouldn't mind being marooned in a place like Oyster Cove Promenade.

This is the Eye in the Sky!

This small strip of land with a slide  is the community's playground set beside the placid lake.

The roundabout

"Quiet" is an understatement for these very clean streets.