Hello everyone!
I'm actually overwhelmed by the comments in my previous post. I never thought many of you here can relate to what I was feeling. Thank you to all of you. I just realized how crippling that was because I actually had plans for March, but I eventually had to cancel all of them. I'll still push through with the plans, especially the charity program I had in mind, maybe at the end of the second quarter. I'm okay now and I think it's now back to regular programming.
It's been a while since my last food/restaurant review and I promised to post either the dinner or the underground river. Well, the dinner won because I still don't have an idea of how to present the angle of the underground river. And I also don't know how to present this post. As usual, let's just wing it!
Disclaimer: As with all of my food-related posts, I'll always say that I'm not a food critic nor a restaurant reviewer. While this post can give you an idea about the restaurant and its food selection, I'm not the accurate metric for your expectations. When I say it's good, maybe because I was famished on that day or I just liked how they season their food. I'm also adventurous when it comes to food, so my tolerance for what's palatable is quite high. As always, please take everything from this post with a grain of salt (pun intended).
I guess it's time to talk about Kobe's Tambayan.
KOBE'S TAMBAYAN
Kobe's Tambayan is located near Puerto Princesa Port. If you're from the city proper, you'll just turn right from Malvar Road before you reach the port and you'll be in Puerto Princesa City Baywalk. Kobe's Tambayan is just one of the many restaurants on the bay walk together with the souvenir stalls propped along the area. I'll say it's a lovely sight, especially during the night.
The Place
As I noted from my previous under this series, we decided to have dinner after checking in at the hotel. We were all tired and hungry at that time that we didn't bother roaming around. The moment our tricycle stopped at the bay walk, we just looked for a decent restaurant and that was it. We were not sure if it was the best in the area, but it was good enough for us.
The restaurant is an open space with one side facing the bay walk so the breeze from the sea provided ventilation. It was spacious with a lot of chairs and tables to accommodate a large number of guests and tourists. The lighting was very good that I thought it was too much.
What I liked about the place is that you can view the cooks and staff as they are preparing your food. The idea that you can see how your food was cooked is not new, but it's refreshing to witness. You are assured that you are served with fresh seafood and no questionable practices are being done.
The Food
On the other side of the restaurant, they have a display of fresh kinds of seafood that you can choose for them to cook for you according to your liking. But because we were so tired, we didn't want to choose anything. We just ordered a set for Php 1800.00 or 33 USD that's good for 4-5 people. Included in the set are grilled fish, grilled stuffed squid, buttered green mussels, fried lumpia, shrimp sinigang (sour soup), ensaladang along (Filipino-style roasted eggplant salad), grilled chicken in barbeque sauce, and a pitcher of gulaman drink for refreshment.
Left: Sinigang na Hipon is the main dish with fresh shrimp as the main ingredient with vegetables that are boiled in a sour broth. Right: Garlic butter tahong is green mussels sauteed in butter and garlic. This one's really good. The mussels were really fresh.
Left: Lumpia is the classic Filipino fried spring roll with different fillings. I forgot the filling of that lumpia, but it might be ground pork with mixed vegetables or shredded tuna. Center: Grilled chicken in barbeque sauce is really good! I'm not sure if it was barbeque sauce, but it was really good. Right: Ensaladang talong is a Filipino-style roasted eggplant salad. I just know about it now. It's refreshing, but it was really the vinegar and onion that elevated the dish.
Left: Grilled fish. I'm not sure of the kind of fish, but I'm not a fan of it. I'm not a fan of grilled fish in general. Right: Grilled stuffed squid. I liked this one so much. It was fresh and not stringy. It was cooked really well.
When you search for reviews about this restaurant, they're so mixed and varied that you won't know if it's good or not. But I'd still recommend it. Just be warned that they will serve everything in your order together. It means you might get bored while waiting for your food. It's the usual negative review that they waited longer to be served. I was not bored because I took a lot of photos while our food was cooked.
Another thing I noticed is that the servings were a little bit smaller compared to the usual servings I saw here in the Philippines. One could say they're a little bit pricey, but we were still satisfied with the food in that set.
OVERALL VERDICT: STILL RECOMMENDED.
I guess that's all for this post. See you at the next one!
Kim Ybañez
Welcome to Kim's small corner in Hive. He is a chemical engineer by profession, but a blogger by passion. He is a wanderlust and an adventure seeker. Join his quests as he visits remote destinations, climbs mountains, tries new and exotic dishes, and explores his country (The Philippines). He's also a trying-hard photographer so stay tuned as he shares his photos and his thought process while creating them.
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