Never Boring in Boracay

The Wife and I began our 2-week trip to the Philippines with a 4-day stay on beautiful Boracay Island. Prior to this trip, I had visited the Philippines twice but had never been to Boracay, and my wife had never been to the Philippines at all. So I figured a few days of sun and sand at a beach resort would be a great start to our vacation.

With its powdery white sand and warm blue waters, Boracay is as close to paradise as it gets. But aside from the main beachfront drag known as, what else, White Beach, there are plenty other activities to keep one occupied on Boracay: sailing, scuba diving, snorkeling, parasailing, island hopping, girl ogling people watching, shopping, drinking, eating, eating, and eating.

Luckily for the wife and I, two of my cousins stayed at a nearby resort and accompanied us for our first two days in Boracay. I say luckily because we enjoyed the company of my cousins (of course), but also because my cousins were quite adept in the fine art of haggling with the many hawkers and vendors roaming the white sands of Boracay. If it weren't for my lovely cousins, I think I would have paid a jillion pesos and my yet-to-exist first-born child in exchange for a souvenir Boracay T-shirt. But thanks to the bargaining prowess of my cousins, I only had to pay 150 pesos for the shirt (whew!).

After a quick dip in the ocean upon our arrival in the morning, we made our way to the Boracay marketplace known as D*talipapa. D*talipapa is sort of like an outdoor bazaar that consists of many different vendor stalls and small cafes and restaurants.

As we were meandering through D*talipapa, one of my cousins asked if I'd like to try something called Taho. I'd never had Taho before, or had even heard of it, but of course I wanted to try it. I was assuming it would be something delicious and refreshing for the hot day on the beach. I was only half right.

The vendor selling the Taho was a dude carrying a long wooden pole across his shoulders. At each end of this pole was a metal bucket. The Taho vendor set his pole and buckets down and opened one of the metal containers to reveal two compartments--one holding sago pearls (similar to tapioca) and the other holding a sweet brown sugar syrup. The vendor ladled a bit of the sago and syrup into some cups for us.

Then the taho vendor opened his second bucket to reveal a glistening white mass of bean curd, or tofu. He then took a small metal blade and scooped up some of the tofu into our cups.

The vendor then alternated a few more layers of sago and syrup, and then some more tofu before handing the full cups to us.

The chewiness of the sago balls and the silkiness of the tofu made for a nice difference in texture, and the sweet bronze-colored syrup made the taho a wonderful morning-time treat. But, as I found out, taho is usually served warm, so it wasn't cool and refreshing like I thought it would be. Even though it made me want to jump back into the ocean to cool off again, the taho was very delicious.

Many of the restaurants in D*talipapa also offered cooking services for anything purchased at the wet market. The wet market at D*talipapa was awesome. Sadly, I don't have any pictures from the wet market, but believe me, there was such a vast selection of local and fresh seafood that had been out of the ocean for only a few hours. So for lunch, we purchased some crab, prawns, and blue marlin--all of which my cousins were able to negotiate a good price for of course.

We then brought our seafood bounty to one of the small restaurants in D*talipapa and had our fresh catch cooked for us.

Chili crab: A bit sweet, a tad spicy, and full of crab eggs and fat and other delicious crabby bits.

Grilled blue marlin steak: very meaty and smoky, and terrific when dipped into a sauce of kalamansi, soy, and chilies.

Prawns cooked in butter (probably margarine though) and garlic: the prawns were a bit overcooked, but still tasty.

In addition to D*talipapa, Boracay had another area dedicated to shopping and eating called D*mall. Yes, D*talipapa and D*mall. D*lightful, that. If D*talipapa is an outdoor bazaar, then D*mall is an outdoor, well, mall with more upscale shops and eateries.

One such eatery at D*mall was Halowich--a place that specialized in cool treats like ice cream and halo-halo. My wife, my cousins, and I all shared a giant bowl of halo-halo after we had gone parasailing (hanging in the air is quite tiresome you know).

 
Our halo-halo consisted of shaved ice, bananas, corn flakes, mangoes, sweet beans, strawberry ice cream, chocolate syrup, and probably a whole mess of other things that I'm now forgetting. Now this was the cool and refreshing treat that I needed!

On my cousins' last night in Boracay, we enjoyed dinner at a beachside restaurant called Barrio Inasal.

Even though Barrio Inasal specialized in Chicken Inasal, I wanted to try something I've never had before. So I ordered Sisig: a sizzling plate of chopped up pork ears, snout, cheeks, and perhaps more pig parts that I didn't need to know about.

Despite the crappiness of the above picture, the sisig turned out to be one of my favorite dishes throughout our entire trip. It was smoky and spicy and porky and utterly fantastic with a squeeze of kalmansi juice over the top.

After dinner, we all headed to a bar/nightclub called MO2 Wave just outside the Boracay Regency where my wife  and I stayed. I have no idea what MO2 means, but at night this club had a pretty sweet setup outside on the beach where they laid out beanbags and small tables to lounge at while there was a stage up front for a live band.

 

We enjoyed quite a few beers and cocktails at MO2 that night, and the band that was performing was actually pretty decent.

Or maybe the band wasn't that great and I was too drunk to tell. Either way, we all had a great time and I even got off my ass to dance for a little bit. And by dance I mean act like a sweaty drunken fool.

Come to think of it, I was fairly sweaty and drunken throughout our stay in Boracay. I think the Sun and San Miguel brewery were conspiring against me in hopes that I'd pass out face first into Boracay's white sands while my back would slowly burn to a searing shade of bright red. As it were, after a morning of snorkeling and lazing about the beach, my wife and I sought refuge at our hotel pool.

The Boracay Regency has a few pools to choose from, but its main pool with a swim-up bar was our goto option for cooling off and enjoying a few beers and cocktails.

The pool was awesome at the Regency. You could just swim up to the fully stocked bar, sit on an underwater stool, and put in your order. Aside from a few cocktails and some Red Horses, we also put in an order for Kinilaw. For those that don't know, Kinilaw is a Filipino dish of raw fish soaked in vinegar--pretty similar to ceviche. I wouldn't normally order raw fish at a pool-side bar, but I figured "what the hell" and ordered some anyway, thinking that there was already enough alcohol in my belly to fight off any cooties that may be present in badly-prepped fish.

In spite of my paranoia, the Kinilaw was excellent. I'm not sure how "authentic" it was or if it had been toned down at all for tourists, but it tasted wonderfully fresh and was studded with chopped chillies, garlic, and ginger. It was a pretty big plate of Kinilaw, but my wife and I were able to polish it all off--I think even the bartender was surprised we finished it.

 

The bar at the pool also had an array of fresh fruit at its disposal for making smoothies. There were various smoothie vendors all over the island (Boracay is actually known for its fruit smoothies), but we had our first smoothies at our hotel swimming pool. I'm not sure if that's grounds for revoking my "International Gourmand and Foodie Wannabe" card, but convenience and laziness go hand-in-hand during vacations don't they?

 

The wife and I tried the Ripe Mango shake and the Green Mango shake. We both preferred the ripe mango as it was sweeter (naturally) than the more sour green mango. But both shakes were pretty good.

Besides the bar at our hotel pool, another watering hole the wife and I frequented in Boracay went by the rather peculiar name of Nigi Nigi Nu Noos e Nu Nu Noos. I'm not making that up. That's actually the name of this place.

We stopped by Nigi for late afternoon drinks and a snack. I have no idea what that name means, but it was a pretty cool bar with a laid-back and relaxed vibe about it. Even the lizards were noticeably relaxed here.

I named him Mango. 

One strange thing about Nigi though was that they served "All You Can Eat Eggs" for breakfast. All you can eat eggs? Really? Who eats more than a few eggs in one sitting anyways? The offer of endless eggs was not enough for us to try breakfast at Nigi Nigi Nu Noos. Besides, breakfast every morning was included in our hotel stay.

Breakfast at the Regency was pretty good actually and had enough variety that we didn't mind eating there more than once. There was the standard breakfast fare that you'd find at most hotels such as an egg station where you could have eggs to order, there were pancakes and french toast, coffee and juice, etc. But there was also a wide variety of Filipino food on offer for breakfast as well.

 

This might look like someone's lunch, but it's actually my breakfast of fried rice, arroz caldo, beef tapa, and longanisa. I would also make sure to have an omellette as well as some pandesal with orange marmalade every morning. I weigh 300 pounds.

In hopes of regaining my credibility in the smoothie department, we did finally make our way to a legitimate smoothie shop on Boracay. Thanks to some tips from a couple of readers and fellow food bloggers, I knew where to find the best fruit smoothies on the entire island: Jonah's Fruitshakes.

On the left is my wife's banana-mango smoothie and on the right is my mango-rum smoothie. I didn't particularly like the banana-mango because I only tasted banana an no mango. My mango-rum smoothie was delicious though. Compared to the smoothies we had at the hotel pool, Jonah's smoothies were indeed better as they were creamier and less icy than the Regency's smoothies.

On another night, the wife and I stopped into a Japanese/Chinese/Korean restaurant whose name I do not know because the sign out front was written in Japanese/Chinese/Korean. Whatever it was called, it had some great food.

The wife had an assortment of sushi.

And I opted for the hotpot of assorted seafood and beef.

For our last dinner in Boracay, the wife and I decided we'd try an Italian restaurant called Aria right outside D*mall. Since we spent most of this particular day drinking and snacking, we didn't have too big a meal at Aria--opting for only a couple of simple dishes.

 

At Aria, I had the seafood stew, and my wife had the penne with sausage and mushrooms. These dishes weren't terrible, but they also weren't stellar either. My seafood stew consisted mostly of squid and maybe had one shrimp in it. Everything tasted pretty good, just not what we expected from what was supposed to be one of the better Italian restaurants on the island. Or perhaps we are just spoiled by the Italian restaurants here in SoCal.

For dessert, we had the mango cheesecake and some coffee at Cafe del Sol right next door to Aria (both restaurants are actually owned by the same people). The cheesecake did not disappoint though, as it featured a fluffy texture studded with bits of fresh mango.

That's about it folks. No matter your preferences, there is quite the selection of cuisines to satisfy whatever you're craving on Boracay. There are even Mexican restaurants, Indian restaurants, pizza and hamburger joints, and even a restaurant called the Hobbit House that employed "little people" as servers (I'm not making that up).

There was much more food that we sampled in Boracay, but I think I've bored you enough. This turned out to be quite a long post, so thanks to those that actually read everything, although I'd be happy if you just scrolled through the pictures too.  I'll try to make my next post shorter, but it's tough getting back into the swing of things after spending a few days in paradise.

 

Next stop in the Philippines: Ilocos Norte.

Comments

[Manggy]

Hollah!!! Welcome back Marvin! :) I'm so glad you enjoyed your stay. I'm surprised you didn't eat at Gusthof-- maybe it would've been a better choice than Aria. (I wonder if you can handle much more grilled meat, though ;) I actually prefer my Taho cold, it's like a really sweet tofu dessert.

We can really count on you to try new stuff, Marvin, I really appreciate it :) Truth is I don't really enjoy Sisig, even though all-- and I mean ALL-- my friends do. When something's on a sizzling plate, I expect crunch and crust. Usually it's a chewy mess, even if the flavor is good.

(I love the parallel between my several stops in California and your several stops here-- it's like we're on an exchange program, lol.) Can't wait to see the next installment! :)

[Beth]

Oh my gosh I miss taho! huhuhu

[Wandering Chopsticks]

welcome back! Can't wait to read about your other adventures. I can't believe you've never had sisig before. I like the sound of the kinilaw too.

[Erin]

It sounds like a great way to start a trip. Welcome home!

[joey]

Welcome back! Glad to see you enjoyed your Boracay trip :)

Fantastic that you got to do so much...and eat so much! Vacation is the time to indulge yourself after all :)

I love sisig too :)

[Julie]

Wow, awesome post! Do you speak Tagalog? Or was English spoken pretty widely there? My parents always told me that English was common. Anyway, I loved this look at the island food. I hope I can make my way out there sometime. Also, congrats on the mention in Serious Eats!!! (http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2008/06/blogwatch-duck-adobo-confit.html)

[Julie]

Whoops, sorry--you need to remove that close parenthesis: http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2008/06/blogwatch-duck-adobo-confit.html

[Katrina]

I'm so happy you enjoyed Boracay! Inevitably, when someone writes/talks about their trip to Bora, people tell them they should also have gone to _____. There's just so much to eat, drink, do, eat, and drink over there that a few days isn't enough.

Aria is not the best restaurant on the island, and there are certainly much better Italian restos in Manila (Italian food is one of the most popular Western cuisines here). Aria's popular because of its location and ambience -- it's a see-and-be-seen place. I do love a couple of their dishes, though. Sisig and taho are so common, yet so delicious. I'm glad you got to try some new things. :-)

[OceanBreezeInn.info]

Excellent report ! Yes .. food, beach and fun .. thats Boracay ! I´m sure you had a great trip :)

[Jikuu]

Glad you had fun on your trip! Keep the posts long with lots of description and pictures. I really enjoyed this one!

[manju]

Wow, Boracay is still on my list of must-see's, too, esp. after your report. Loved the seafood binge!

While you were sunning and dining, I tapped you for a showing of your 10 favorite photos (I hope the crabs from this post are a contender) from all past posts. I'll be sending you an email with details.

Looking forward to more from your trip!

[caninecologne]

how cool to see a new post! glad that you're back in the u.s. now!

as a always, a great post. very ndeat that you were able to buy your own dinner at the market and have a restaurant cook it for you.

as for hobbit house, my sister and brother told me of a place they went to (forgot the name of course) in manila. my cousins brought them there as a joke, but it was a fast food place staffed entirely by "little people" (okay, dwarves). that was in the early 90's.

did you practice any of your tagalog over there?

[Cynthia]

Ah, the good life. Sounds like you and the Mrs had a great time. Welcome back!

[mila]

Sisig, taho, and shakes, oh my! Looks like you had a great start to the vacation. Looking forward to reading about your Ilocos travel.

[brilynn]

Definitely jealous.
And I love the lizard pic... mango... great.

[dp]

Where to start!?! Your recount makes me want to go on vacation again, even though I just got back from one.

I love beach vacations. Lazying around on the beach with a book and cocktail in hand. Really, nothing can beat that. And the bar you can just swim up to. That was one of my favorite parts about our trip to Cancun.

The food looked amazing. Sounds like you guys were able to try a lot of new and interesting things. That's so fun.

About the haggling...hubby and I are terrible at it. It's quite an art, really. When we were in Thailand we always let my relatives do the talking.

The lizard is yucky, but funny at the same time. I imagine there were lizards everywhere? Were they in the hotel rooms and buildings too? I don't think I'd be able to sleep because I'd be scared they'd crawl on me.

Can't wait for the next installment of your trip!

[Pat]

Hope you're enjoying your stay in the Philippines! We've just moved to Monterey Bay and it feels just like vacation ...

[Franco]

Hi Marvin. Just dropping a line to say that I really enjoyed reading your blog. Thank you.

[Katrina]

The Hobbit House in Boracay is relatively new; it's actually a branch of the original in Manila. Hobbit House is an institution already. Many Pinoy rock, blues, and folk musicians and bands got their start there and continue to play there.

[oggi]

Welcome back! Glad you enjoyed your Boracay experience.:)

I'm a little bit nostalgic and a little bit sad at the transformation of Boracay. I went to visit in 1985, I know, it's more than 20 years ago! At the time there was no electricity yet in the island but there were first class cottages, a few superb fruit shake shacks and restaurants, miles and miles and miles of the most beautiful white sands with not one vendor/food stall in sight, definitely no big hotel with a swimming pool and mall, just beautiful beaches and blue waters. But I still consider Boracay one of the most beautiful places to visit and would like to go back.:)

[elmomonster]

Wow! Boracay is one place on my list. And now it's jumped up a few notches. I would've been all over that sisig and even the taho. But both will have to be eaten in that swim up bar! Thanks for sharing!

[Lori Lynn @ Taste With The Eyes]

I'm ogling that Blue Marlin Steak with some hot chilies. YAY!
Mango the Lizard is cute too.
Very interesting post Marvin!

[quiapo]

Glad to have you back, Marvin,; you seem to have had a really nice holiday, which to those with Filipino genes is always something of a pilgrimage as well.
Hobbit House in Ermita used to feature Freddie Aguilar as main singer, and we enjoyed listening to his music in the 90s.
We look forward to hearing about highlights of your trip.

[NJ Julie]

Welcome back and Happy 4th! It's great to see a post from you again...and about Boracay, no less! Love love LOVE the darn place--last time I was there was in maybe 1996 or 1997. You made me drool with the sisig picture...there is no decent sisig to be found anywhere in Jersey. Isn't it just yummilicious with an ice cold beer? Glad you had a great time!

[bernadette]

looking forward really to read about your trips in these islands of ours! You have a way of describing what Filipinos might find the most banal or ordinary! Your style of writing is really entertaining. So don't worry about boring me...or is it the Filipino genes in you to apologize for everything? :-) Thanks Marvin! Did you go to Puerto Galera? Because that's where I live.

[Jescel]

Oh my, you made me drool just looking at your pics.. Boracay is awesome. Was there for my honeymoon!
Taho is soya curd, and sago are indeed tapioca... they're awesome! I'm glad you and your wife had a great time.

[White On Rice Couple]

Welcome back Marvin! I'm am sooooo full and just gained 10 pounds looking at your photographs!
We eat the soft tofu with a light caramel syrup all the time, but not with the sago, very interesting and cool.
Those mangoes look awesome, bet they were just off the tree. And your pet Mango? Very cute, don't let him fall into the soup!
Can't wait to read and feast on your next post.

[Burnt Lumpia]

Thanks Manggy. I've never heard of Gusthof, or saw it while I was there, but I'm sure it's a nice place. And cold taho would have been awesome!

Hello Beth! I miss it too, and I only had it once! I think it wouldn't be too hard to recreate at home though.

Thanks WC. Nope, never had sisig before then, but I will definitely have it more down the road.

Thanks Erin!

Hi Joey! Yes, we definitely squeezed in a lot of activities, and food, while we were on vacation.

Julie, I speak zero Tagalog, understand a lot of Ilocano, and yes, pretty much everyone speaks at least some English in the Philippines. And thanks for spotting that on Serious Eats. It was nice to come home to.

Hi Katrina! Thanks so much for providing all your recommendations to me, though I definitely didn't have time for all of them! Aria was indeed in a nice location, and it had a very cool night-time vibe about it. I'll try more Italian next time I'm there.

Thanks oceanbreeze.

Thanks very much, Jikuu. I'll try to keep the posts coming.

You should definitely check Boracay out, manju! And thanks for the tap, I'll try and get to it when time permits.

Hi caninecologne! We didn't eat at hobbit house, though I was very intrigued by it. And no, sadly I have absolutely zero grasp on Tagalog.

Thanks very much, Cynthia!

Thanks mila! The trip only gets better after Boracay;)

The lizard was pretty cool, brilynn. He was just kinda hanging out, enjoying the scenery.

Hi Darlene! We were terrible at haggling too, I think the vendors can spot a bad haggler from a mile away! Luckily our cousins were there. The lizard wasn't bad at all either, and he was the only one we saw in Boracay--none in our hotel for sure.

Hi Pat! I hope you enjoy your new digs in Monterey!

Thanks very much for visiting Franco!

Hi again, Katrina! I wonder if the HH in Boracay had live bands. When we passed by it a few times, it seemed pretty quiet. That would definitely get me in there if there were music playing.

I definitely see what you mean, oggi. The one bad thing I can say about Boracay is that there were vendors that walked up to us every few minutes trying to sell us everything from sunglasses to parasailing--we got used to it though, the beauty of Boracay makes it easy. And although we didn't make it up to Pugudpud, I also heard it is undergoing a similar change to cater to tourists as well. And that is sad too.

Boracay is definitely worth a visit, elmo. You'd love the food there.

Thanks Lori Lynn!

Thanks quiapo! We definitely had a great time.

Hey Jersey Julie! I wonder how different Boracay was back in '96. And the sisig was definitely yummilicious with a cool San Mig;)

I'm very glad you aren't bored, Bernadette. And no PUerta Galera this time, but the pics you sent me of your B&B there look amazing.

Hello Jescel. You are very lucky to have had your honeymoon in Boracay!

Thanks WORC! Lizard soup actually sounds pretty good;)

[Anne]

I found your site a few weeks back and I LOVE it. I squealed in glee when I saw the taho buckets. I lived in the PI until I was 9, and there was a time when the taho man would stop in front of the gate of our property and wait for us to come out because I became a regular. Seeing that made me so nostalgic and almost brought tears to my eyes.

[Tita]

I found your site when I googled "Filipino food blog." Your pictures look great! I've never been to Boracay but I plan to visit next year. Crab and prawn photos made me hungry! Can't wait to see Boracay!

[The Philippine Island]

For me, Boracay is the most beautiful place in the Philippines i have ever seen. How i wish i can go back there someday.

[Boracay Hotels]

Quite a long post but true to your title it was never boring reading it. It was quite a food trip.

[Boracay island hotel]

You will definitely enjoy your stay in the tropical paradise called Boracay. The stay will give you a once a life experience you will never forget.

[Boracay Hotels]

Wow, what a beautiful boracay. I like your photos especially your lizard named mango. So cute. yeah, i believed that boracay is not a boring place. It is a relaxing place at all. Love foods, look delicious. YUMMY.. 8-)

Tanya Gemarin

[Peter]

Looks like you had a lot of fun!!! Boracay is a great place and Taho is delicious!!! I feel like eating some right now!

[philippines classified ads]

A nice place to relax.Bora can offered you the best foods, musics and of-course hot chicks.

[Hotels In Boracay]

congratulations...you continue to inspire with your utterly gorgeous photos and lovely lovely food... congrats on all your success...! :)

[Sashi]

Everything here were delicious! I want to try them out when we visit Boracay this summer.

It make me starve at this hour...

And ohhh! hi Mango!! =)