Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro
19 November 2010
The Philippines is truly blessed with great beaches, so for this holiday, K wanted to include a beach trip as part of our itinerary. I still haven't set foot in Puerto Galera, so knowing we won't travel that far to get there, we quickly listed it as part of our trip, but instead of checking into any of the resorts in White Beach, we went for Mountain Beach Resort in Talipanan Beach because K and I wanted a little quiet environment.
It was both our first time to travel there, but we never had problems getting there because the bus would make a stopover at Batangas Pier. Once there, some porters asked us where we were going and as soon as they learned we were heading to Talipanan Beach, they quickly helped us get to the boat which was actually about to leave.
K placed a reservation for a room days prior to his arrival here in the Philippines, so the resort owner already knew we were arriving. K booked a very basic room (no aircon, no TV), which was very okay for the both of us.
True enough, this side of Puerto Galera was very quiet. Very few tourists, very few establishments, but we were thankful that they had a dining area and that they had WiFi connection. We quickly made friends to the resort owners, and from there we already felt at home - as if we just visited a relative in the province.
They also have some tables fronting the beach, but it was hot that time and we were quite excited to check the Internet so we preferred to stay at the main dining area.
Checking the menu, they had quite a lot of choices, but it was a bit sad that they didn't have seafood and beef at the moment. We will be staying at this resort for three days, so let me just break the posting into three as well. For our first day, we had:
LUNCH
Chicken Cordon Bleu. Very big serving for one person to eat, so I would say it was truly worth the money. However, it was a little too thick, so some of the onion and garlic inside weren't cooked thoroughly, but the chicken and ham were cooked alright. I sure hoped they served this with mayonnaise, but ketchup was quite okay. It was seasoned fine, and the Fries tasted okay, too, though it was a bit obvious that they didn't use fresh oil to fry the potatoes.
Pork Schnitzel. K's choice. Again, the serving was big... and K liked it. The pork was tender, it had the right crunch, and the seasoning was right.
Banana Shake. My drink. It was a hot afternoon and this was my cooler and dessert in one. :)
DINNER
Chicken Curry. K's meal. The sauce was a little too thick for my liking, but it had the right curry taste, so it was a good choice for him.
Pork Nilaga. I was always eating "dry" meals, so for tonight's dinner I went for something soupy. This bowl of nilaga had a lot of pepper, but what I loved about it was that fat were taken out (though it had very thin traces of fat in some cuts). Despite using lean meat, it was tender and very comforting - especially that the breeze of wind was a bit chilly.
Our first day in Puerto Galera was nice even if we just walked along the sea shore most of the time. Will share Day 2 of food next time.
I come from a family who loves cooking and eating. I never had any formal training in cooking and that I taught myself how to cook based on the handed down recipes, but I could say that I can cook good food. In 2008, I started documenting my food trips for my