Mango Shake From Cafe Mamia

Note: This post was originally posted one year ago on my sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken blog. It is being posted just as it was, and the links will point back to that blog.

This morning, we had planned on having our American expat's brunch at the Gabby's Bistro inside the Paseo Perdices Building on Rizal Blvd.

The original plan was for 10:00 AM, but it developed into a regular cluster 4#ck very early. The school where the children of four of us attend is having exams this week. This means classes are only half days this week. Yesterday the children got out at 11:30......that would still give us time for our brunch from 10:00AM until 11:30, but at the last minute, my son tells me that they'll get out at 10:30 today instead of 11:30. At that point it became a scramble to contact everyone to see if we could gather at 9:00 AM instead.

Everyone was successfully notified about the change. When the first ones arrived at Gabby's, we learned that Gabby's was no longer serving breakfast at that location. The signs read that the cafe would open now at 9:00 AM, but we were told by employees that they really didn't open until 10:00. We decided to go to Cafe Mamia instead. We could stay parked where we were and walk the short distance to Mamia's.

The last two times we met at Cafe Mamia, I had had the bread pudding à la mode with brewed coffee, and I had enjoyed that on both occasions. I had every intention of ordering the same today, until my friend ordered the mango shake. I couldn't recall ever having had a mango shake there, and I'd need to try one for my reviews.

As it turned out, neither of us had tried them before today. Looking back at an old blog post, I read that once before two others had ordered the mango shake, but when I ordered that time the cafe was "out of stock, sir".

Today, finally getting our shakes, my friend and I were both disappointed. The mango shake is too thin for my tastes, and priced too high (105 pesos) to boot. I'm sure I'll stick with the bread pudding next time I return to Mamia.

Pigs

Retired or not, a 2nd (or 3rd) income is necessary when living in Philippines. Here we have photos taken in our piggery.

The six piglets are five or six weeks old.

The adult sow laying down is grandmother to the piglets and mother of the adult sow peeping over the wall of the piggery.

The older sow belongs to my wife's papa and is currently pregnant. The mother of the piglets will be bred again soon.

 

Brunch At Tinto

 I mentioned in an earlier blog post that circumstances had prevented me from attending the regular Thursday brunch with some fellow Americans last week. At one time we'd meet at pretty much the same location every week, but recently we've begun going to a new joint each week. Because I wasn't there last week, I had no say in where we'd meet this time. This week we met at Tinto on E J. Blanco Dr. in Dumaguete.

I arrived a little early and met the "first shift" expats who were leaving as we were to arrive.

As can be seen in the photos, the restaurant's decor is pleasant enough, but it's similar to choosing the proverbial book by the cover. It's the food that's important.

I made the mistake of ordering the fish and chips. I was hoping for something as good as the fish and chips at Thunder Road but I was sadly disappointed. The fries were not bad - pretty good, in fact, but the fish wasn't good at all, and the meal was way over priced at 330 pesos.


One friend had the chili con carne. It did not look at all appetizing and my friend said it tasted like left-overs (and not in a good way). Two of the guys had burger and onion rings. I didn't ask how the burgers were, but burgers are burgers in my book. The one good thing I can say about the place is that they are very generous with their onion rings. I thought one order was actually a double order.

All in all, I did not have a good dining experience at Tinto and it's unlikely that I'll return.

 

Los Mariachis

Note: This post was originally published on another of my blogs on January 05, 2020

My son had been invited to a late afternoon/early evening birthday party yesterday in Brgy. Buntis, Bacong and after dropping him off, my wife and I decided to get a little bite to eat. Not wanting to travel all the way back to Sibulan, I thought we'd try Los Mariachis, located only 5 or 10 minutes away.

Neither of us had eaten at this restaurant before. A number of my American friends had recommended Los Mariachis - our group had even unsuccessfully attempted to have our Thursday morning brunch there but found that it wasn't open that early.
There weren't a lot of customers there when we arrived around 4:30 - there was room for me to park my car in front.

My wife and I split an order of enchiladas (with corn tortillas) with Mexican rice and refried beans. I had a mango milk shake; my wife had halo-halo. The refried beans were not like the ones I've eaten in the U.S.. These were made with white beans. Tasty but a little unusual. The enchiladas were excellent.

It wouldn't be fair of me to compare the mango milkshake I had at Los Mariachis with the mango shakes from other places in Dumaguete. This one had a generous dollop of mango ice cream. Most mango shakes do not include ice cream - the exception being Panda Ice Cream shop in Dumaguete. You get what you pay for. The mango milkshake was more expensive that any regular mango shake in town, but it was very delicious. Los Mariachis also sells a regular mango shake which is comparable in price to most places, but as I haven't tried it, I can't review it.

All in all, I'd recommend Los Mariachis to lovers of Mexican food in and around Dumaguete.