Best of Summer Part 1 - There's more to Boracay than just the beach

Oh how I’ve missed this. The last three months have left me with very little time to sit down quietly in one corner to relive the recent tasty meals I’ve indulge on and share my experience with you. Thanks to one of my good friends who has been pressuring me to update my blog (yes, Minay, that's you!), I got reminded of this one important aspect of my life that I didn’t realize I’ve been missing. A lot.

Anyway, so much has happened in 3 months!  Let’s backtrack, shall we?

Definitely one of the highlights of my summer was my Boracay trip (or should I say, food trip) with my barkada where the months I spent in the gym trying to tone my body were rendered immaterial in just a few days of pigging out. Time and again, I have proven that there really is more to Boracay than just the beautiful beach and the funtabulous night parties. This island is home to some of the best dishes that I always look forward to every summer.

Mañana Mexican Cuisine’s Burrito

 

Because I love variety, I prefer ordering the combo burrito meal with one chicken and one beef burrito. The rice is served outside so you can manage how much you’d like to eat. It also comes with hot sauce, jalapeno sauce, and salsa. If you’re still trying to stick to your diet, this meal can be shared by two.

Real Coffee's Jack's Omelette

Waking up to a beautiful view of Boracay’s white beach can be made even more perfect with delicious breakfast from Real Coffee. Aside from the much in-demand Calamansi Muffins, their breakfast meals are also worth the lack of sleep. One of my favorites would have to be Jack’s Omelette—made with three well-cooked eggs and a generous serving of ham, onions, cheese and pesto, served with buttered toast. Pair it with their signature coffee, and your morning will not be less than wonderful.

D’Talipapa’s Seafood Feast

Our trip to D’Talipapa was scheduled “strategically”. We were already expecting to eat more than our fair share and so we made sure to go there over lunch, so we have the afternoon to burn all the calories we’d take in. It would also help to take a stroll back to the beach to burn the calories faster :)

With the adjacent restaurants all inviting customers to have their seafood cooked there, it was quite hard to choose which one to go to, so we just picked the one that had a lot of people inside.

We went to the palengke (market) area to shop for seafood and decided on oysters, shrimp, crab and squid. Everything was cooked really well and tasted so fresh—from the Oyster Rockefeller, to the Lemon Butter Garlic Shrimp, to the Butter Garlic Crab. We didn’t even mind that the sauces tasted the same. I mean, who could go wrong with lemon + butter + garlic right?

Lemon Butter Garlic Shrimp

Butter and Garlic Crab - Photo courtesy of Pau Guevara 

Oyster Rockefeller - Photo courtesy of Pau Guevara

All in all, we spent around 400 per person for everything – with the service, rice and soft drinks. Not bad at all, I would say.

Wow, thinking about all of this makes me wish it was summer all over again and I'm back in that island paradise feasting on delicious food. 

Well, the long wait just means one thing. Nine months head start to get that elusive Boracay body I've always wished for, so I can have some room to spare for some more beach food tripping :)

Simply Thai is simply the closest to authentic Thai cuisine

 

One of the many things that C and I have in common is that we have a special place in our hearts for anything Thai. He spent his younger years living in Thailand with his family, while I spent two years of high school in Bangkok with my family as well. And so it's no coincidence that we both absolutely love Thai cuisine. I find it rather difficult to closely replicate the authentic flavor of Thai dishes, with all its spices and distinct flavors. Thankfully, Simply Thai was able to come very close, and minus the very European looking ambience, it felt (or should I say tasted?) like C and I were both back in our second home.

Simply Thai's interiors were carried over from The Terrace, which used to be in this spot

I liked the light feel and soft light green theme of the inside

First things first. We were starving, and we needed our staple Thai dish, Pad Thai, on our table first. Simply Thai's Pad Thai was served very creatively. The noodles were wrapped inside a mesh made of egg. The other ingredients were placed on the corners of the plate, such that we had to break through the mesh and mix everything before having a taste. It added a bit more to the whole experience. The noodles were perfect and I tasted a mixture of smoky and slightly tangy flavors, with the nuts adding some texture. I think this Pad Thai is really the closest to the ones I've tried in Bangkok. I will definitely come back for this.

Pad Thai

A closer look

C wanted some hot soup, and of course Tom Yum Goong was the only choice. A lot of the kinds I've tasted are either too sour that it hurts my cheeks, or too spicy that it almost scalds my tongue. Simply Thai's Tom Yum was just the right balance. We had ours with fair servings of shrimp.

Tom Yum Goong

Next came our Beef Curry. This had a strong curry flavor, and not the creamy, less powerful curry dishes you usually find in other Thai restaurants. While I prefer my curry this way, I think most people would prefer theirs to be more on the creamy side. Like the Pad Thai, it was also served quite creatively and you'd know it's delicious just by looking at it.

Beef Curry

We complemented our curry with the Black Pepper Soft Shell Crab. The crablets were very crunchy and again, was served beautifully with even a flower on the side. This was a good balance to the strong flavor of the curry.

Black Pepper Soft Shell Crab

A few months ago, my family and I celebrated my mom's birthday in Simply Thai and I just really have to include this in this post. Simply Thai offers Dungeness Crab, which is a huge crab flown from Thailand served in their delicious garlic butter sauce. It was enough for the seven of us to share. So if ever you're dining here in a big group, I highly suggest ordering this. Let the photos speak for themselves.

Dungeness Crab

 

The creativity in this restaurant never stops. Their takeout bags are made from the paper they use as placemats. :)

It's been almost 7 years since I last visited Thailand, and I really do miss its busy streets and wonderful, friendly people. But it's a comfort to know that without leaving Manila, I can be a little nostalgic and relive my authentic experience of this delicious cuisine in restaurants like Simply Thai.

THE GOURMANDE'S SCORE: 5 out 5