My Filipino Buffet Lunch At Kamayan

Posted by : foongpc | Monday, May 9, 2011 | Published in

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It was my fifth day in Manila, Philippines. I was so excited as it was the day I had planned to meet up with Ishmael Ahab, my Filipino blogger friend and to savour Filipino food!

Since Ishmael told me he would be bringing me to a buffet lunch, I decided to skip the hotel's complimentary breakfast that morning. I also had the luxury to sleep in later which was good, as I had been waking up at 6am everyday since arriving in Manila.

To my surprise, Ishmael brought me to a restaurant very near my hotel. In fact, it was along the same road (Padre Faura Street) just a minute's walk away!



The restaurant is called Kamayan. Oh wait...it's actually called Dads, Kamayan, Saizaki.

That's because it's actually three restaurants in one! Dads offers continental fare, Saizaki Japanese specialties and Kamayan authentic Filipino cuisine.

I was more interested in Filipino food so we focused on Kamayan.


Top : lechon de leche (roasted suckling pig)
Bottom : liempo kawali (crispy pan-fried pork belly)

Kamayan is a Filipino word means to eat using hands. Not such a foreign culture as we Malaysians also love eating using our hands! But of course, in this restaurant, we were provided with forks and spoons so we did not use our hands!

The photos did not turn out nice as the light in the restaurant was quite dim. I hope you can see the pictures of the food clearly!

Here are the rest of the food we ate. I am not sure if I got all the names and their translation correct! So if you are a Filipino reading this, do point out my mistakes - thank you!


From left to right : kamayan yamang dagat (kamayan seafood), bopis (diced pork lungs and heart), kuhol sa gata (snails in coconut milk)


Pusit sa gata (squid in coconut milk) and bangus belly guisado (milkfish belly stew)


From left to right : pancit (noodles), kalderetang baka (Filipino beef stew), crispy chicken


From left to right : embotido (Filipino style meatloaf), gulay sa coco (vegetables in coconut cream), pla pla (tilapia fish) in garlic pepper sauce


Inihaw liempo-bicol (Bicol's grilled pork belly)

There were quite a variety of desserts! Please don't ask me their names!



But the one I like best was halo-halo!



Halo-halo is a very popular Filipino dessert which is made up of shaved ice and evaporated milk and which you add into the mix various boiled sweet beans and fruits. I would say it's something like a version of Malaysia's ice kacang.



By the way, the word halo means mix.

For the price of 600 pesos (RM42) per person, you can enjoy the buffet from Kamayan, Dads and Saizaki. What a great deal!!!

Drinks were however, not included in the buffet price. So each of us ordered a drink (I forgot what the drink was!) which costs 200 pesos (RM14). Now that's expensive! But we were given a toy bear each! How nice!

It would be nicer if they could give us a panda bear each! Haha!!



Guess what? After chit-chatting with Ishmael for some time, I got thirsty and decided to order another drink.

So we ended up with three bears on the table! Two whites and one brown! Haha!!



We were also entertained by a group of singers and musicians! We requested for a Malaysian song but none of them knew except the girl, so they ended up singing an English song for us!



We were both quite full eating those Filipino food that we did not try the continental fare from Dads and Japanese food from Saizaki! What a waste!

But it's OK, I just really wanted to try Filipino food so I got what I wanted! All thanks to my Filipino blogger friend, Ishmael! Thank you so much!

Now if you are wondering why there is no picture of Ishmael, that's because like me, he values his privacy and does not like to have his photo posted online. High five to that! LOL!

As we left, I took a picture of the restaurant's interior. A lot of customers had already left by that time.



It was an enjoyable lunch and I would not mind coming back to this restaurant again in future!

There is actually one reason why I did not want to eat too full at this buffet. Do you know what's the reason? Well, that's because right after the buffet, Ishmael would be bringing me to eat balut, which is fertilised duck or chicken egg with a nearly-formed embryo inside!

Sounds like a Fear Factor challenge? Perhaps, so stay tuned : )

Comments (66)

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oh, I miss the snails in coconut milk, and all those other foods, makes me hungry now!
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1 reply · active 712 weeks ago
yr trip is getting more exciting by the post.. :)
My recent post Pretty Pauline wins Mylongkang 2011 Mother’s Day Award
1 reply · active 712 weeks ago
<3 <3
My recent post Happy Mothers Day!
Wahhhh 5th day edi, so fast! Ha ha ha...
My recent post Happy Mothers Day!
1 reply · active 712 weeks ago
So you got to meet one blogger friend while u were there? Awesome! And how nice of him to treat u to a buffet! <3
My recent post Happy Mothers Day!
1 reply · active 712 weeks ago
Should have just gone for the hotel breakfast too, makan sikit only la.. janji enjoy free food ha ha! ;)
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1 reply · active 712 weeks ago
I would like to try Halo-halo! Name oso nice! :)
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1 reply · active 712 weeks ago
And I want that white teddy bear, so cute and nice colour! ;)
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1 reply · active 712 weeks ago
gud morning panda! ^_^
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1 reply · active 712 weeks ago
buffet lunch????! sooo nice?!! :o
My recent post MM - 听妈妈的话 Ting Mama De Hua by Jay Chou
1 reply · active 712 weeks ago
They like coconut milk much? lol

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1 reply · active 712 weeks ago
got suckling pig summore!! the foods all looks so yummy!! :D :D
My recent post MM - 听妈妈的话 Ting Mama De Hua by Jay Chou
1 reply · active 712 weeks ago
GRRR!!! halo halo oso got! i wanna try dat so badly after saw Milton posted in his blog last time!! xD
My recent post MM - 听妈妈的话 Ting Mama De Hua by Jay Chou
1 reply · active 709 weeks ago
rm42 for all the foods is still quite reasonable wei!! :D yums!! how much did u ate?? :p
My recent post MM - 听妈妈的话 Ting Mama De Hua by Jay Chou
1 reply · active 709 weeks ago
The roasted suckling pig looks delicious so do some of the other dishes. Good info, good post, Foong. Thanks for sharing.

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their food seems similar to malay food. and their desserts are so colorful!
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the teddy bears sooo cute! wow! so nice! drink n get one eh.
My recent post MM - 听妈妈的话 Ting Mama De Hua by Jay Chou
and... with performance! like vip only!! aiseh! :p
My recent post MM - 听妈妈的话 Ting Mama De Hua by Jay Chou
eeeks! finally ur balut post coming up!! hahahaha xD
My recent post MM - 听妈妈的话 Ting Mama De Hua by Jay Chou
Filipino foods are very interesting.

Never heard of any eateries giving free teddy bears. This is the first. haha
The roasted suckling pig does look really really nice!
Each guest is given a teddy bear? How generous are they!
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