Manila Food. Hint: too much meat :)

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Too much meat. Too little vegetable. My impression of the food in Manila- especially on restaurants that are crowded by middle class and lower middle class Filipinos. I eat meat but not much. I like to try new food but such trial must always been interrupted, may be two days, by dal bhat tarkari 🙂 As the first week passed by I started craving for the food that is a daily staple in Nepal. Dal was not be seen anywhere. We went to an Indian restaurant called Bollywood in Greenbelt. Surprisingly the manager was a Nepali speaking Indain from Darjeeling area (Kolkata, he said). The food was good but I must admit that the bill was too steep. And the motton momo, dipped in the Indian chicken-gravy, was quite strange to my taste but my classmates liked it. Here’s an excerpt of an article that I wrote for Kantipur newspaper two weeks ago about Nepali students in Manila and Bangkok. The excerpt in Nepali talks about the food in Manila.

जे खानुहुन्छ, तपाई त्यसैले चनिनिहुन्छ । विशेषगरी हुर्किदा खाएको खानाले (अपवादबाहेक) जिन्दगीभर तपाईलाई छाड्दैन । अझ भनौं, तपाईले छोड्नु हुन्न । दालभातकै कुरा गरौं, सानैदेखि त्यो खाएको हो भने पिज्जा, बर्गर, पास्ता, सुसीले तपाईलाई दुई/चार दिन आनन्द देलान् तर पाचौ दिनदेखि तपाईलाई कतिबेला दालभात खाउँ जस्तो लाग्छ । विशेषगरी विदेशमा ।
‘एक दिन पिज्जा खाए अघाइन्छ,’ स्नेहा राजवंशीले भनिन्– ‘भात दिनदिनै खाए अघाइदैन ।’
१९ बर्षे स्नेहा नौ महिना अघि नेपाल छाडेर फिलिपिन्सको मनिला आएकी थिइन्– डेन्टिस्ट्री (दन्त विज्ञान) पढ्न । ‘कात्तिक २९ गते,’ उनले सुनाईन्– ‘नेपाल छाडेको, घरपरिवार छाडेको । फ्लाईट (उडान) नम्बर समेत याद छ । आरए ४११ ।’
स्नेहा ती दशौ हज्जार नेपाली विद्यार्थी मध्धेकी हुन् जो स्वदेशमा स्तरीय र सस्तो शिक्षा (सहजै) उपलब्ध नहुदा विदेशिन बाध्य छन् । भारतमा भए जसोतसो खान्की नेपालकै जस्तो मिल्ला (तैपनि स्वाद नेपाली भए पो) तर फिलिपिन्स जस्तो गाई/सुगुर/कुखुरा अत्यधिक खाने, भात अलिकति खाने, तरकारी झन् थोरै खाने र दाल खादै नखाने ठाउँमा लामो समय टिक्नै गाह्रो हुन्छ ।
खानामै समश्या हुनथालेपछि ती विद्यार्थीले कसरी पढुन् ? त्यसैले हुनुपर्छ स्नेहा पढ्ने मनिलास्थित इमिल्यियो अगुईनाल्डो मेडिकल कलेजले आफ्नो होस्टेलमा बसेर पढ्ने ४० जना नेपाली विद्यार्थीहरुकै लागि भनेर नेपालबाट एकजना भान्से झिकाएको छ । यी मध्ये अघिकाँश त्यहा मेडिसिन (चिकित्साशास्त्र) पढ्छन् । नेपालमा स्तरीय कलेजमा हत्तपत्त सिटै नपाईने, पाइहाले ३५ लाख सम्मको शुल्क एकैचोटी तिर्नुपर्ने हुदा अविभावकहरु निरुत्साहित हुन्छन् । इमिल्यियो जस्ता कलेजहरुले चाहि महिनैपिच्छे शुल्क तिर्दा हुने व्यवस्था गरिदिन्छन् जसले अविभावकहरुलाई कमाउदै छोराछोरी पढाउन सजिलो पार्छ ।
….इमिलियो कलेजले  नेपाली विद्यार्थीका लागि शुरुमा एकजना फिलिपिनो भान्से पनि राखेको थियो । उसले खाना त नेपाली बनायो तर स्वाद नेपाली दिन सकेन । ‘काउली हामी भुटेर पकाउछौ नि,’ स्नेहाले भनिन्– ‘उनीहरुले झ्यान्ट्याङ्ग झोल हालिदिने ।’
‘हामीलाई चिल्लो, अमिलो, पिरो सबै मिल्नुपर्छ,’ २४ बर्षे उत्सव पोखरेलले भने– ‘त्यो उसले मिलाउनै नसक्ने ।’
— हालै कान्तिपुरमा प्रकाशित एउटा लेखबाट

Manila food: Seangly from Cambodia

Manila food: rice, fish, egg and mushroom. ( Mushroom wasn’t good.)

Manila food: an empty plate

Manila food (for thought): with classmates in a coffee shop to finish a presentation for the next day.

Manila food: Fried rice in a restaurant in Makati

Manila food: Fried rice in a restaurant in Makati

Manila food: Corn soup

Manila food: Corn soup

Manila China Town Veggie shop. Notice Chinese nose at the top left corner of the picture? That’s my Chinese classmate Fang Sheng aka Hugh

Manila street food

Manila food: In the Uni canteen

Manila food: In the Uni canteen

Manila food: inside the Uni canteen with Malte

Manila food: That’s Malte in the Uni canteen taking a BIT bite!

Manila food: dining with classmates in a restaurant

Seangly and glasses of beer

I was totally disappointed and had to throw more than half of of food because I couldn’t adjust myself with its taste

It was good because it had some vegetables. And no meat for a change.

The thing on the left was totally disappointing too. Felt like chewing plastic. But the fruit on the right was good 🙂

My favorite place to eat was EAT, a small wifi-enabled restaurant close to where I was staying. I wish they had daal but a piece of chicken and rice along with ketchup or something similar filled my stomach for a few evenings.

In the Uni canteen. That momo on the left was disaster.

manila food: chicken

manila food: the menu

There’s a small story behind that egg on the plate to be left..by the man in the picture.. Malte. That story could be summed up in two words: Baloot effect.