Fresh Fish, Anyone?

I'm not sure if cooking will ever be for me but I just watched this movie that made me want to learn how to cook even more. Anyway, I'm not going to talk about what happens in the kitchen but about my little dining adventure at Santa Fe in Bantayan Island, Cebu.

We stayed at the island for one a night. First lunch was not good. In fact it was terrible. After four hours of traveling, we got so tired and hungry to think that we went straight to the resort's restaurant and ordered plain Fried Porkchops and Fish Tinola. Tinola is a kind of soup. It's described in Wikipedia but the definition isn't enough. I'll probably talk more about it one day. Enough of sidetracking, the pork tasted as if it was marinated in detergent and the fish in the soup didn't even seem to amount to a quarter of a kilo like the waitress said. We wasted a lot of money for that.

So when dinner came we decided to go on a tight budget and just ate Chicken Inasal (roasted chicken) instead of dining in the expensive restaurants in the market. The next day we skipped breakfast because we spent so much time watching and taking photos of the sunrise and just swimming in the ocean. Just before noon time, we went back to the same place where we had dinner and ordered something more filling this time.

We ordered Fried Calamares and Fish Tinola. Why the same dish? We were on an island of fishermen and it would break my heart to be not able to eat fresh fish at my satisfaction. We got to choose which fish we want and here are photos of our dear fish friends before they hit the skillet. FYI, the dotted fish (rabbit fish) is locally called danggit.


I was nervous about the Calamares. I have tasted several different kinds but there are only a few I honestly liked. The cook didn't make it very good looking but it tasted really good. No rubbery feeling, none at all!


This is becoming the longest and most boring food entry here but hey, I'm just thinking loud. The Fish Tinola was just superb. It tasted like fish but didn't smell like fish. I should learn using appropriate adjectives here but I'm sure you got my point.


Santa Fe market had a row of restaurants but I should be grateful to that guy who gave us a tip about this one. The place actually didn't look like a restaurant at all. Just across are vendors selling goods such as dried fish.


The place was called "Arjaymay." Here's a shot of the restaurant and their menu. The menu was limited but you can have fish cooked anyway you like it. Right now, this is one of my "must dine" places in Santa Fe market and I recommend it to anyone who wants to enjoy fresh seafood without spending a fortune.

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Calamares only cost us PHP120 (approx. USD2.4) while Tinola at PHP180 (USD3.6). Four guests were satisfied at that price so it's safe to say it is inexpensive. And no, they paid me no dime for this post. ;)

Check here for all photos.