Dumaguete, as the cascade of recent posts indicates, has been very kind to us.

Up to now, though, I've not said much about that crucial component of Tern travel -- food.

We opted to Airbnb, to facilitate self-catering. Supermarket prices here actually don't compare that well with those in Kuching (aside from wine, which is definitely cheaper here, and not counting bacon and green tomatoes, neither of which we get back home...). On the other hand, we find restaurant prices generally a little lower. So we've been eating out once a day.

And it's not been difficult to find very good low-carb food options.

Below are the places we've liked:

Bo's Coffee, on Rizal Boulevard, rapidly became our preferred caffeine stop. Their drip coffee is really nice; they sell 70%-cocoa Filipino chocolate; they have comfy chairs; and they have quick wifi. What's not to like?


Casablanca, along with many other items, does interesting, generously proportioned salads (mine was goat's cheese and spinach, a combo we would struggle to come up with at home, I think).


Lantaw is one of a small strip of restaurants right by the sea. Again, good-sized portions, and an interesting array of vegetable dishes. Go early, though, as they fill up very quickly during the main lunch slot.

Over the couple of times we visited, we sampled spicy scallops, squid adobo, grilled tuna belly, tortang talong (egg-coated eggplant) and adobong kangkong.




The decor is exuberantly Filipino:



Pretty much right next door is Lab-as Seafood Restaurant. Their "Dumaguete Express" is a mixture of seafood, coconut flesh, coconut milk, and tiny leaves I don't know the name of (maybe young kalunay or moringa?), topped off with crispy pork. Maximum yum.


To go with that, we ordered steamed fish fillet rolls (stuffed with onion and tomato, and sprinkled with onion, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce), and steamed vegetables (okra, spinach, bitter gourd, and eggplant) with a tangy/fishy dip. Not only was the food excellent, but you get views of the sea, and a real piano-player.



Dumaguete is famous for silvanas, made by a bakery/cafe called Sans Rival.

Now, at 22 grams of carbs per bikkie, they're not exactly going to feature regularly on the eating plan. But compared with many other cakes/biscuits, they are not off the charts. No flour, you see. The ingredients are egg white, sugar, milk, butter, and cashew nuts, and what you do with them is make cashew meringue wafers, which are sandwiched with a layer of buttercream, coated with a bit more, and dipped in cashew and cookie crumbs. Given that combo, I hardly need to say that they are absolutely delicious, especially as they're served cold, so the buttercream melts in your mouth in truly decadent fashion...



Sans Rival Bistro (a sister establishment just down the road) offers an excellent Sunday breakfast buffet. The resto is housed in the original owner's ancestral home, and it's very elegant and comfortable.



The egg, fish, sausage, and meat dishes offer plenty of options for low-carbers, while those of us not compelled to be so strict can take the opportunity to run amok among the buns and butter, the kutsinta (chewy steamed rice cakes topped with grated coconut), and the CHOCOLATE RICE PORRIDGE!

Why, in all my trips to the Philippines, have I never had this before? Made with sticky rice, sugar, and dark chocolate, it's super-chocolaty, not too sweet, and ultra-delicious.

But a carb disaster, of course, because of the sticky rice. So unfortunately, the genuinely low-carbing Tern could allow himself only the teensiest tip of a spoonful...

For the same reason, we have not been down at the market sampling the budbud in the way we would have been in days of yore.

But this is very much a positive story. We've been really pleasantly surprised at how easy it has been to eat not only very well (good quality, great variety, acceptable price, and awesome taste) but also pretty healthily.