TBK travels to El Nido, one more time!

 

              Vegetable Lumpia with Mango shake at Cadlao Resort, El Nido

Regular readers of my blog will know I have not always been very complimentary about El Nido in the past! However as I had to travel there for a charity event recently I thought I wold revisit some of my favorite places and share them with you.

I will start with Cadlao Resort (https://cadlaoelnido.com/) where I watched the sun set one evening . It is at the end of a long track that leads off one end off El Nido Town beach. This time Chester and I walked there along the beach. Sadly recent high tides and a storm which flooded parts of El Nido had damaged the path that used to run at the back of the beach so the route was not easy. However the serenity and peace of the Resort soon made up for that. The Restaurant is beside the sea with amazing views and the staff are very courteous and the food is always great. I had been invited for dinner in El Nido at 7 pm so just had a snack ( Meryenda in Tagalog) and had a great conversation by a lovely Mother and Daughter from Canada who sat next to me. The Operations Manager also dropped by to say hello. 

    I enjoyed my snack so much I decided to stay for coffee - beautifully served

One of my Leadership Guru's from my lecturing days , Ken Blanchard, used to say:

                     "Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions" 

So when I have a good experience in a hotel I always leave a review on Google Maps and I said:

2 days ago

Sadly I cannot afford to stay here but every time I come to El Nido I come here to eat and see the sunset This time I had mango shake, coffee and vegetable spring role and a banana muffin. Only the sunset disappointed due to bad weather

Later I had a reply from the Operations Manager who I met at the hotel- now that is very impressive!

Response from the owner 2 days ago

Dear Neil, Its been a pleasure meeting you yesterday, we appreciate your kind commendation. Regards, Cid Operations Manager

Many hotels never even reply or dash out a copy and paste response . It should be remembered these reviews are seen my thousands of people and nowadays often influence peoples decisions as to where to go. In my case I just had an update from Google to say:

300,000

Hi Neil,

300,000 total views of your photos! Thank you for adding photos to Google Maps. Contributions like yours help others make decisions about the things worth doing and places worth seeing – keep it up! Cadlao is an old favourite which I have been visiting annually since 2014 when I first discovered El Nido. This trip I found a few new restaurants that had opened since I was last in El Nido in April 2022....                                                        No, they do not serve " Hot Dog!" Banana Nest Kitchenette was set up by Jam Fernandez. Chef Arnel from Senordamla in Puerto Princesa helped with the training of the staff in Puerto and on site in El Nido. I like the simplicity of the place. As you can see in our Vlog (click on the picture below) they have 3 main ingredients (Chicken, Beef and Pork) and from these produce a variety of Pinoy dishes (Adobo, Tapsilog, Congee etc.) but with a modern twist. I started with the Chicken Adobo Binalot which was presented like a gift, wrapped in Banana leaf. Inside was rice, chicken adobo, egg, banana and pickled Papaya. The coffee was freshy made in a machine which Jam bought back with him from Austria (where he works as a pastry chef OFW).                 The BNK Halo x 2  I finished off with their signature dish , Birds Nest Kitchenette Halo Halo (BNK Halo x2 for short) which is served in a Coconut on a bed of crushed ice. I was very jealous of his sparkling new ice crusher! Although it is part of Tindakan cottages the Kitchenette has its own entrance off the street, does take away or dine in,  and has become popular with locals and tourists. The menu is very reasonably priced so give it a try!                                Lio Beach, about 10 mins drive from El Nido Another place that grows on me every time I visit is Lio Beach. One of the hotels is a mess as it is currently being rebuilt by new owners. One has already been converted and reopened with new owners and only Huni and Seda remain under Ayala ownership. The planned new hotels and housing has been put on hold although several new restaurants have opened since my last visit.                                            Rodel's cocktail at Red Crab I headed for Punta Playa, my favourite, with friends for lunch. However, we arrived too early as they did not open until noon. As we wanted to be back in Barotuan by 1pm for the parade we went next door to the newly opened Red Crab. The waiter introduced us to the live crabs but my friends went for the Squid and I had the Thai chicken Inasal. It poured with rain while we ate so the waiter suggested we had some Nachos and cocktails. While Rodel had a Negroni and Kit a Lava flow I stuck with my Calamansi juice. It was a pity they did not have any desserts and that the bill took so long to arrive, but apart from that it was a great meal.               Chester poses with his latest bone on Lio beach for his Calendar The next day, when the second HOPE event I had driven all the way to El Nido for, was cancelled, I decided to return to Lio with Chester. He swam and we did some photos for his calendar until noon. Then we headed to Punta Playa for lunch. I had my usual Tuna salad niçoise which took ages to prepare (as usual) but was delicious and very attractively presented. They did apologise for the delay and offered me complimentary bread and an Amuse Bouche.   The wonderful Salad Nicoise at Punta Playa, Mediterranean Cuisine at it's best! Later we went to Liam’s and had my favourite dessert, Turon a la mode, a regular coke and a café Americano. The place was quiet, the service was excellent as before and the setting is beautiful looking out to sea but away from the hot sun (yes, we had hot sun on our last day) You may have noticed I wrote a blog about El Nido without eating anywhere in Town (apart from Jam’s place, Banana Nest Kitchenette.) That was a deliberate omission.  The town itself has not changed in the last 9 years that I have been visiting. A walk around town is unpleasant, assuming you can find somewhere to park, and you will constantly be hassled by Trike drivers and street vendors on every corner. I went to my favourite Deli to stock up on Earl Grey Tea, Muscovado sugar and some Pasalubong for my neighbour Benny. As Chester and I sat outside in the sun with some coffee the noise of building work, Crocodiles whistling and Trike drivers shouting for customers was deafening so we headed down to the beach.                                                         Bacuit Bay, El Nido, from Cadlao Resort Maybe I am spoilt where I live now in Bagon Sikat where the road outside is blissfully quiet. When I go on vacation to Nacpan, Surya Beach, Alimanguan and Sabang I deliberately choose places that are quiet and away from roads. I think, in my old age, I am becoming a recluse like my brother Andrew. I am afraid to say that having initially fallen in love with El Nido on my first visit in 2014 its now time for a divorce ! My friend , Sir Marco, tried to explain the building works away saying:            “oh...it's a developing town...expect a lot of constructions”  However it has been developing since my first visit in 2014 and its still a mess. I hope I do not have to return until construction finishes! In spite of all the building work we had a great week by the sea with lots of walking on the beach and Chester made lots of new doggie friends and did lots of swimming. Every day we did more than our target 5,000 steps and one day we nearly made 15,000 steps! For some reason, however , we are still 119 Kg! Maybe we should eat less! Until or next blog this is The British Kabayan ( and Chester) signing out from El Nido for the long journey home!     This time we set off at 8.30 am and stopped at Shinabutch in Taytay for a chicken curry and coffee around 10.30 am ( just 300 pesos with rice and water and freshly cooked) Then around 1.30 pm we reached Cecil's , just north of Roxas , where we were given our usual warm welcome and had Halo Halo and coffee by the lake              Chester was fascinated by the Koi Carp and Geese and ducks below  Finally we arrived in Bagon Sikat where Jullymar and Jhoanna were waiting for us. She had done all the washing, cleaning, ironing and made both beds and done all the shopping! Bless her. The black thing is a seatbelt and must be worn at all times ( just added that for Britain's Prime Minister who was just fined for uploading a blog of him being driven around the UK with out a seat belt on!) Not sure if dogs have to wear seatbelts here in the Philippines! We will be back soon with another Blog and our next road trip will be in April when we are off to Coron with Edzel and his friend.