Lunch on the beach

Unlike Boracay, the beach in Roxas City is more intimate. It looks more like a neighborhood affair rather than a posh resort community. On one side are the private residences and on the opposite side are the restaurants and watering holes. Behind them, a few meters farther from the sea, are the fields where salted fish dry under the sun.

On our third day in Roxas City, after the bangus harvest, we had lunch at one of the restaurants that dot the beach — Coco Veranda.

The place was packed and we had to be patient. Not a difficult thing to do — the kids immediately ran to the beach and started picking and collecting seashells. Click on the thumbnails to view the photos.

We were supposed to ride a boat and visit this islet. Maybe, next time.

Only kids enjoy picking seashells under the noonday sun. Personally, I took a few photos and went back under the shade.

Sam and Jill collecting seashells on the beach.

It wasn’t alive anymore so I didn’t stop my daughter from poking it.

They were cooked the way my father did. The oysters are placed in a basin, boiling water is poured over them and, after a few minutes, the oysters are strained and the shells pried open.

It’s an appetizer, strictly speaking, or in Filipino parlance, pulutan — the finger food that accompanies beer or other alcoholic drink. But I can eat barely cooked oysters — and nothing else — with rice and feel I had a complete meal.

Ah, this fish dish I thoroughly enjoyed. I suppose it is more Chinese than Filipino with its thickened sweet-salty sauce and stir fried vegetables.

Served sizzling on a hot plate, I couldn’t eat this shrimp dish naturally because of an allergy.

The Roxas City version of the grilled chicken dish made famous by Bacolod City.

For my husband and I, nothing beats ice-cold halo-halo on a hot summer day.

For my younger daughter Alex, an all-Filipino lunch is never complete unless she has leche flan (cream custard) for dessert.