PhilFAQS

I’ve had a little bit of a tummy problem the past couple days, so I haven’t been eating much … seems much better now, and as I write this it is coming up to supper time, so I guess I thought about writing this post because I’m a bit hungry.

One food I almost always like (and my waistline shows it) is a good old-fashioned America hamburger.  Now you might think I have given those things up, living here in the Philippines, land of exotic rolls of fried, ground pork (lumpia Shanghai, ground up spiced pig’s face (sisig) and some people’s favorite fruit the Durian … mmm, think I smell one right now … nope, I was wrong, it’s a passing skunk LoL.

This is the land of batchoy(innards) and the Bicol Express and Bacolod chicken, but it’s also very much a land where you can find a burger too.

Not long ago I made a trip to Davao City and one of the places I ate at (and enjoyed) was a nice small restaurant called "Al’s diner" (after the fictional hangout on the series "Happy Days") and run by a very interesting Britisher named (of all things), Al.

While visiting and enjoyi9ng the food and the company I found my thoughts drifting as many foreigners do to the idea, "if only (there’s that damn ’stopper’ phrase again) I could find enough foreigner customers I could start a little place like this and it would make a nice living for my family, here in the Philippines."

I asked Al about his ratio of foreign to Filipino customers and for his speculation about existing if there were no foreigners around.  His replied kind of opened my eyes.

"Oh, dear, I think my foreign trade now is well under 20%.  The only thing that could really hurt this business is if my Filipino customers stopped coming."  Read some more here and see some pictures of how much Filipinos ‘get into’ hamburgers.

There’s a small chain of restaurants scattered over part of Luzon called "Aristocrat".  I’ve eaten there and they have some fine food indeed.  I ordered a shrimp dish that sounded quite good, and it didn’t disappoint.  But then, to my surprise, the food for the two Filipino couples at the table next to us arrived and my shrimp didn’t seem as tasty .. there were a couple giant hamburgers, and more important than their sheer size was the way they were put together … everything down to the rolls being a special rounded shape and just ‘fitting’ the meat patties perfectly … you knew it was good before the guys bit into them.  Hmm next time, Aristocrat special burger for sure.

Of course the familiar McDonalds and not so familiar Jollibee (much more popular  than "McDo’s), and a Filipino chain now expanding into the US, much like McDonald’s in reverse, serve many other dishes aside from burgers, but the burgers still flow as if they were on a conveyor belt.

But all these places have somewhat "upscale" prices.  What does "Juan dela Cruz" go for when he’s hungry?

Well, he has an almost mind boggling choice, and burgers aren’t always on the top of the list, but where I live, even out in remote areas, there are thousands and thousands of these little "Burger machine" franchises … usually housed in a walk-up trailer.  I have no idea of how the actual pesos and centavos of their business is, but I have never seen one not doing business, and you can be pretty sure their customers are nearly 100% Filipino.

I’ve been to at least a dozen "wet markets" … palaenkge … where fruits, vegetables, meat and fish are sold, and a market fixture is always many hot food stalls … dishes of all description … but I have yet to be in one that does not have a tiny "burger joint" as part of the offerings. 

Bottom line?  Filipinos eat a lot of burgers.

Related posts:

1. More Philippine Burger Thoughts
2. Who Are The Filipinos, Anyway? Part 4
3. Who Are The Real Filipinos — Part 6
4. Who Are The Real Filipinos, Anyway? Part 5
5. Who Are The Filipinos, Anyway? Part 2

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