Back from my half day tour of the CWC, first ting I needed to find was lunch. Did not want it at CWC since the pocket was already a bit shallow. Aw c’mon, this was Day 9 since I left Manila for Tacloban, then Samar, and now hopping along the land trail going home. Did not also want to eat at Villa Caceres Hotel as I already took my breakfast there. I needed to be at some place else, if only to see more of Naga. So I asked the Villa Caceres crews where might be a good place to have lunch.
After explaining my “requirements”, hotel crews were unanimous in telling me to go find Geewan and have my lunch there. Good I asked about the restaurant’s name and signage as I really thought they meant G1. Clarifying I said, “so I will just look for a G and the number 1”. The front desk lady said “no sir, its spelled GEEWAN”! So I found it easy. And signage alone, I knew I was in for a good sampling of the local food. It says “The Home of Bicolano Dishes”! Yey! Surprisingly though, this place is not a nipa hut nor anything native as I thought. Its ground floor of a 4-storey building. Or is it 5 or more? Ah whatever!
Unlike Legazpi’s Tinago that is out on the fringes, or even the famous Waway’s also of Legazpi, this restaurant sits on a busy street of Naga’s commercial district. Actually next door to another building where ground floor is the equally popular Biggs Diner. So okay, I was in!
At 1:02PM, I was obviously too late for the real Bicolano fare that everyone most probably crave for – Bicol Express and Laing. None of those anymore. Even the last piece of ‘fresh lumpia’ was unfortunately grabbed by that dude just 2 persons ahead of me. Awrrr! At least there still was “pinangat” which is another Bicol specialty but expensive. A serving is rather good for 2, I think. I had that crab thing that tastes like Metro Manila (a.k.a. fried in oil used for probably a thousand times or more) and “fish with tausi” that seemed to had too much of either the black beans or the soy sauce or both (reason why it looked too dark).
This restaurant is not cheap. Look at that picture again, all of them cost me P230 flat! The soup is free, the coke is P22 and the pinangat is something like 70++! I tried zooming that receipt to no avail but if my estimates are to be trusted, I think I should wail about that cup of fried rice that seems to cost about 30 pesos. Gosh! The real problem is… okay I have issues with the price, but I came outa the place happily smiling! So it was probably a ‘burp burp… and burp’ session again for the dear tummy hehe! I wonder!
Ah yes, I will go back to Geewan next time am in Naga. Let’s go roam more?!
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