The 3 Biggest “Dampa” Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid

     Trina (my daughter) came home to the Philippines from Oregon for a short Christmas break. She brought an American friend (Tyler) to show him the best that our country could offer. “First impressions last”, so we thought that the best way to welcome Trina and Tyler would be to take them out for lunch to ‘Dampa’. Dampa means hut made of dried grass, symbolizing the Filipino’s humble abode but welcoming visitors and giving all the best that could be offered. Little did we know that our intention to impress would not materialize because we committed three avoidable mistakes: we were duped and went into the wrong restaurant, the sea foods were not fresh,as a result, Tyler became sick from the oysters that he ate, almost ruining his Philippine vacation.

Photo: https://www.facebook.com/Seaside Dampa Macapagal Boulevard.

    Our driver brought us to Macapagal Avenue where rows and rows of Dampa-style restaurants could be found. Upon entry to the compound of restaurants, men swamped us, offering their restaurants. Of the many voices shouting at us, what caught our attention was this guy in yellow shirt (Mark) who offered free ‘glutathione’ from their air conditioner (First mistake). Provincial that we were (having come from Laguna) we were duped. We just thought that skin whiteners were expensive that having them for free was a big bonus hahaha.

  

Photo: https://www.facebook.com/Seaside Dampa Macapagal Boulevard.

  

      We were not impressed by the restaurant. There was no customer in sight and the air conditioner was not working. This should have alerted us already, meaning no glutathione to whiten our skin. But we still wanted to impress Tyler. We were given a menu to choose from. We thought that we would be asked to buy our stuff from the market and they would cook the food the way we wanted them to because this was the practice in these Dampa restaurants. But we were informed by Mark that it would be more expensive to buy from the market than ordering from their menu. So we just ordered from their menu (Second mistake). Since, the market was beside the restaurant, we went to see the 'fresh' produce, anyway.

L: Mark (yellow shirt), Tyler, Trina and Tisa in the market.

     I was not impressed with the sea foods in the market because they did not look fresh at all. The colors of some shell fish were orange already, indicating that they were previously cooked and not fresh at all.  Shell fish are usually gray or black in color.

Rows and rows of sea foods are found in the market beside the restaurant.

Upper photos: L- Crabs that are black and orange beside each other; 

R: Orange lobsters are either of the rare species or not fresh anymore. 

Lower photos: L- cracked shells; R- only these shrimps look fresh.

     Finally, our food arrived. First on the menu was Chicharon, deep fried pork skin with fats. I was watching my cholesterol and triglyceride intake, so I just took a bite. It was crunchy as expected.

Chicharon or deep-fried pork skin with fat.

     We also ordered ‘Halabos na Hipon’, half-cooked shrimp in boiling water with salt. I was looking for the crunch of fresh shrimp, but some were soft already. These were not the freshest shrimps that I have ever tasted.

Halabos na Hipon or half-cooked shrimp in boiling water.

     Next, we had baked Lobster topped with cheese sauce. The topping tasted just right, but I doubt if there was lobster meat because I did not see any.

Lobster topped with cheese sauce.

     For our vegetable, we ordered ‘Lato’ or grape-like sea weeds with sliced boiled eggs, onions and tomatoes. We were lucky that this still tasted fresh. This went with vinegar dressing to take away the fishy smell and taste of the sea.

 Lato or grape-like sea weeds.

     Lastly, we had steamed oysters, which we shouldn’t have ordered (Third mistake). I had a bad experience with oysters that I ate in Boracay, so I just had one piece this time. Tyler ate most of the oysters. That same night, he went down with flu, threw up a couple of times and had LBM (loose bowel movement). He was the only one among us who fell sick. It took a couple of days for Tyler to recover after taking some medicines. Hopefully, this first impression did not last. 

 

Photo: http://www.google.com

   When the bill arrived, we were shocked that it was more than ₱4000. We were expecting it to be less. The (missing) lobster cost about ₱1500. With the total bill we could have had lunch in one of the more expensive eat-all-you-can restaurants nearby, like Mall of Asia, and had our fill of the most popular local and international cuisine in one restaurant.

L: My eldest daughter Tisa (blue blouse), adventurous-Pinay;
R: My youngest daughter Trina, Tyler .

     Anyway, to avoid the mistakes that we committed, do not be duped by the shouting men in the entrance. Specifically, do not eat in a ‘Dampa’ if you are not sure where to go. There are lots of restaurants in the area that serve fresh and cheap sea foods. Second, always remember the name of the restaurant that you went to because we completely forgot. All we remembered was that it was the last restaurant if you went straight inside the compound, right side.  Remembering helps to remind your relatives and friends to beware of that restaurant. Lastly, be careful of oysters, specially if you have a sensitive tummy. Among the food trips that I embarked on, this was the most unforgettable and shameful because we had a guest that we wanted to impress. And we were not able to do that. We will never eat in this restaurant again.