Philippines Day 4: The Singing Cooks & Waiters Restaurant

Date of Visit: 23th March 2012

Just in a day, Abel managed brought us to the place we requested:

• Rizal Park
• Fort Santiago & Manila Cathedral
• Quiapo Market Manila, San Agustin Church & Casa Manila 
• Manila American Cemetery and Memorial

And before Abel send us back to our lodging, we decided to have dinner with him as a token of appreciation for his excellent, friendly and good services throughout the trip. Abel recommended to a dining place where not just that we can enjoy their local foods but at the same time, we will also entertain by their special performers - which are their own cooks and waiters. Sounds interesting, right?

#1: The name of this restaurant: The Singing Cooks & Waiters Restaurant

#2: The menu with the photo of the first batch of performers

Stepped into this restaurant, I noticed that it wasn't huge enough space for the performers to dance and sing. There even didn't have the platform to show their performance, so where could possible they do so? Without thinking any longer, my friends and I decided to browse through their menu first while waiting for them to entertain us.

#3: Calamansi Juice (Lime Juice), the most popular drink in Philippines

#4: Assorted grilled seafoods

#5: Assorted fried seafoods

While having our meals, out of sudden all the waiters and cooks gathered in front and start do their performance.What amazed me was they sang and dance without taking or having any microphone with them. It was indeed very entertaining and we can felt the enjoyable vibe. In the beginning, they sang in their own Filipino languages but it's not a big deal for us anyway, eventhough we didn't even understand the meaning behind but their performance were so funny and I can see that most of the patrons laughed non-stop throughout the night. After done with first few Filipino songs, they started to sing other languages. Surprisingly not just English songs, when they found out that we are from Malaysia, instantly they sang a Malay song to entertain us. Impressive right? You can play the video at the bottom which took by my friend.

#6: Not just they have a great voice, they even dance very well.

While we were busy focus our eyes in front looking their performance, the next thing we were never thought they will standing besides you and sing. Thereafter, I understand the reason why they didn't need platform for cause they were standing all over the restaurant to perform. And if you are lucky one, they will grab invite you to sing and dance along with them.

#7: Group photo with all the cooks and waiters

If you are wondering how's the food, frankly speaking it was just so-so. The seafoods were fresh enough but nothing to shout about. But the most importantly, we were indeed having an entertaining night and fun filled atmosphere. Thanks so much to our local tour guide, Abel for introduced us this something extraordinary, something unique place which I believe couldn't find elsewhere in Malaysia.

The Singing Cooks & Waiters Restaurant's Location:

Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. cor, Roxas Blvd,

Pasay City, Manila, Luzon, Philippines.