2.124 Pancit Canton

2.124

9 (Mon) May 2011

Pancit Canton

2.5

at Cafe Cesario

(Mactan-Cebu International Airport)

-Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines-

with W and DJ

Research Trip to WHO + First Overseas Family Vacation (Day 6 of 6)

In transit.  At the airport in Cebu, on our way home.  Last week, I participated in an expert consultation on public health law at WHO WPRO in Manila.  Spent the weekend in Cebu with W and DJ for a weekend holiday.

Pancit Canton is a Filipino dish.  As the name would suggest, it’s a noodle dish (pancit) made in or originating from or at least inspired by the Chinese tradition (canton), consisting of noodles and shredded ingredients, all stir-fried in soy and/or oyster sauce.  The third in the recent string of if-it’s-on-a-lot-of-menus-then-it-must-be-popular dishes.

My 3 experiences thus far with pancit canton have been varied, both in terms of ingredients and taste.  It was excellent at the Manila Hotel from their room-service menu, notwithstanding the chicken livers (see 2.121 Paella Negra with Shrimp, Squid, and Clams). It was awful at the Kiliminjaro Kafé yesterday, which inexplicably featured Japanese udon noodles (see 2.123 Chicken and Pork Adobo).  Here, at a semi-fastfood joint in an airport terminal, it was pretty good, exactly what I would’ve expected from a quick-and-easy noodle dish, like chow mein at a cheap Chinese joint in the States.

Bistek Tagalog (2.5): another if-it’s-on-a-lot-of-menus-then-it-must-be-popular dish.

Alas, our “golden weekend” didn’t quite end as planned. We checked out of the hotel at 1500 and, after a couple spa treatments in the interim, took the shuttle to the airport at 1730, only to discover that our 2030 flight to Manila had been delayed until at least 2200 due to a typhoon in the area (hence the rains throughout our stay). With the possibility of missing the connecting flight from Manila to Incheon at 0030, the airline reps transferred us to a direct Cebu-to-Incheon flight, which eventually departed, after delays, at 0140 and arrived in Korea close to 0700. We got home sometime after 0900. 15.5 hours in transit with a hyperactive 4-year-old: not so golden.

In all, however, we had a great time.

(See also FOODS.)

(See also PLACES.)

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