Eating out…

This weekend was spent looking around Manado at many places we’ve been meaning to visit. For dinner on Saturday night we went to City Extra which is on the outskirts of Manado. Julie and I went here when we visited Manado in October last year and we were quite impressed with the food. It’s a bit out of the way, especially in peak hour traffic, and even though we left early, it still took 45 mins to get there. The cafe\restaurant is located on the water at a small boat harbour for dive boats. The setting is open air with some tables out along the waterfront – perfect for those balmy nights in Manado.

Everything is cheap here – a 750ml bottle of Heineken beer is about $2.50 (easily $10 in Australia at a restaurant) and most meals are about $3-$4. The most expensive on offer is the fresh seafood which is caught that day from the local waters – a crab is about $15\kg and and grouper about $10\kg. We had grilled calamari, BBQ prawns natural and in oyster sauce, vegetarian fried rice, steamed rice, bok choy with mushrooms. I ordered my own serving of Manadonese chilli chicken which turned out to be hot – about 8 out of 10 on the heat scale. Very nice! All up, with 2 bottles of Heineken, 2 Cokes, a Sprite and an Iced Tea, the feast came to $32. Not bad for 4 people – we certainly weren’t hungry after that!

Pa left to go diving for the next 4 days today so we had a free day. We decided to try the lunch at the Sintesa Peninsula Hotel which is in the middle of Manado. They have a nice pool surrounded by outdoor dining and good views of the water and surrounding volcanoes. We paid about $8 each to go swimming and were going to order lunch afterwards when one of the waitresses mentioned the Sunday Brunch special and asked whether were we taking advantage of it. We weren’t told about it so explained we’d already paid to go swimming. She organised a refund so we could then purchase the special – a swim and lunch from the buffet for $7.50 each!  What a bargain – and Harrison was 50% off! So off we went to the buffet. We started by ordering fresh BBQ fish to go with the other food on offer. The buffet was quite simple but the food was fresh with some options cooked for you on the inside grill.

The fish arrived looking like it had jumped from the ocean straight onto the BBQ – tail and all is served but the rest of the fish is scaled and cleaned leaving just the flesh and bones. When cooked it flakes away from the bones quite easily and is divine.

BBQ fish Manadonese style

Once the waitress realised I (Jason) liked chilli, she was quick to bring me an asparagus and chicken soup with some small chilies on a side plate. I think this was a test she and the others in the kitchen had organised for the unsuspecting westerner. I could tell this was going to be hot as the chilies still had the seeds in – a sure sign of eye-watering heat. I poured them into the soup and got stuck into it much to the delight of the staff watching through the glass windows. I survived but only by sweating profusely for the next 20 minutes. I think I passed the test. That soup with the chilies was about a 9 out of 10 on the scale and close to my heat threshold.

Asparagus and chicken soup with chilli

Overall the Sunday Brunch is excellent value – you could never get a buffet in Australia for $7.50 each. The pool is nice on a hot day and it was very quiet being Sunday morning – most people are at church till lunch, then they have a rest till about 3pm when the city comes alive.

Flat out at the Sintesa Peninsula Hotel

The pool with Mt Klabat in the background

Harrison in the pool