Dining | A Good Chow in Mercedes Camarines Norte
When travelling to the town of Mercedes in Camarines Norte, one will be sent off to the renowned Mercedes Fish Port where you will be met with the influx of fresh fish. Caught by fishermen the night before, they arrived fresh at the fish port and one can buy them off through a process called "bulungan".
The area is also known for its Dampa style of cooking wherein you can buy the fresh fish then bring it to a nearby restaurant or carinderia to have it cooked there. Now should you not wish to have this process, there's only one restaurant in the area who do not follow the dampa style of cooking and this place is called Good Chow.
Located opposite to that of the Mercedes Tourism Office, they pride themselves with a menu of short orders like pansit canton, or guisado or pansit lomi. They also have a slew of the "silogs" like tapsilog (tapa), porksilog (pork chops) and hotsilogs (hotdog).
Our group came off from our island hopping sortie and what a great way to wait for our ride is to take a hot bowl of lomi. This writer is fan of lomi and we have tasted different kinds like the chinese or the batangas type of lomi. Here we saw it in the menu so we would like to try one Mercedes style.
Priced at Php35 per bowl, this is cheap I said. After ordering, I was not expecting much from the price. I just hope it was good and edible.
Presentation wise, off bat, the bowl had a chink in the china. It had a chip broken from its lip. For the price and the ambiance (inside the fish port compound), we were not expecting fine dining here. Unlike lomi from other places, their's was just a simple lomi. No frills, no toppings, just lomi noodles and soup.
What we didn't expect from our lomi was the clumped noodles that were inside our bowl. It was so stuck together that the noodles did not cook well during the process. So much for the price of Php35. Taste wise, it didn't disappoint, nor did it push us to the edge of nirvana. It was just enough to make the gloomy day (rainy day) great and bring a smile to a should have been dreary day.
We should have ordered the Bulalo but it was not available. What's funny was, Bulalo was written on a piece of paper and posted over the menu board. Since it was not available, it should have been taken out but instead they wrote underneath it the letters N/A or not available. I was frustrated seeing Bulalo and the letters NA underneath it. Bulalo is I consider a better comfort food than my Lomi.
Now service wise, don't expect servers to be in Good Chow. It only had a charming old lady at the counter and you simply have to approach her and give your order. She will just yell out your order towards the kitchen and in a few minutes, it will be served by a kitchen staff. Simple restaurant, with no frills, just order and be served.
