I’ve been to Boracay several times as you probably know, and I’ve tried different restaurants with every visit, but this is probably my favorite to date. Thanks to my BFF Mshel, who found this restaurant on a list of the best restaurants in the Philippines, I was finally able to try it!
To get to the restaurant, you have to walk up to the Nami resort from Diniwid Beach and buzz for them to send the wooden elevator (quite an experience in itself). The restaurant is on a rather large balcony overlooking Diniwid Beach, and boasts a fantastic view. If you plan on going there, I would suggest doing so when the sun is out, because you’d be losing out on half its charm if you don’t.
Unfortunately, I was too busy enjoying my vacation to write down notes on the food, so you’ll have to bear with me on this largely photo-centric entry.
We started as always with a few drinks. I had Nami’s “Boracay Sunset” which I thought was a perfect drink to end the day with.
A few of us ordered some appetizers to share such as their open-faced tacos (which are pretty much nachos), stuffed mushrooms, and arguably their most popular dish, the spanakopita.
Their spanakopita was a rather strange experience for me. It was delicious, in the way that a crab rangoon is delicious. It is filled with more cheese than spinach, and they use cream cheese rather than feta. I’ve lived in Astoria (THE place to get Greek food in NYC) a few times during my time here in NYC, and have traveled back to the neighborhood countless times to try out restaurants, so I’m very used to the traditional Greek spanakopita. BUT I’m not gonna lie to you, I’m a big fan of crab rangoon, so I didn’t exactly hate it.
Mike, who was probably sick of constantly ordering Filipino food at that point ordered chicken tenders, which were delicious of course. Crispy and tender in all the right places.
I ordered quite a few dishes because I always turn into a glutton faced with a good Filipino menu. Plus Mike will always have a bit of everything I order anyways.
Their beef salpicao with garlic fried rice was one of my favorites, and is also one of the more popular items on their menu. The apple slices are a nice touch, to offset the saltiness of this dish.
The pasta a la pobre (angel hair pasta with tuyo — salted and dried fish) was really good, but in my opinion, not as good as the one my brother used to make back home. Not everyone can be invited into our house though, so this is a great option. 🙂
Their adobo was superb, but I’ll pretty much eat any saucy adobo over rice, so take from that what you will. I do remember having a slight preference for the adobo over the salpicao at the time, but both dishes were fantastic so can’t go wrong with either of them.
I ordered their special fried rice, which was pretty much a regular fried rice with mixed vegetables, topped with egg.
Someone ordered their breaded dijon-porkchop, which looks insanely delicious to me though I never tried it.
And someone else ordered another crispy breaded dish, though I’m not sure what’s in all that gorgeous-looking breading and gravy.
Someone else in the group ordered the special Nami burger, which is obviously massive and looks delicious.
As for the rest of the dishes, I simply have no idea what they are at this point, because Nami restaurant doesn’t have an online menu. Every time I come home to the Philippines I forget how restaurants there view their menus as closely-guarded secrets, while probably 90% of restaurants here post gorgeously decorated PDF versions on their equally gorgeous websites. In fact, I’ve refused to go to restaurants based on the fact that they don’t have their menus online. I hope someday the restaurants back home would evolve and change this policy.
That being said, the food at Nami was delicious, so don’t let my rant dissuade you from going.
Desserts were small but delicious. I had their chocolate cake because I was in the mood for it, but I thought their lemony desserts (the cake and tart) were the clear winners.
