Harbour View Seafood Restaurant

Why we should sometimes be tourists in our own country...

Thank God for food and travel bloggers.  They are a gentle reminder that occasionally, every Filipino should pretend to be a tourist in the Philippines, see it with new un-jaded eyes, the better to appreciate what the country has going for it, the easier to understand how our foreign visitors respond to our country's charms and challenges, so that we are more able to see what we have taken for granted with fresh eyes, and fresher perspectives, and ingenious strategies to optimize these.

This is what this exercise known as blogging or journal writing has done for me.   It has enabled me to look at and treat each encounter as a new experience.  My trusty old phone with all its bugs helps me to record images I would otherwise easily forget...and to use them to tell oh the so many stories just waiting to be told, and that many of us still love to hear.

On one such adventure, I discovered a lovely restaurant out on the Manila
Bay famous for its spectacular sunset.

Called Harbour View Seafood Restaurant, it is next to the Quirino Grandstand where most national parades and ceremonies are held.  Harbour View has a small indoor dining area on each of the first and second floors, but the best thing about it is its deck jutting out into the bay.  The view of the deck can be calming or breathtaking depending on the sun's temperament. It is a 180 degree panoramic angle of the bay bounded by Roxas Blvd., facing the Manila Aquarium and the Hotel O2.

The bay and the sunset are enough enticements in the day, especially accompanied by a bottle of cold cold beer, but part of the attractions at night include the cheery if gaudy lights that flicker happily against the midnight murk of the waters from dusk onward.

The surprising thing about the restaurant is its bill of fare.  As the name says, it is a seafood restaurant. And live denizens of the sea swim about in aquariums waiting to be chosen as someone's hearty entree.  And seafood galore it is!!! Lobsters, shrimps, prawns, groupers, sea bass, and many kinds of fish abound as testimony to the guarantee of freshness and promise of the quality of the preparation.

Whatever your seafood fancy, Harbour View has it readily prepared for your enjoyment.  From freshly prepared sashimi and sushi, to crispy drunken shrimps, to crunchy tempura, to steaming bowls of seafood soups, to grilled marvels...name it, they can produce it.  And just in case your seafood diet is of the seefood kind(I see food, I eat it), they have temptations to please the omnivore. Crispy pata, baby back ribs, steaks, chicken. And for the vegan, spicy gising gising, chopsuey, steamed vegetables with a hint of anchovy paste! Uhmm! As you can tell, they have a variety of cuisines tapped to prepare the freshest seafood money can buy. Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Continental! Yumm! They even have a passable assortment of wines to pair your meal with.

Harbour View Seafood Restaurant is almost always full in the evenings, whatever night of the week.  A lot of tourists, foreign visitors try the place out for its alfresco setting, its view of the bay and the sun, and its culinary treats. The service is efficient, the food is served within a reasonable period of time, and the toilet facilities are clean and air conditioned.

Entering the restaurant, one passes a wall of framed photographs of famous people and celebrities who have dined there...from the President to Manny Pacquiao, from current personalities to stars of yesteryears, from statesmen to politicians of a bygone era.

Dining here is an exuberant experience, what with the combination of good food, good service, and good ambience.  It is a pleasant respite from the traffic bustle of the city, considering that it is WITHIN the confines of the city as well.

Dining here is a treat for everyone...a must try not just for our international guests, but for our own people as well.  It is a pleasant way to enjoy Manila shorn of all the fuss and challenges the city is fraught with...and a great way to have a special moment in our historic capital!