Unwinding with colleagues through food trip

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During a casual chit chat in the pantry at the office, one of my colleagues suddenly asked me.

"Miss Lumen, would you like to join us?"

"Where to? For what?"

"Magda-Dampa kami sa Tuesday." That is, we will go to Dampa on Tuesday.

Dampa literally means hut in Filipino language but is also popular line of seafood restaurants in Metro Manila. The restaurants in the area are not the typical ones wherein you walk in and place your order. The area has seafood market where diners will buy their preferred raw seafoods then they will go to one of the restaurants and ask for what they bought to be cooked the way the diners would want it. The restaurants will then charge the diners of their cooking service fee.

"Which Dampa?" I asked as there are several Dampa sites in Metro Manila.

"The one along Daang Hari."

It was already pass 7 o'clock in the evening when we arrived at the area. By the time we stepped out of the car, we were mobbed by so many representatives of different restaurants as they were trying to win us and pick their restaurant. Competition is on!

We did our best to pass by the mob and went to the seafood market just few meters away. The mob followed us up to the entrance of the market. They continued their marketing talks that we don't understand because of the noise they made

With so many seafoods on display, it was hard to decide which to pick.

Prawns (or maybe shrimps, I don't know) with different sizes were lined up on different containers. The price varies depending on the sizes but I did not bother to pay attention to those.

There were squids which I thought we should get some but my colleagues ended up not having them.

There were these sea grapes, or green caviar as it is also called, which one of my colleagues asked if we know it and if we eat it. I know it but I am not fond of it. We ended up ordering for just one serving.

The scallops startled me when I was peeking on them and one suddenly squirted on me. I did not know that they can do that. My colleagues were laughing at me.

After a few rounds, we were still trying to decide which to take. More specifically, my colleagues were trying to decide. For someone who does not know how to cook, I was just making few comments but leaving most of the picking to my colleagues.

And then here is a long line of fishes. I don't know all of them so it was the more that I only made few comments that deciding which to pick.

When my colleagues were done buying the seafoods, someone suggested that we go to Aling Tonya's. It is the only restaurant in Dampa sites that I hear others talk about so it is pretty popular. We all agreed to go there. When we announced that we will go to Aling Tonya's, the restaurant's representative came to get our stuff for their cooking. The mob disappeared.

The restaurant was almost empty when we got in. It was no surprise because it was Tuesday night so people were not expected to dine out. It was actually one of the reasons why my colleagues picked such date to avoid the crowd.

One of the waiters immediately came to set our plates and utensils when we were seated. It was years ago when I last dined in an Aling Tonya's restaurant. I can not remember if they were already using banana leaves. Either way, I was surprised to see banana leaves covering the plates this time.

Based on the time stamps of my photos, it was only 29 minutes from the time we were seated until the first batch of our food was served. That was fast cooking! I was very impressed.

Of course, photo shoot was not forgotten before the foods were touched. Apparently, I was not the only one who was keen of doing it.

I was actually the person who does not take photos of the food before eating until I learned about @tasteem. When my companions wpuld prioritize taking photo before eating, I would just smile with amusement. Now I understand why some people do it.

One of my colleagues volunteered to fill our bowls with fish stew. That was nice of her.

Few minutes after one serving to another, our table started to get full. That was only when I realized all that we bought and had them cooked.

Prawns which were cooked with two dishes separately, salmon for stew, fish (which I don't know its name) for the sweet and sour one, sea grapes, giant crabs.

This giant crab that occupied the whole frying pan eventually made me eat with bare hands.

It was a very cool and relaxing experience to indulge and have some break from the office with my colleagues. They picked Tuesday for it because one of us were going on vacation until the following week and they wanted it to happen so they were like "let's just do it!"

This kind of dining setup is more expensive as compared to conventional restaurant dining. That is because the seafood sellers have mark up on their own and the restaurant who will cook will have their own service charge. Based on our individual share, it was even more expensive than fine dining. We all expected this because everyone already know that we will indulge. It happens once in a blue moon so we were still good.

Except for the higher price, I would personally recommend this restaurant because of the very fast and courteous service. The price will be all worth it.

Restaurant Information

Aling Tonya's
score
Daang Hari Road, Almanza Dos, Las Piñas, 1750 Kalakhang Maynila, Philippines

Unwinding with colleagues through food trip
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Unwinding with colleagues through food trip

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