Sinulog 2013: Lantaw Floating Native Island Restaurant

The Sinulog festival in Cebu is a renowned celebration that somewhat goes at par with Mardi Gras. I later on learned that Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the practice of eating rich, fatty foods before Lent. True enough, this trip turned out to be a literal feast; a total tummy party!

GV and I flew to Cebu last January 19 (Saturday) but since our friends took the first flight out, they already started with the Island Hopping activity. We flagged a cab going to the Lantaw Floating Native Restaurant and settled in to wait for the castaways. Although it is located deep in the heart of Cordova in Lapu Lapu, I was surprised that they were fully booked for lunch service. Luckily, Lloyd already called for a reservation a few weeks back.

The place is really breath taking! You can either dine inside a nipa hut or al fresco where you can embrace the open air space. Looking at the scenic view of the sea and the distant city made me forget how long we waited for our marooned friends.

We ordered scallops, shrimps, calamari, etc. and it’s quite ridiculous how affordable the prices are. The food was good and magnificently cooked; you can really taste its “freshness”

Since the rest of the bunch had an unfortunate experience of getting stranded in the middle of the ocean because the boat ran out of gasoline, they were famished when they arrived. And because the group decided to ditch the last leg of the Island Tour going to Pandanon Island Sandbar, we had the entire afternoon for slacking up and pigging out. We even had a good nap because of the sea breeze brushing our faces. Booze and food were overflowing that afternoon, we can barely get up.

The ambiance, the location, and the food were all great. However, it was quite hard to get the attention of the servers probably because the place was packed that afternoon. The restaurant is perfect for family meals and casual drinks with friends. Reaching the place can be quite a challenge especially if you don’t have your own car/transpo service.