During our stay in El Nido and every time we went back from our island hopping tours, we all had one thing (or should I say dilemma) in common. We’re all hungry. But every time we went around the town, all the famous blogger-mentioned restaurants are packed.
During our day 3 stay in El Nido, we came across one underrated restaurant that deserves some praise, L’Jodec.
Click here for Day 0 / Click here for Day 1 / Click here for Day 2 / Click here for Day 3 / Click here for El Nido Itinerary/Guide
I’m gonna be honest, since our first day, every time we went pass L’Jodec restaurant, we had no intentions of eating there despite their staff constantly inviting us to eat and constantly even mentioning “free wifi.” That’s probably a magnet to millenials lol.
It’s most likely because of the vibe of the place, or simply we were looking into something more. We never heard of the place when we made thorough research before going to El Nido, so safe to assume we don’t want to try out something that isn’t suggested by many… or in their case, any.
However, that changed on our day 3, when we were left with little choice. It was 8pm and we were all really starving. We all want to get back to our hotel to have a proper sleep before heading to hour 6-hour van ride back to Puerto Princesa. So we decided to give it a go after careful assessment of their outdoor menu stand. This was till one of their crew mentioned something about unlimited rice and free iced tea that we finally gave in and went upstairs and greeted by a simple but homey ambiance.
Upon sitting, I asked ate about her initial offer. They have sizzling menus (pork, squid, chicken) good for two for P250 / 5.5USD (!!!) inclusive of unlimited rice each and 2 large pitchers of iced tea for our group. It was really a steal for us, since two people can just share and we don’t even have to buy drinks.
They also have separate orders of food in their menu which costs around P200 per meal but our eyes sparkled with the unlimited rice and free iced tea. Lol.
Armen and I decided to share a Sizzling Chicken, Jaysel and Lorenz with Sizzling Pork, Gian with Sizzling Squid, Ate Yon with Sizzling Chicken too, and Jed with Sizzling Pork as well.
We asked and was hopeful that the service was fast since we were really hungry. Sad to say food arrived at least 30 minutes. (I think there’s something with El Nido and their slow food service.) We had zero expectations on the food since the place had no other customers other than us.. And it was during dinner time peak where other restaurants are swarmed. So when the food arrived, we were pretty surprised.
Apologies for the crappy phone camera photos that makes the dishes a bit underwhelming, but they taste really great.
We were also handed over a pocket wifi for their free wifi offer while we were eating.
My favorite would be the sizzling squid. Armen and I were a little regretful when we didn’t order it. At first I thought there would only be a few number of pieces like how restaurants usually serve seafood, but the taste is undeniably scrumptious.
The sizzling pork on the other hand doesn’t look half appetizing, but it has a balanced taste of sweetness and saltiness that will make you ask for more. Plus it really goes well with rice as it’s really tasty. If you’re a heavy eater, you might want to order this and take on the opportunity for the unlimited rice. It
The sizzling chicken has a sweet and sour taste. It’s not bad, it’s just the other dishes my friends ordered were really good. Personally I think if they used thigh chicken cuts instead of breast parts which is bland in general, it would probably align to the two dishes at the same level.
After eating, I was already moving to the other side of the table demanding for a share from the Sizzling Squid and Pork of Gian and Jed. Good thing they were both pretty kind to me hahaha.
We were all actually pretty sad that the place seem to get little to no attention as much as we expected. In our heads, they were doing best of efforts to attract customers – free wifi, unlimited rice, free iced tea, staff who call out on the streets to eat, affordable food!! For realsies, I don’t really get why they only have a few customers. Nor do I get why no other blogs seem to suggest the place to anyone. It was probably luck for us, but we did have a good time despite the slow service. But honestly, everywhere is a slow service in Palawan.
So if you go to El Nido be sure to drop by L’Jodec and let me know of your experience!!
Life and Lemons 