I forgot where I read but the reason why Filipino dishes don’t make it to the international scene is because there’s no standard way of cooking a recipe like our famous Adobo and Pinakbet. There’s always different variety of cooking them like Adobo sa puti, Adobong Tuyo, Pinakbet ng Ilocos, Pinakbet ng Tagalog and the like. With that said, when you go to an international food buffet, there’s no section for Filipino dishes that can be found in the Asian food section, mostly its Chinese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Thai or Malaysian dishes. Challenging every foreign visitor to eat Balut and making it the “must try” food to eat in the Philippines doesn’t help either. I don’t eat Balut and I won’t dare my foreign friends and visitors to try it even for the heck of trying it unless they are willing to try exotic foods.
If you want to make a good impression on how delicious Filipino food is, I suggest to take them to a very good restaurant serving authentic Filipino dishes that are done in a very creative way. Romulo Cafe is one great restaurant that I can say you can be proud of taking all your foreign visitors. The Food is prepared in a very creative way and they taste really good too! For starters there is this Filipino Nachos made of sweet potatoes 
The Flying Tilapia – a crispy fried Tilapia that is formed like a flying fish! I know there are foreigners who don’t like their food staring at them, if that is the case they can ask the waiter to immediately de-bone the fish before serving. But if you want a photo op then serve as is. It is served with five different kinds of sauces like chili, soysauce and vinegar, ketchup, patis and kalamansi. Yum! 
Pork Binagoonan served on top of a Inihaw na Talong sprinkled with Kangkong and garlic. 
Pinakbet with Bagnet
Suman sa latik for desserts
Aside from the delicious food they served in there. The interiors in this restaurant is so classy. Despite having only two colors (black and white) they were able to make it so lively to look at. Hand painted graphics on the wall and black and white paintings showcasing photos of the late President Carlos P. Romulo. Yes, there’s a touch of history and nationalism in this cafe too, because the restaurant was named after the former Philippine President Carlos P. Romulo. The menu bearing the signature of the former president I didn’t go to the washroom though so I didn’t see how it was or if there are some clawfoot tubs in there.
December 21st, 2011 
