tartantbird

Been several times to Mindoro and other places in Philippines…though not one of insisting western foods as my Filipina delivers great meals for her family and myself. But I do miss certain foods…bacon, cheddar cheese, brown bread and good coffee.

Retiring in about a years time….and although I am sure I can obtain western type products in Manila just means a big load every so often being transported.

Would make my own bread…and grind coffee. But cheese and bacon..argh.

What do you guys miss??

tropicofcancer

SM, Gaisano and Fooda are three places that sell Cheddar Cheese (Australian) in their supermarket section.
Good tasting Nescafe is readily available.
French Baker and other outlets in the bigger malls, do brown bread.
Bacon smoked, honey cured, maple etc. are available in all the big supermarkets. Danish is often available in White Gold.

What I miss most are UK crisps, although the American Lays are close. I also miss crumpets.

Bluenose1

Cheddar cheese and Australian do not seem quite right! Cheddar is a British cheese after all!

Nescafé is an instant coffee. I think you'll find the OP mentioned ".... and grind coffee...."!

I would have thought you could get Indonesian coffee fairly readily? Is Indonesia not supposed to be one of the better regions for coffee beans? Here in Malaysia we have Tesco that sells filter coffee from a number of countries i.e. Columbia and Italy to name 2. Admittedly not perhaps quite as good as freshly ground.

bakedbean

Ah...now you may well think that....but have to say that the best cheddar I've found (in Malaysia) is Australian ...Bega vintage cheddar. Very nice and nicely packaged. The British Cheddars, though fine in the UK, don't seem to travel well, or maybe the packaging is not quite right for the Tropics.

Bluenose1

I bow to your superior knowledge, BB! I have to admit I also really like Bega. I didn't realise it was Australian, though. I actually thought it was Malaysian!

mikemike

bega and the others are double the price of Australian cheddar in South Supermarket.

Philippines has a thriving coffee industry, nestle owns more than a few plantations in Mindanao.

Local Brewed coffee? try Monks Blend.

Rustans is now stocking Waitrose imports, jelly babies and wine gums etc

quiltman

OXO cubes, British gravy granules and birds custard powder and that's about all. We have found local/US or australian equivalents for most things.
To my surprise we can get fresh milk from the local dairy and except for its relatively short life it's as good as UK.

We use rustans in Ayala Mall Cebu to get the Waitrose stuff and I've asked them to see if they can get the three items above. They say they will check but Hey Ho this is the Philippines, so not holding breath!

SM supermarkets sell Gardenia wholewheat bread with less sugar than most local brands and we have a local German baker who makes breads more to the UK style.

Our biggest problem is that my wife is diabetic and it's not easy finding sugar free equivalents as most foods here seem to be laden with sugar. It wasn't much different back in UK but at least the supermarkets tended to have a sugar free section. We just have to be careful.

piero

Kippers and yes crumpets

mikemike

As you are in Cebu try contacting Lars at the Urban cellar in Talamban(do a quick google) They used to import a lot of Uk products, including the ones you listed as well beers etc

tropicofcancer

French Baker in SM do French style bread. It toasts well, as it doesn't contain masses of sugar.
Bega is one brand of cheese, another is Maitland (Anchor), the strongest tasting and most like UK Cheddar are Coon and Kameruka.
White Gold in NRA (North Reclamation Area) often has imported foods. From time to time they have Danish Bacon.
Yes Rustan's and Robinsons also have some foreign foods. As with everything, buy it when you see it. The chance might not come again, for a long time.
Dari Crème is most like European Margarine.

quiltman

Thanks MikeMike. Will get there ASAP. We did ship a dozen tubs of ASDA gravy granules to keep us going ,plus two dozen Mushy peas!

tropicofcancer

Quiltman I see that you are in Consolacion.
Your local SM do some foreign foods, and their in house baker, does baguettes, that are much like the European style.
SM in NRA boasts a French Baker.
Both SM's do a lot of foreign foods. Your local one does Kameruka, and Maitland cheddar.

Fooda in Consolacion does foreign foods, but what you find, varies from visit to visit. Sadly stock seems to have been reduced lately.

Gaisano in Mandaue does a fair bit of foreign food. They have a Swiss Baker. You can buy McVitie's digestives there (also in SM).

quiltman

Thanks tropicofcancer.
Yes, we buy a lot of what we want from SM Consolacion and you are right - grab it while it's there! The bread is OK but prefer that we get from our german baker.
Was in Fooda this morning and surprisingly they often have a wider range of imported foods than SM. Got my chocolate digestives this morning!
As I said originally, it's really only OXO cubes we miss now as my wife has found a recipe for custard and it's not bad at all.
There is a good range at Metro in Pacific Mall as well and the bread from Swiss Chalet there is much more european in stlye we think.
Thanks for the heads up tho'.

tropicofcancer

At present Gaisano Mandaue has Heinz Baked Beans:
BUT only in the small ring pull cans.


P66.50 each!

quiltman

Still using the 3 dozen cans of ASDA beans we brought from UK as my wife does not like the Heinz sauce.
got some nice back bacon from Rustans last week - mind you it was a birthday treat from my good lady!http://britishexpats.com/forum/image...es/biggrin.gif