Pong's Pares El Nido — Restaurant in El Nido

Let me preface this review by saying that I am Filipino and know what good Filipino food and especially properly cooked rice tastes like. I ordered the Master Pares in El Nido.The presentation was nice and the concept of the dish was promising, HOWEVER, I was VERY DISAPPOINTED by the quality of the food itself which was BAD. The food was NOT FRESH… the rice was UNDERCOOKED with bits of hard pieces. The “garlic rice” was more of a soy rice because of the brownish color and lack of a garlic taste or smell. The pork rinds were STALE and tasted UNPLEASANT like RANCID, OLD FRYING OIL and were merely RE-HEATED and NOT RECENTLY COOKED. The soup had a Chinese 5-spice flavor which I was not a fan of. The rest of the dish was really unremarkable. In my opinion, if an establishment is serving undercooked rice (especially in an Asian country like the Philippines where rice is the main carbohydrate/starch) and the food being served is not fresh, it is a HUGE FAIL. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND eating here even though the food is modestly priced. Save yourself- spend a little more and eat freshly grilled seafood or any other fresh food...

Don't get me wrong—the food here is very tasty, but it’s best enjoyed as a hangover cure or a solid base before a binge. Healthy? Definitely not. Pungent, heavy, oily, delicious—yes. Both the pares mami and the tofu sisig would make your PT cry. 170 Php for a pares might sound steep, but for El Nido, it’s pretty standard. The value is okay. Special mentions go to their chili oil on the table, which is a very rare find in the...

Pong Pares is definitely a stop you need to add to your list. Sisig and Pares were both tasty.

I just wished the rice wasn’t cold as it kinda ruined the experience but i looked past it but my partner did not (she also doesn’t eat a lot of rice so when she does it needs to be perfect) I had the biggest serving with the bone marrow. I wish there could’ve had a little more meet!

Besides that, try it...