Travels: Zamboanga City.... durian tarts and other goodies at the Lantaka

I opted to stay at the hotel hoping to sleep the whole morning. I came here to rest didn’t I? I contemplated on going back to Fort Pilar to visit the Shrine and light a candle but decided to do it in the afternoon when M would be out for his 2^nd day meetings. By then, there will be more people at Plaza del Mar, more subjects to capture, especially boats and kids diving for coins I saw the night before.

By mid-morning, it rained. I slept. M arrived at 1PM. He went to visit his friend’s wake after playing golf.

We had a late lunch at the hotel’s coffee shop. M and I ordered steaks. I had the durian tart for dessert, which was to die for! Since it was still raining and M needed to work, we decided to stay indoors and scrapped my plans of going out to visit Plaza Pilar and Petit Barracks.


Lantaka Hotel's coffee shop interior

We had afternoon snacks at the coffee shop – mango crepes for me and churros con chocolate for M and durian tarts (did I say that all we ever did here was eat?)

M was happy with his churros, not oily even though it’s deep fried. He find the chocolate a bit too sweet though.

I can’t remember much about the mango crepe… it was the durian tart that got my undivided attention and merited an entry here in my blog.

These durian tarts were the best thing I had in Zamboanga. The crust is thin, with a hefty mound of caramel colored durian cream filling piped into the crust. The filling was not too sweet. I could eat this everyday. Now that I’m back in Manila, it’s still on my mind.



Since I cannot go out shooting in the rain, I had to content myself photographing people walking in the street through our table's window.



These two boys saw me with my camera and posed for me.... their smile was contagious, it was sunshine on a rainy afternoon.... same effect as the durian tart. :)