Lyndon’s: Davao City’s “Nega-Star” Resto

Lanang Branch.

Food has never been marketed in a bad taste, but Lyndon’s --- a Barbeque restaurant in Davao City seems to be getting the attention by doing the unconventional.

Lyndon’s marquee banners World’s worst ribs and awful chicken as star of their menu. With that catch, curious foodies flock to taste the world’s worst food.

Negative appeal ads have never quiet effective as employed by this local barbeque house. The resto might not have that “box-office” queue of patronage but with the lunch I spent in the resto, I observed people come and go: couples, groups, and individuals. And at night time too,

showed they really have parishioners. 

Also in their menu are the Disgusting Steamed Tilapia, Wild Scallops , Tadyang ni Ruby, the Tasteless Pansit Canton, Horrible Mechado Rubbish Caldereta and many more ugly tasties.  

Now, does their barbeque really taste that awful?

Well, that’s reverse psychology applied. Their hefty, let me say generous, serving of the world’s worst ribs and awful chicken wasn’t bad at all. Not really extraordinary to the taste but the tender meat with especially concoction of a sauce makes it a contender for a one of the more tasty barbeque around the city.

Affordability: Just like many of the barbeque resto in the City, Lyndon’s is very affordable.

Place and Ambience: Simple. Nothing fancy. Just the way I like it.

What more? I suggest you visit one of their branches.

They have three branches in the City, one in Roxas Avenue, one in Bajada which they will be closing starting September 1, and the one we tried out  the Lanang branch.

Soon they will be rolling out more ugly menu names of Seafoods Paluto and  Organic food such like roasted Duck, native chicken & native pork meat cooked on their trademark Adobe Pugon.

The worst ribs of the world was on my plate.

Meeting the Main Man of Albay: Gov. Joey Salceda

Candid Gov. Joey Salceda

This DavaoEye had the chance to visit, for the first time, Legazpi City in the Province of Albay.

I was there together with my workmates to undergo training and experiential exposure for climate change adaptation. Albay is said to be the only province in the country which has instituted climate change adaptation even establishing the Climate Change Academy (CCA).

Apart from the excitement of seeing Mt. Mayon for the first time ("live and in person") in all her glory, I was also hoping to meet the main man of the province, Gov. Joey Salceda.

Like Mayon, I have only seen Gov. Salceda (real name: Jose Celmente) on TV interviews and in newspapers when he became Congressman and especially during his stint as one of the cabinet members (or was it economic adviser) of the Arroyo Administration.  I admire his wealth of experience and knowledge in politics and economics. I think that his brainchild economic policies are still in effect in the present administration. 

While our itinerary included courtesy call in his office, I felt it was really impossible to meet the man because at that time, it was the first day of office of the newly elected local officials. I was pretty sure his schedule was loaded. 

But call it a warm welcome of Albay, at around 2:30 in the afternoon, in the middle of our thunderstorm topic in CCA, there was a sudden commotion outside, then the two-panel door entrance to the lecture room opened and revealed the tall, dark and umm... all-business boss of the province in a yellow with gray-striped Tommy Hilfiger polo shirt. Smiling and said some sort of greetings.

With no formal introductions and so much formalities, he welcomed us and dived to his presentation discussing economic directions of Albay and how he was able to overturn the kind of budget prioritization Albay had in the previous administration. 

Evident intelligence in his every utterance of words, the governor talks with so much ardor but not boasting.

I could not tell how we were mesmerized at him while he was talking. But when I looked around, I saw many, if not all the participants of the training were just listening with mouths opened  as if they saw an apparation of the Black Nazarene!

Bless me father! DavaoEye and the Man

 He talks candidly about politics, economics, RH bill, crisscrossing between religious and political doctrines and dogmas, business, theology then back to climate change. He killed the boredom of that unholy afternoon. 

He was right when he said, "not to serve food while I am talking because I am food enough" to which we all agreed.

More than just being enough food, he was a goldmine of fresh ideas and better economic perspective. I may fail to elucidate further the kind of the atmosphere he created during his two-hour intelligent discourse, but it was so much fun and insightful. 

I was lucky to have met one the people I looked up to. It was a once in a lifetime experience for me. 

My Albay adventure was complete. Seeing Mt. Mayon and meeting the main man of Albay. 

Salamat warm Albay. Salamat Gob!

Mt. Mayon and the marker in Brgy. Padang to commemorate the thousands of bodies, yet to be found, during the Super typhoon Reming in 2006.

 

Viral

Photo: http://www.empowernetwork.com

There are so many things going viral these days. They range from disease to videos to written opinion and even quotable quotes.

About two weeks ago, my son’s pediatrician ruled out dengue diagnosis for his high fever. She said it was viral infections as lab results (which we did twice, and twice the pain for us parents seeing our kid under that nasty needle) showed that everything was ‘normal.’

This was the second time doctors referred to “viral infection” as there could be no other basis for his high fever. Similarly, my son’s cousin, about 4 years of age, was also diagnosed with systemic viral infection. 

When lab results reveal nothing beyond normal, it's viral infection then. Or, is it really, doc? 

Thanks to paracetamol, fever was gone.

So moving on...

The recent and most talked about viral these days is the video (they refer to as scandal) of Parokya ni Edgar lead vocalist Chito Miranda and his girl friend.

They said it was like wild fire on that fateful Friday night when the video was uploaded on Youtube.

It was sensational.

Miranda, who never denied it was him and her girlfriend, called  the incident “foul.”

Why do some people take video of themselves doing the most private of things? Is it because the narcissistic persona in us has overtaken our rational being and prod us to do things without caution? Or maybe it's the  twisted, perverted, imprudent part of the person who care less of the repercussion of their actions?

If there was no video, there would have been no video to upload. There would have been no scandal that went viral. A scandalous video that ruined 'life' and reputation. In this case, most particularly for the part of the woman.

However, I cannot pass judgement on them for what they did and what has happened.

But I can only condem the people who shared over and over again the video. What values do you have? Have you no morals to think whether it was appropriate to share it or not especially in FB timeline where anyone, even our children, have easy access to it?

Such a dismay, my friends.

But then, there are positivisms, too, going viral also in FaceBook. 

I've seen the video posted but shelved the idea of viewing it since it was not "sensational." I could view it anytime, when I get bored, I told myself. 

The first time I saw it posted the 'share' count was just around 100+. But today, it has reached 66,000++. 

 

Have you seen that video of Ateneo Alumna who is now teaching in a public elementary school in Quezon City.

Sabrina Ongkiko delivered what to me a very poignant, realistic and inspiring words about public education and the noble teaching profession in public schools.

Her words, the sincerity of it and how she delivers it with a heart could tell you how proud she is as a public school teacher.

I salute every public school teacher. My sister, my cousin and many of my friends are dedicated public school teacher. I’m proud of them.

They are doing their utmost to provide the best quality education despite very limited resources. I am proud of them

I thank you for your service.

I for one is a proud product of public education. I am proud of it.