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Metro Manila / Dining / Restaurant Manners

Waiters in leading restaurants and at big hotels in Manila have received formal train-ing. The service in these restaurants does not vary much from that in first class res-taurants anywhere in the world. But in na-tive restaurants waiters are untrained and the server may be a family member. Then, service is not exactly proper but rather with little formality.

To call the waiter in a simple restaurant, it is usual to hiss in typical Filipino style. Asking for the bill can be done by drawing a square in the air with thumb and index finger, or by calling Check please!

Because of the local custom of social sharing, separate bills are an incomprehen-sible attitude for the locals, and Filipinos never ask for it. In a purely local res-taurant, a pair or group of foreigners will get just one bill even if separate bills have been requested. The easiest way for those who want to pay separately, is to divide the costs later.

Waiters' salaries are low, 1 peso per hour in small places and about 7 in big hotels. A larger source of income is often the tips. There is a silent agreement when a waiter gets hired that the salary is only part of his income, the other being the tips.

Tips are generally expected and a matter of good manners even if there is already a 10% service charge on the bill which is the case in all luxury and five star hotels. Suf-ficient tips are around 5% of the bill. To give a tip, one just leaves the change on the table. The Western habit of saying "keep the change" when paying in restaurants is not common here and will just create confu-sion. Generally, tips are pooled and shared by all employees.

Table setting in first class restaurants are the same as in Europe or North America. The most native way of eating on the con-trary is with the hands. A step toward a more formal manner is eating with a spoon and fork. In that case, the actual eating is done with the spoon, and the fork serves as a pusher. In small restaurants those requiring a knife will have to ask for one as they are not normally provided. Knives are not needed in native places as meats are usually chopped into bite size.

In native places or homes one may notice diners polishing their table service with tissue. It is a custom in the Philippines and sometimes needed - but of course not only unnecessary but explicitly impolite in first class restaurants.

In first class restaurants, common condi-ments on the table are salt and pepper. In native places, however, it's instead soy sauce and patis (a fermented fish oil, lighter in color than soy sauce). Water is always served; in native places the tendency is to bring it at the end of the meal. Except in first class restaurants, bread and butter does not come with the meal and is generally not available. Breads are often too sweet for Western taste. Tomato ketchup or mustard are not common in native places.

First class restaurants observe the interna-tional sequence in serving dishes, or the sequence typical for the particular cuisine of a country. In native places, however, Those who prefer food served in a certain sequence (e.g. first soup, then salad, then meat, then coffee) should order step by step, because sequence is generally not observed but all kinds of food are brought at the same time. Except in better restaurants, foods are of-ten precooked and served at room tempera-ture.

First class establishments require guests to wear shoes (not neckties) and ban persons wearing shorts and/or sleeveless T-shirts.

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