The South Bay floating restaurant officially opened Tuesday in Purok Sandiwa, Barangay Tiniguiban to offer a unique dining experience to locals and tourists.
Chope Garcia, restaurant spokesperson, said South Bay started as a boneless bangus production project but due to the influx of tourists in the city, the management decided to convert it to a floating restaurant.
She said that they have been operating bangus production since 2014.
“We were thinking about how can we contribute to the tourism. This year, we came up with an idea to focus on a dining restaurant and at the same time, a very Instagrammable place where you can take photos with your family and friends,” Garcia said.
The floating restaurant offers lunch and dinner buffet. All-day breakfast will also be available soon.
“As of now ay lunch and dinner palang pero we are settling some things para sa all-day breakfast natin,” Garcia said.
Garcia highlighted that the restaurant does not only offer food and a good ambiance but also fish feeding and fish-catching activities.
In addition, firefly watching will be opened soon, she said.
Garcia also assured that they are following environmental rules which is also a challenging part of their management.
She said that only food is in the restaurant. Other things like hand washing and the comfort rooms are all on the land surface.
“Everything we do here, we ensure that we are following and compliant with the environmental law. ‘Yon nga ang medyo challenge sa amin kasi totally kain lang ang nandito sa restaurants, lahat ay nandoon sa taas, walang comfort room dito, wala ring hugasan ng kamay. Lahat ng gamit ay dadalhin o ibabalik doon sa land area natin kasi as much as possible gusto natin ng proper waste handling,” she said.
“With this kind of set up, we are proud that we can really protect and preserve the environment,” she added.
Currently, the floating restaurant has 44 crew from Tiniguiban and seven chefs from Siargao, Iloilo, Davao, and Palawan.
Buffet set up for lunch costs P480 per person from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. while dinner is at P550 starting 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Committee on tourism chairman councilor Matthew Mendoza said the floating restaurant will be another tourist attraction that may offer job opportunities to the locals.
“Matagal na rin itong pinaplano at ngayon nandito na tayo. This will serve as another venue of the tourist coming into the city, of course, the opening of south bay floating restaurant is not only an opportunity for our economy and tourism but also a job opportunity for the locals, alam ko na ‘yon din ang hangad ng management nito kaya we are thankful for putting up a floating restaurant in the city of Puerto Princesa,” Mendoza said.
Provincial information officer Winston Arzaga, who also attended the opening, said that the Puerto Princesa City government has the province’s full support in every aspect of development being done in the city.
“Kung todo ang suporta ng city government ay gusto ko sabihin na mas buo ang suporta ng pamahalaang panlalawigan sa mga proyekto na magpapaunlad sa ating bayan. Nandito lang ang pamahalaan at laging buo ang suporta sa lahat ng mamamayan ng lungsod,” Arzaga said.
Meanwhile, picture taking and other activities in the area are open to the public.
