My eyes followed Darayonan’s lighted gate as our tricycle puff-puffed through Coron’s dimly lit streets on the way back to town from the Hot Springs of Maquinit. I saw a glimmer of a restaurant through its entrance and thought it looked interesting. 

We were dropped off at Out of Africa Burger as that was where we planned to have dinner that night.

 
We scaled a flight of stairs and there we were on a smallish room occupied pretty much by foreign tourists drinking a few bottles of alcohol. Good as the review might be for their burgers, I just really didn’t feel the atmosphere inside their resto.

So down we went and flagged another tricycle back to Darayonan’s.

A few minutes later and we’re being ushered by the lodge’s polite staff into the restaurant. I cannot help but compare the hotel we were staying in with Darayonan’s facilities and garden ambience.

Bricked walkways, trees everywhere, rooms finished off in local island flavors, outdoor seats with parasols and a sparklingly blue swimming pool amidst everything. I really dig it and even went so far as to suggest that we transfer there for our last night in Coron.

But it was too much of a hassle really, so we decided to stay put and content ourselves into trying their in-house restaurant instead.

From their beat-up menu, we ordered Garlic Longanisa (Php80.00), Chicken Curry (Php135.00), and Tortang Talong (Php70.00). Rice was not yet included with the dishes so we had to order them as extras; plain steamed rice at Php20.00 and fried rice at Php25.00.  
  
The dining hall looks a bit too much like a school cafeteria and we asked if we can eat outside instead, they said we could but warned us about mosquitoes. We had a mosquito repellant lotion with us so it was really not a problem.

I checked the place out while we waited for our dinner to arrive and the more I looked, the more I became convinced that this was where we should have stayed. Even their rates matched our current hotel’s; tsk definitely next time.

Dinner was served at last and we dug in. 
 
Raphaella’s food tags were leaning a bit on the expensive side and we were really expecting something slightly above average from them. It was a surprise then that the dishes they served us all were just on the scale of okay and didn’t even tip it to good. Well, except the curry where I’d have to rate lower due to the small chicken portions, the veggie mix totally outpowered the meat.

In a nutshell, Darayonan Lodge rocks (at least as far as I can see outside, I wasn’t able to check their rooms though); their in-house resto though was very average, forgettable and slightly expensive (I mean, expensive is okay as long as you feel that you are getting your money’s worth). 

  
   Raphaella’s at Darayonan Lodge
   Address: 132 National Highway,
   Brgy 1, Poblacion, Coron, Palawan
   Contact Number: (0928) 700-3075 | (0908) 773-2964 | (0915) 297-6426
   Menu: Click Here