Balesin Island Club – What We Ate at Balesin Village

Several years ago I went to Maldives and stayed at a 5 star resort. The place was beautiful but the food was shockingly expensive and mediocre at best. Balesin Island Club can compete with the one in Maldives and the food is priced reasonably and quite good to boot.

We had the buffet breakfast at the Balesin Clubhouse and it was just the kind of buffet that I liked. The choices weren’t overwhelming and most of the food were excellent. They only have a buffet spread if there are more than 100 guests at the resort.

breakfast buffet at Balesin clubhouse — egg station

The bread basket was made of bread!!

Too bad the pretty pastry tiered display had to be covered with plastic to shield the goodies from flies.

breakfast buffet at Balesin clubhouse-cold cuts, cheese and sushi — cold cuts, cheese and sushi

breakfast buffet at Balesin clubhouse- arroz caldo — arroz caldo

These were all the hot dishes they had. Not much but all well made and very tasty.

I almost didn’t try the ham since I usually find it too sweet but I was curious how it tasted since the ham was made with pork belly.

breakfast buffet at Balesin clubhouse- pork belly ham — pork belly ham

Here’s my plate filled with all their meat dishes sans Spam. The corned beef and breakfast sausage were good but the bangers sausage was fantastic. It had a stronger flavor which had no hint of sweetness which reminded me of English breakfast sausage. I only got a small piece of ham to try.

This was my second plate of ham. My first bite of ham made me swoon with pork joy. The texture reminded me of fresh corned beef made with beef belly. Tender, cured pork which wasn’t too sweet nor too salty layered with a little fat that melted in my mouth. The skin wasn’t crunchy but the flavor was sublime. Words can’t describe how much I loved this pork belly ham. I wanted to find a container and pack the whole piece to bring back to Manila. Whoever thought of using pork belly into ham is a genius!!!

When I go back to Balesin I will eat this ham with toasted pan de sal or baguette slathered with Dijon mustard and Gruyere cheese. Then I will cut a few pieces to be added to an omelet. Then I will eat more ham with just the skin. And for dessert I will have some mangoes with ham.

I tried both kinds of mini cinnamon rolls (with ham) and was surprised to like the pale one more.

breakfast buffet at Balesin clubhouse- cinnamon rolls — cinnamon rolls

My friends said the arroz caldo (chicken congee) was the best they’ve eaten.

I wasn’t able to try the waffle but it should be good with ham.

We took a walk after breakfast and saw this.

We also had merienda at the clubhouse on the day we arrived.

My friend ordered a bibingka from Balesin Sunset Sweets and had it brought to the main seating area.

I didn’t like the bibingka. I found it too doughy.

The clubhouse served a special preview of their soon to open Italian restaurant at the Toscana Village.

Balesin - shrimp & anchovy pizza — shrimp & anchovy pizza P390

If their pizza was any indication of the other dishes in the restaurant I can guarantee that it will be a big hit. I’ve NEVER ever eaten a pizza with a crust this thin. I could barely hold the slice without the crispy crust breaking. The thin crust made the tomato sauce, cheese and toppings just stand out more. I could easily finish an entire pizza by myself. After the ham this was my second favorite dish during my entire 3 day trip.

Most of the villages in Balesin had only one restaurant each. Balesin Village had an additional dining spot called BALESIN FISH FUN. I took this picture from our villa.

It wasn’t a long walk but the golf buggy took us right to the entrance.

The concept of this place was you were supposed to fish for your meal. There was only lapu lapu down there and good luck with catching one.

From Balesin Fish Fun you can see the villas we stayed at.

We went back for dinner and the lights were quite impressive.

We weren’t able to catch a fish so one of the waiters just did his magic and procured one for us.

All of the seafood comes from Manila except for the lapu lapu which was caught in the waters surrounding the island. The management wants more fish and other species to come to their waters before they catch them for food. It’s their way of creating sustainable seafood for the long term.

I admire how they skillfully cut the coconut into pyramids but I hated the soup that tasted neither like chicken or coconut. It was cloyingly sweet and it reminded me of atchara (pickled green papaya). Strange huh? Needless to say I didn’t touch the soup.