Where to eat in Puerto Princesa? That was also our dilemma when we had our 4-day vacation in the city. We were poorly prepared, obviously. The only restaurant I knew we had to experience was Kinabuch's and since we're staying for three nights, we need to find two more restaurants to dine in.

And so during our second day in the city, I remembered something that the pension owner said about TripAdvisor and the ranking depending on accommodation or restaurants. According to TripAdvisor, the number one restaurant in Puerto Princesa is Le Terrasse, but upon seeing the reviews and the menu, it seemed too high-end for us so we settled for #2 - Gypsy's Lair Art Cafe.

Gypsy's Lair is located in Mercado de San Miguel, a 2-storey mall that houses a souvenir shop and several restaurants. It is located along the National Highway and near the tiange tiange or the place with souvenir shops.

There are actually two entrances to the cafe - one themed in green and another in red. I wasn't able to take photos inside the cafe but it was filled with unusual and even bordering on scary art pieces - like a doll in a bird cage and a barbie doll in a sort of gothic wedding dress. Seeing these artworks, we decided to dine outside hahaha Just kidding - it was raining outside and it felt nice to dine al fresco.




I ordered their Pinoy-style Pad Thai sans the shrimp as I'm allergic to it. Compared to Thailand's Pad Thai, this one is not spicy and had a bit of soy sauce and less calamansi to it? I forgot haha but it tasted delicious and felt light to the tastebuds as well.

Ta-daan, here's the dish. We have to say, the taste was a bit disappointing. The mango was a bit sour and I can taste the cinnamon powder on my tongue. It would be great if they added something sweet - like a drizzle of chocolate syrup, maybe?


We stayed for a while while watching the band play acoustic songs. There were already two couples (both had male Caucasian companions) sitting outside watching the band play. We ordered assorted dynamite sticks - some had ground beef/pork inside and cheese. Yum!


We just drank San Mig but here are other options for their cocktail concoctions. They had weird names, haha


Overall it's an awesome dinner in Puerto Princesa City and we're glad that we found this restaurant. We definitely recommend this place!