Ole’s Steak Palomillo. The slice is hidden under the ensalada of parsley and onions. Image © Mike Aquino, licensed to About.com.

When I was in the U.S. a few years ago, I happened upon a Filipino restaurant that had this sign in the window:

SERVES 2-3 AMERICANS (4-5 FILIPINOS)

Maybe you Yanks don’t effect this, but we have smaller servings of food in Southeast Asia. One cup of rice and about a handful of meat or vegetables is what you’ll usually get in most places around here, whether you’re at a hawker’s stall in Singapore or a pho stand in Vietnam.

So this puts me in a bind when I write restaurant reviews: do I say that a certain serving size is adequate, when it’s enough during a meal plus takeout for the locals? I still haven’t really decided.

In any case, my latest restaurant review for the Ole Tapas Bar Y Restaurant in Boracay waffles the issue. For the record, the serving sizes in Ole were cyclopean, for me – but I’m with the party of 4-5 Filipinos, and the 2-3 Americans at the other table might beg to differ.

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