We left our house around lunchtime on Saturday. We drove towards Silang (which cuts the trip by 20 minutes). Di pa kami kumakain nun, so we decided to stop in Tagaytay for lunch.
One of our favorite nice unknown restaurants in Tagaytay is Sanctuario. Nagpunta na rin kami nila Ate Edith before at naglaro pa kami ng Shaggedy-Shaggedy. Sanctuario has a post-modern Filipino design with a nice view of Taal. Food is modernized Pinoy classics and we had: Crispy Tadyang, Chicken and Cheese Sticks, and Tawilis. Konti lang, since we had a good appetizer - their specialty Pan de Pate. And to end, Mommy had Calamansi Ice Cream (nice and unique!) and we had Tagaytay's famous Pahimis coffee.
Highly recommended ang Sanctuario for light snacks and merienda.
We finished lunch at around 2pm, which is right timing to check-in. Most of Tagaytay is fully-booked for the weekend until New Year's, so we were lucky to get rooms at Day's Hotel. Nag-stay na si Che-Che dito last year, pero kami nila Ayo ay hindi pa.
Medyo luma na kasi ang Day's Hotel. So we were surprised with our big room, na nice din. We had 2 double-sized beds. Amenities are OK. But the best thing is the view. So you can see the view of Taal Lake and Volcano from our room's veranda.
After settling in our room and unpacking, ang bilis ng oras, 5 PM na. So we went to Robinson's to buy water, we ended-up eating Almira's Buko Pie. Afterwards, we decided to beat the crowd for dinner and come in early. We had dinner at one of our suki restaurants - Josephine's. OK nga, dahil sa same table kami kumain in our past 4 visits.
The no.1 specialty of the house is Mutya ng Cavite. A seafood stew that is creamed-based at merong sandamakmak na butter. Sobrang malinamnam. Che-Che, Ayo and I shared Seafood Pasta in White Wine Sauce and Mommy and Ate shared Crispy Pata! As always, ang rule namin when eating out - walang dapat matira. Syempre wala ngang natira.
We decided to skip dessert and coffee at Josephine's because we wanted to watch a concert at Casino Filipino - Pilita Corrales and Elizabeth Ramsey. Sabi nila Ma, di raw sila tumigil sa kakatawa kay Elizabeth. Buti na lang at sobrang enjoy sila.
Ako? Well siyempre yoko ng mga concert ng datans, saka gusto ko mag-sugal! haha. So nagsugal ako. Of course I won - di marami, enough na mabawi ang pinambayad sa tickets.
Bumalik kami ng hotel mga 1am. At mahimbing ang tulog.
Day 2. The next day we woke up early to avail of the free breakfast. Sayang naman. We had continental breakfasts of mostly breads and sweet and sour breakfast with pancakes of honey and sour cream. Yum Yum.
We left the hotel at around 10am and headed to 'Nature's Park'. Eto iyong bagong religious park near Picnic Grove.
Meron dung kalendaryo ng mga santo, kung saan makikita mo ang santo ng kapanganakan mo. Interestingly, ang patron saint ni Tita Che-Che ay si San Lorenzo Ruiz. Siyempre ako si San Isidro Labrador, kaya nga ako Ido e.
Nag-coffee kami sa 3rd floor, overlooking the nice view of Taal. Syempre ang chimes nila sa place ay angel, as if guarding the place.
Since malapit lang naman, we said 'we'll make tambay' sa Picnic Grove, walking distance nga lang e. Actually, si Mommy ang gustung-gustong mag-picnic, maski wala namin kaming dalang ulam. Pero huwag nyong sabihin sa kanya ito, dahil dine-deny nya!
50pesos each na pala ang entrance, at sobrang daming tao. Grabe talaga sa dami ng tao at sasakyan. Talagang People's Park! After mga 30 minutes, e nag-give up na kami. Everywhere you go are people. We don't like, di na tulad ng dating People's Park na pinupuntahan natin. So umalis na kami kaagad.
We had lunch at Red Lemon Grill sa tapat ng Picnic Grove. Mura lang ang pagkain, at mapapamura ka rin sa lasa. We had Binagoongan Baboy (na lasang adobo), Chopsuey (ito lang ata ang OK), daing na bangus (na maliit na dami pa tinik) and inihaw na liempo (puro taba!). Well, this was our cheapest meal anyway, kaya dapat di na mag-reklamo. Pero huwag na kayo pumunta dito. Not sulit.
Op kors. We decided to have dessert and coffee somewhere else. On the way back to main Tagaytay medyo traffic na since Sunday nga kasi. Dami nag-lunch at nagsisimba.
We found this small cafe near the rotonda. From the outside, nice na ang itsura, so we decided to stop for coffee.
We were surprised that the cafe is also a modern art gallery. Puwede kang mag-coffee sa regular tables. Puwede rin sa Japanese-inspired tables na napapalibutan ng modern art.
Among the paintings, 'D Creation' seen below became our favorite. Iyong next naman ay interesting dahil mixed-media. You can see cut-outs of Coke and Zesto tin cans in the painting.
After all the pasyal and the eating, naisip namin na bumalik muna sa hotel at matulog. Nakakapagod din pala ang kain ng kain. Natulog din kami from 3-6pm.
At 6:30pm nagsimula na kaming bumiyahe for dinner. Matagal ko ng naririnig ang Tootsie sa mga kaibigan at nababasa sa mga magazine. Buti na lang di puno ang restaurant Sunday night.
Di tulad ng ibang restaurants, di mass-produced ang mga dishes dito. In fact, ang dami ng hindi available, kasi nga ilang days sila bago mag-prepare. We ordered: Crispy Daing na Biya, Tenderloin Tips, Chorizo, and Maliputo.
Unbelievable sa sarap! This was definitely the best meal we've had. Probably one of the best restaurants in the Philippines. Lahat ng inorder masarap, and not all were their specialties. Medyo may kamahalan ang presyo, pero OK lang dahil sobrang sulit naman.
Maski na sobra kaming busog, we had to get desserts. Hindi na available ang turon halo-halo. Sayang. So we ordered Ube Palitaw instead and had the best treat of our visit. Really yummy. To top it off, we also met 'Tootsie' and told us that she was the one who cooked the Chorizo. Astig!
Mga 9:30pm, we said we'll cap the night with coffee somewhere else (sosyal!). We went to Bag O Beans. This is around 8 kilometers away towards Nasugbu. Grabe ang ambience, parang fortress sa gitna ng forest.
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