Panaderia @ Sonya's Garden

Another reason to frequent Sonya's Garden in Tagaytay is the bakery. It's so country, it's called Panaderia. You could hardly miss it. The sweet aroma of freshly baked breads is dancing with the fragrances of the garden. It's actually located near the entrance, before the main dining hall.

Everything is hot and fresh out of the oven. It got traditional Filipino pastries like monay and the ones below which we particularly purchased...

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And sweet tooth favorites :

We bought a pack of each and consumed everything in the car on our way back to Manila. Except for the hopia (husband choice) which only a piece was consumed and the rest I think, until today still sitting unnoticed inside our fridge. We didn't like their hopia with super  thick coverings.



I was looking for Sonya's signature bottled salad dressings and dips. Found not available that day. Others were Tagaytay food products not by Sonya's.

Unnamed Bulalo House

We came from a beach in Nasugbu, Batangas and on the way home we passed by Tagaytay almost lunch time. I missed the name of this particular food establishment and couldn't remember to have seen any signage infront of it. If you are frequenting Batangas-Tagaytay route to Manila (vise-versa), I'm sure you've seen this nipa hut restaurant on the ridge, always full with people slurping hot bulalo. Tagaytay is one of the most frequented weekend destinations we visit and almost been around in every establishment there, except this one. So when someone in the car mentioned bulalo, I took it as a sign to eat there.

There were table cottages positioned to enjoy full view of Taal Volcano with corresponding consumable amount. Depends on the location, like in one cottage-  minimum food order amount would be  P1.5k, the other one with better view was like P3k and up.



We didn't take any of the special cottages. We had seen Taal Volcano 14,984 times already, haha. Anyway, we only wanted to try their version of bulalo here, always_ in search of the better one. So we took one of the tables in the main/common dining hall with no minimum consumable amount. You just pay whatever amount you consume.



Well, their bulalo was good but nothing spectacular to mention it above others.  I actually thought_ over this I would still prefer Leslee's , only few minutes drive from this place.
 For my foreign friends - bulalo is a favorite Filipino hot soup made of beef shank/ bone marrow. Tagaytay is one of the best places to eat this hot dish cos of the cool weather and known to serve a better quality of beef cos of its proximity to the province of Batangas where the cows are best raised.

On  the other plate, I actually loved their sisig and would only be the only reason to come back here.



In the end, we did have filled stomachs to continue rocking the roads on the way home.

Fatless Shabu-Shabu

Tagaytay was smoking cold the other day when we went up. It was also raining non-stop.



So the plan to bring my tourist? cuz' Sylvia to a garden moonlight dinner was washed away by the rainfall. Instead, we made a stop to a newly opened shabu-shabu (hotpot) resto by the road - Fatless Shabu-Shabu. The word fatless pulled us straight right into the entrance of the resto.



The only stuff that made us think twice was the emptiness of the resto. That was just for a second. We were all chilling and majority wanted some piping hot soup. We are all gearing towards a healthy new year so the famous bulalo of the area was temporarily dismissed.

We ordered a set menu for 4-6 persons which included rice and drinks already.

The seafood/meat plate was good. The fresh squid came late thu'. It was served when all of the stuff were already in the pot. But turned out okey anyway.

I was liking the idea that we were shabu-ing at chilled Tagaytay and had a good feeling that vegetables were all fresh.

Condiments. I missed the flavor-fullness of authentic chinese /vietnamese sate sauce. In here, sate paste was quite bland and didn't fully glorify the tasty soup we were used to, from other shabu-shabu resto we frequent in Manila.

My first bowl. I didn't touched the rice. I don't eat rice with shabu-shabu. for me it's already a complete meal. With corn in it, I'm good to go.



Overall, I like the place. It's new ( only opened a month ago), clean and fresh. I also like that it's not big and therefore not busy. I hate crowded place.

Breakfast at Moon Garden

Settled in the best  breakfast spot (see here) in Moon Garden , we were ready for our hearty breakfast.



kapeng barako, fresh milk, fresh pure mango shake

courteous & efficient staff

plates making you hungry?

longanisa,egg, garlic fried rice & pickled veggies

my pick - homemade corned beef, garlic rice, egg, pickled veggies. . .yummmmmm!

adobo flakes, egg, garlic rice & pickled veggies. . . adobo flakes were too dry for me



crispy paksiw na bilong-bilong,egg,rice & veggies.. hubby liked this plate so much

french toast in honey, honeyed banana, egg

 fresh guyabano shake

flambe banana

natural yogurt w alfonso honey



need i say more?

{{If you were wondering why there were more than four plates_ they were combination of our weekend long bfast.

The Sun in Moon Garden

Best place for breakfast ? In a garden. A garden, to me defines my ultimate breakfast abyss. Where the sun lights straight up a face without a single barrier. Personally, I always thought the early morning sunshine is the best way to break-the-fast.

It awakens your senses and gives you a right start for the day. The sun is the best companion one could get for a breakfast in a garden.

During our (long) weekend stay at Moon Garden,Tagaytay, we intentionally woke up at the earliest light of the morning. On our first morning_ the girls were quite excited, picking their choice of table. There were quite a lot and yes quite confusing in a happy note.

They saw this picture perfect sinking-hut in the middle of small water lily pond and announced to me and their dad that from this morning on : " this gonna be our breakfast hut mom and dad!!".

While waiting for our food, we had a fun time watching the baby frogs leaping off from one giant lily leaf to another. Playing hide and seek or simply just being themselves, kerokeropee cutee frogs.Sometimes quite hard to see from their adaptive chameleon leaf colors.



Dividing our attention, were the koi fishes peeking out from the beautiful water lily flowers. Beautiful. simply divine!



Next : the del-i-cious foods ! ! See you here :)