Tagaytay weekend Part 3 (food trip)

How can a weekend trip go without glorious food? When we found out that the tiger at Residence inn Zoo was not available for photo-ops on Friday afternoon, we decided to reschedule entry to the zoo Saturday am. With the scorching warm weather, we decided to eat halo-halo. We passed by a small newly opened place along Aguinaldo H-way and decided to try it.

Carmela's (Along Aguinaldo Highway)

Halo-halo Php90

banana cake Php 160

 The halo-halo was ordinary. The leche flan on top, however, was super creamy. I like my halo-halo milky and would have liked a bit more milk. The banana bread was good (according to my companions) but I am no connoisseur of banana bread which for me was just ok.
I would not pass judgement yet on this cafe as it is so new (there were no permanent seats inside, just portable fold-able furniture) . We were the only customers at that time and the owners were kinda surprised to find walk in customers.

A trip to Tagaytay will not be complete without eating beef - as bulalo soup or steak. After our sky ranch adventure, we decided to head to the nearby bulalohan with a view - Near the Sky Bulalohan. I could not take lots of pictures as my 2 month old suddenly decided to start her crying sessions.

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Bulalo

I chose Near the Sky based on some of the reviews. There is little that can go wrong with good ol' bulalo. It was meaty, the marrow intact and yummy, the broth tasty.  I did not quite get what the reviews were raving about.

Crispy Tawilis

I did not find the crispy tawilis crispy enough. But the price was friendly. The total bill was just under 500php for three people (Rice, Bulalo and Crispy tawilis).







My first choice for Saturday lunch was Bawai, a Vietnamese restaurant that is strictly by reservations only. Much to my disappointment when I was turned down as they were already full for Saturday lunch and dinner. Second choice was Bag of Beans along Aguinaldo highway.


We settled in one of the areas with a daybed. We were promptly informed by one of the servers that it will cost us 1000Php which was consumable. It was ok as we decided to try their lunch buffet and just order ala carte for the yaya.  

Buffet area

The place was full and I felt a little awkward taking pictures of the food. Its a brunch buffet and there were breakfast viands (tocino, tapa, longganisa) and lunch entrees (kare kare, roast beef, chicken ala king etc.) The roast beef was a bit tough but as a whole most of the foods were good tasting.

My pasta connoisseur approves of the bolognese spaghetti

Chicken pork adobo (for yaya) php220

garden dining areas

dessert buffet

 There was a pasta area where you can choose between spaghetti and fettucini. There were 5 pasta sauces available. With my daughter in mind , I ordered Spaghetti Bolognese. It tasted good and my little one liked it.   

salad and halo-halo area

kitschy lighting decors

kitschy lighting decors

 Paul and I stuffed ourselves to the max. Our unhurried lunch took us almost two hours!  Probably the garden ambiance plus the calming piped in music contributed to this. We were almost tempted to take a nap at the daybed (hahaha).

Two adults on the brunch buffet, 1 ala carte chicken pork adobo (which the yaya said tasted really good), two take home solo pies- shepherd's and beef and veggie  plus the service charge totaled to Php 1576. Not bad at all!
 
 

my take out shepherd's pie