Tagaytay Food trip with Audrey & Azon

One of the many things I don’t exactly like about the Philippines (don’t believe me on this one!) is my tendency to eat a lot of food!!
Well, last Saturday, Audrey texted me if I am available because Azon can make it that day. May bagong recruit sa mga roadtrips si Audrey! Azon is a friend way back …hmmm…basta dalaga pa ako. Since I’ll be back to Vegas in less than 2 weeks medyo sinasamantala ko na.

We don’t have any plans so we decided to just drive to Tagaytay area. What’s nice about not planning a trip is spontaneous decisions are often times not boring! For sure, boring is not a word you can use for this road trip as this turned out to be a Tagaytay food trip!!



1st stop – Balinsasayaw. I saw a blog about this restaurant and it was a nice review so I suggested we go and stop by this place for quick lunch.

Balinsasayaw is a bird found in Palawan so naturally, bird’s nest soup is one of their specialties. We don’t have plans of getting stuffed right away on our first stop – so we decided for barbecue chicken and liempo.

Audrey and Azon had chicken liempo and buko juice to go with it! Yummy


I ordered pork liempo. Presentation of the food is a little boring but taste is not bad.

They have separate dining areas for diners. So you get your own nipa hut! If you need privacy while dining - this is the place to go. Perfect place for meetings and family lunches or dinners!

They have a souvenir shop as well! I actually found some nice items here at very reasonable price.



2nd stop – Starbucks Tagaytay. I really like going to this place. How much better can it get – drinking your favorite coffee, with great company and with the spectacular view of Taal Lake! I love getting my coffee kick in the morning at Starbucks in US and glad that we have them here. Starbucks is definitely different here though - coffee is consumed anytime of the day. Imagine a 24 hours Starbucks in Tagaytay! Wow ... love it!

Enjoying my favorite cup of coffee, having great conversation with friends and the view of Taal lake ... what a life!

In this part of Tagaytay, there's clusters of food places to go. There's Pancake House, Antonio's Grill to name a few. This is the place to go if you want to eat and get to enjoy the view of Taal as well.



3rd stop - Bag of Beans.

On this trip, I rediscovered this beautiful place. I have been here before but never had the chance to go to their coffee/dining area. I just always stopped for their cinnamon rolls (really yummy ...move over cinnabon!) and for some bags of coffee beans. This time, we went to their coffee/dining area to have a little something. The place is naturally beautiful. Nicely set-up in the midst of the well-maintained garden! This is one of the best coffee shop/dining place to stop by when you to Tagaytay.



Entry way to their coffee shop/dining area.

Pa-picture with Azon




Their dining place.

Yummy cheesecake!


4th stop - Mahogany Market and Carinderia.

This got to be the most fun part of this food trip. Sure I love all the places we have been so far - but this one is a riot!! First, we reaaally enjoyed the food - super mega busog kami and at what cost?? Siyempre, carinderia price! I don't exactly remember our exact bill but maybe just a little over 500 pesos (that's a little over $10.) What did we have? If you are in Mendez area of Tagaytay, beef siyempre. So we had bulalo, okoy, fried tawilis, with pineapple, saging and kakanin for dessert! If you are really starved and you are looking for a good place to go in Tagaytay - this is it!! There are clusters of food stalls in typical carinderia setting - so make sure you check out each offerings but almost always, order bulalo - it's their specialty in Mendez.

After dinner since we are already in the market, medyo namalengke na rin kami ng konti.






I know to some this picture may be offensive but hey come on ... this is the Philippines, here you see the real deal. Fish is not just fillet - they have heads and tail :-) Beef is a cow's meat and its got head, feet and tail. This is where hamburger comes from :-)



5th stop - Gourmet Cafe. I'm a regular customer of this place. See my other posts on this place. This is where I buy my coffee beans, fruits, sauces and even some of my planting materials!

We wanted to have another cup of coffee before we end our food trip but unfortunately, their coffee machine is not working that night! They offered to get us some coffee in their restaurant area but we decided that its okay. Bought some of my favorite items to shop in this place and head to our next destination.

Scouting for more planting materials to plant. I bought my calamansi, avocado, santol, makopa, etc. on this place!


6th stop. Abundant Place. It's probably a blessing that we didn't get the chance to have our coffee at Gourmet Cafe. Otherwise, we would have missed this little gem of a place in Silang, Cavite. If you prefer a cocoa kick than a caffeine kick - then you should not miss this place! I have seen this place featured in one of GMA show and I'm really glad we stop by. It was almost 9 pm and I'm worried that they'll be close already but they accommodated us and I have tasted the best palitaw ever served with hot cocoa!


Azon, me and Audrey in the Abundant place. They have a little gift shop where you can buy delicious tablea, and other native products that they actually produce in this place. This beautiful kulambo is made by them. For those who have been in Sonya's place, you probably have seen these products.


7th stop - Loumar stand. According to Azon, this is a popular place to pick-up some pastries for pasalubong. So siyempre pa, maski super busog na - we decided to make a final stop, so we can buy some pasalubong. Of course, it will not be complete kung walang kodak moments. That day, Audrey is so engrossed learning her camera that she wants to take a lot of photos and she used me and Azon as her subjects!! So most of the photos here are courtesy of Audrey.

If anybody needs company for this kind of food trip - just email us :-)