Cafe by the Ruins

One of the famous restaurants in Baguio is none other than "Café by the Ruins". We happened to try the restaurant during our first stop of our Baguio Trip day 1.

I included this in our itinerary to eat here, to finally try some of their menus.

We dine at their branch at Chuntug Street, this place is a busy street and the parking spaces of the restaurant was full, thus customers opt to park on the road. We were lucky to have an available parking space when we arrived. However, there was a long queue waiting to be seated and be served.

It was around 5:00 P.M and it is getting colder since it is close to night time. It was long before we were given our seats.   While waiting, I kept on looking around, the decors of the place, the type of customers dining in. The restaurant has this rustic ambiance and I found it cozy, their customers usually comes in big groups, maybe just like us who are visiting Baguio and trying out their meals. 

They have the panederia, where you can buy the bread of your choice for take outs.

 Inside the restaurant they have this open kitchen, where the food to be served is prepared.

They have a great food choices. They offer rice meals, pasta, sandwiches, breads, desserts and drinks.

 

Soon our orders were served. We ordered Forest Stream soup (120.00) to warm our empty stomachs. It has a Shitake with a gingery broth taste. Oh I don't liked it. =(

For our main dish, we ordered Baguio Bagnet at the price of 340.00, it was served with Benguet rice,and tomatoes and fish bagoong as dip for the bagnet. It was heavenly. It really tasted so good!

We also ordered the Shrimp Mango Curry for the price of P300.00, it tasted good too!
For the kids, we ordered lemon chicken nuggets for the price of P150.00, it is a thinly sliced chicken fillet topped with lemon butter sauce, the kids liked it, the chicken is tender and the sauce is tasty.

We just ordered 2 extra rice for the price of P25.00 each.For our drinks, we ordered Srawbery juice at 110.00, mango juice at 110.00, pandan lemon grass at 85.00 and for our dessert we ordered suman and tsokolate at 180.00. The suman is so yummi, and the tsokolate is also good, it has enough bittersweet taste which I liked most.

When we are about to leave the restaurant, a band is setting up. I just don't know if the band regularly plays, or it is only on weekends.

It was a nice dining experience. Too bad, Café by the Ruins can only be find at Baguio City. When we go back, I will eat there again.

The Papal Visit, January 15-19, 2015

The long wait and preparations has come to an end when Pope Francis arrived in the Philippines last January 15, 2015. It was declared Holiday from January 15- 19, due to Papal visit. 

(photo from internet)

It does not happen every day that Pope will visit the Philippines, and so I thought that I should see Pope Francis just like the last time that I saw Pope John Paul II during the World Youth Day. 

It was Sunday, and we just arrived from our short vacation, Pope Francis was scheduled to have a mass at the Quirino Grand stand. It was raining but we don’t care, with our windbreakers on, we went to Luneta.

When we are on our way to the grandstand, and we were on the road shortly after Vicente Cruz, we saw the convoy of Pope Francis, they were on the Nagtahan fly over. Seeing him from afar is already a strange feeling of happiness and excitement. It is unexplainable.

When we arrived at Luneta, as expected, there were lots of people waiting for the coming of Pope, People were everywhere, we just looked for a nice spot where we assumed that we can see him.   Finally, his convoy arrived, we saw him but its too far.

We did not stopped from there, thus the next day, we went to Villamor where he will depart going back home. We were there as early as 4:30 am so we can have a good spot to see him. Luckily, there were only few people waiting, mostly were near the gates of Villamor, but we stayed just right in front of the Bo’s Coffee shop. We waited for so many hours, and did not mind the fatigue, thirst and heat. 

Policemen were scattered to ensure tight security. 

Finally Pope Francis and his convoy arrived and we're glad that he rode on the Pope mobile and not on his service car. The effort of waking up too early, waiting for hours, the thirst and heat from the sun was all worth it in exchange of seeing Pope Francis up-close and personal.

Thank you Pope Francis for visiting the Philippines, thank you for inspiring us to embrace love, compassion and mercy. 

A chilly morning @ Tagaytay

It was January and the cold breeze is just starting at its peak. We thought of going to Tagaytay to experience and feel the cold weather. We thought of hearing mass at Pink Sisters.

There were only two masses being held for the entire day at Pink Sisters (that’s what we know). We attended the 6am mass. Going to Tagaytay also means, roaming around, sightseeing, eat good food, and so I thought it will be a short lakwatsa. So for the usual, I chose to wear comfy clothes which are a pair of shorts and shirt and topped it with a sweater. I know it was not the proper outfit of going to mass, that’s why we opted to stay at the back of the church. OMG! It was freakin’ cold, really. However, I liked the feel of the cold breeze though it chills me to the bones. So, I have to bear the 1 hour, standing outside the church and feel the cold breeze.   

When inside the premises of Pink Sisters Monastery, observe silence at all times, and turn off your mobile phones and turn off the camera whenever mass is ongoing. 

After the mass, we went straight to the prayer area. At the prayer area, there were pens and piece of paper provided where you can write your petitions and prayer requests and may drop it on the available drop slots. You may also give donations for the Pink Sisters Convent and Monastery.

After hearing mass and praying our deepest petitions, we went to Sonya’s garden. Sonya's garden is situated at Alfonso, Cavite, just right after Tagaytay. It was our first time to go here. We do not have any idea how to go to the garden, is it free of charge and open to anyone else or do we need to dine first so we can access the garden. Since we have not taken our breakfast, and for dining experience, we tried their breakfast buffet. We prefer ala carte than buffet since we do not eat a lot, but they do not serve ala carte menus. They serve buffet breakfast from 6am to 10am at 560.00nett per head, for kids its half the price.

 

Upon entering the Sonya’s garden, you can see plants everywhere; it was surrounded by green luscious plants and flowers. You can feel that you are very close to the nature.

 

 

And at the restaurant, the lay-out was simple yet very comfy and relaxing. You can smell the aroma of the fresh plants surrounded by it and feel the cold breeze.

As soon as we are seated, a dining staff put this flower on our table, which name I cannot remember, the dining staff told us that it smells good, I smelled but I did not find it mabango.

 

A loaf of bread, paired with white cheese (with pesto) and a plate of bacon were served on our table.

 

 

Your choice of coffee or hot chocolate was also served. Their hot chocolate was super good, I really like it.  For their food choices on the buffet, they have vegetable salad for appetizer, for the main course, they serve fried/plain rice, daing na bangus with mango salsa, chicken and pork adobo, omellete and sunny side up egg. (Sori, I wasn't able to take nice photos)

 

The dining staffs were attentive and were ready to give you what you need. Ms. Sonya, the owner was there and hopping from table to another table to ask how was the food or how was their stay. It was evident that they have good customer service.

We ate a lot so we walked and roamed the garden. There were different flower bearing plants. Picking of flowers is strictly prohibited.

  

The surroundings are clear and have a nice smell, it seems that it is perfumed. The manong who is watering the plants that the smell came from the flowers, which I doubt. Hehe =)

 

 

 They have a bakeshop, “Panaderia”, it is where you can buy their freshly baked breads. They also have Country store where you can buy handmade wares and potions.

They also have store where you can buy scented oils, and they also sell herbs and other organic plants like, Basil, Tarragon, Ashibata. Citronella, Mint, Thyme, and a lot more.

 

 

They also hold events such as wedding and engagements.

 

Events venue 

 

We learned that you can roam around Sonya’s garden even if not dining with their restaurant.

 Overall, I find the place very relaxing it is a haven for us people who wanted relaxation even in a short period of time. Though I have a good dining experience, I may not eat here again coz I find their buffet breakfast expensive for the number of food choices that they offer. Unless someone will treat me.  

 
If you haven’t been here, take time to visit and enjoy the luscious surroundings.

For your reservations and contact details, you may check their website, http://www.sonyasgarden.com