Why Baguio is also a foodie haven
Baguio has become a foodie’s getaway paradise in the last several years. Local and foreign tourists come up not just to cool themselves and take in the mountain and flower sights, but to also partake of international cuisine. Who says you can’t order matcha ice cream in these fair boondocks? Or enjoy coffee affogato while watching the mist cover the hills over yonder?
For the speed with which Baguio has caught up with the food and beverage offerings in such places as Bonifacio Global City, one only can thank the travel time cut by a smooth superhighway system—NLEx, SCTEx, and TPLEx. Private vehicles can reach the city borders in three and a half hours, buses in four (maximum of five if there is an Edsa gridlock).
Mario’s, though it has a Quezon City branch, remains a classic. My husband Rolly Fernandez and I find comfort in its Spanish callos and lengua Madrileña paired with either garlic rice or mashed potatoes. Lately, he has turned to its Filipino merienda to appease cravings for lumpiang sariwa, peanut sauce on the side, while I favor the pancit luglug. Actually, I can dispense of the patis and kalamansi sawsawan, but force of habit makes me pour this combined dip over the orange sauce.
The service is impeccable. At Mario’s, we can expect our glasses of cold water to be refilled even before they are empty. Drop a fork? A replacement is secured within seconds.
And we are on first-name basis with the head waiter Bobby, who calls my husband “Sir Rolly” and me “Ma’am Liza.” I asked him point-blank recently, “What makes you think my nickname is Liza?” He answered, “Hindi nga ba Elizabeth po kayo (Aren’t you named Elizabeth)?” That exchange was worth a dessert order of what owner Fil Benitez calls their to-die-for apple pie a la mode (sugar-free).
Baked, not deep-fried
We haven’t dined out at Café by the Ruins lately, but sampled some of its fare at the triple event of poet Marjorie Evasco at Mt. Cloud Bookshop. Among the snacks served were bacalao empanadas that had me quietly moaning in their savoriness. Café chef patron Adelaida Lim said she came up with this new empanada as part of their Lenten season line. May it stay on their menu for good. What makes you not tire of the empanada (I helped myself to two, one after the other) was the crust was baked, not deep-fried.
A recent discovery after pianist Dingdong Fiel’s concert was Seollem Korean Café and Bistro on Military Cut-off Road. It is open until late (10:30 p.m.), which is something, Baguio being the sleepy town that it is. The building where it is situated is ECCO4 Building, a sort of food hub with a 24-7 Korean grocery on the ground floor, on the same row as Inihaw Republic and Som Tam, a Thai resto. We were famished when we arrived past 8 p.m. (actually our usual bedtime, I’m not shy to admit), not having snacked before the concert.
I ordered the Bulgogi Rice Bowl and Kimbap, while Rolly had a whole nine-inch cheese pizza to himself. We were pleased with our food. I promised to return after complimenting the woman staffing the cash box for her beautiful tattoos and apron. Then I realized it was our first date night in months!
Another eating companion is Inquirer’s national editor Edra Benedicto. We lunch monthly, trying out different places in our city. The latest is Le Monet Hotel’s lobby resto in Camp John Hay. The hot pot is just like any other hot pot, or maybe I just don’t know how to select the right ingredients to drop in the roiling hot broth. Then Edra suggested we try the strawberry champorado even if we were full from the seafood, corn, and glass noodles.
Rolly and I took turns finishing a huge bowl. We were still smacking our lips as we walked to the parking lot. It was worth a return, too. Former Vice President Leni Robredo should’ve had a picture taken with a bowl during her presidential campaign. It would’ve won her more votes in this city that voted for her opponent, the current President.
‘Taho’ with a bowtie
By some happenstance, I stayed at the Baguio Country Club and was able to sample most of its food outlets, particularly the Veranda (Ilusorio Wing), Hamada, and Kate Reed’s Pastry Shop. Most pleased was I with the warm taho with arnibal sauce and sago. The delicacy, served only during the breakfast buffet, features a waiter scooping the taho and other toppings while clad in an immaculate shirt and bowtie, a far cry from the itinerant magtataho.
I chatted up the woman server frying my plain omelette (no fillings, just a pinch of salt and lots of pepper). I said she must get up before dawn to be able to start serving by 6 a.m. She assented, saying, “Ma’am, I’m up at 3 a.m., I leave the house at five and am at my post by six.” Said with a wide smile and no eyebags!
At Hamada, the Japanese restaurant named after Oseo, the journalist who cofounded the late lamented community paper Baguio Midland Courier, my companion, writing buddy Cynthia Alberto Diaz, and I chose the Katsudon or pork chop slices over Japanese rice. I also tried the light Agedashi Tofu. Capping everything was matcha ice cream, made by the club. If I were to rate which was the best food lover’s place in this vast leisure compound, it would be Hamada.
The same companion and I had difficulty finishing the halo-halo, this season’s favorite, served at the pastry shop where the famous raisin bread can be scored along with cakes, chocolates, bottles of honey, even garlic peanuts. But we managed to. Our only complaint was the slices of saba banana weren’t sweetened to softness but were hard to chew. Otherwise, the Peninsula Manila has cause to feel threatened by the generous sahog or ingredients nearly spilling over the bowl.
Unforgettable to Rolly and me is the dragon fruit and durian ice cream churned or made in the ice cream maker in the convent of the Religious of the Good Shepherd. We were privileged to taste this when Sr. Guadalupe Bautista hosted a lunch at the RGS farm in Pugo, La Union. I often wonder when the experience will be repeated. Such are a foodie’s fantasies!
