food trip... as in! (WARNING: deadly pictures!!!)

since it is taking almost forever for my trigger-happy friends to share the bounty of our trip to the south (blame it on our schedules and me not bringing my own camera... sigh), might as well publish pics of my most recent trip, coincidentally also to the south, but not that far down :)

not too long ago, kuya dearest had the greatest idea to give my mom a most fabulous of mother's day gifts... a food tour. he found the tour in one of the food sites he frequents and after careful consideration (which, knowing him only took a good 2 seconds), booked the three of us on what would be a culinary escapade to the summer city of the south, tagaytay.

the entire trip took us the whole day of sunday, starting at 7am till 10pm, going to 6 places in total of new and not so new food-finds. though ideally, i would rather just stick to one place and savor my food at a leisurely pace and not feel like i joined the amazing race, i doubt it would have been much of a food tour if we just ended at one. so, with the risks of suffering appendicitis or really bad indigestion aside, we hopped into our vans and with our gracious guides, ivan and his companion, er, ivan, had ourselves shuttled from one place to another of what was to be A ULTIMATE epicurean expedition.

in the beginning... there was loumar's buko tart. small but lethal. also try their equally deadly mango tarts.

joel magsaysay of almost-Utopian ilog maria bee farm... living proof you can be happy and green anytime!

introducing the ilog maria beeezzzzzz....

raw ingredients for our appetizer at bawai's vietnamese resto.

... and the finish product... a viet cong sausage?

meat on a stick. rather, a cane.

vietnamese salad greens

the heavy pho. rice noodles in the cleanest tasting beef stock i have ever tasted in my life!

vietnamese sapin-sapin. layered glutinous pudding made from rice and mung beans.

at chateau hestia, an austrian restaurant, having home made italian lemoncello in the philippines!

picollo tarta della ciocollato and mango napoleon. desserts good enough to make you want to learn a different language!

commercial break muna: why we're here.

who made it happen.

dahil bihasa kumuha ng self-pic using his camera phone.... O DI BA!!

@ yoki's farm. organic romaine lettuce grown hydrophically. not for the faint-hearted carnivore.

a sea of lola rosa. turn away meatr eaters... turn away while you still can.

packers packing fresh oyster mushrooms @ P20 a pack. how much are they selling these in the supermarket again?


and finally...

the piece d'resistance....

the welcoming porte t'cocher...

the sentinels by the foyer...

the elegant dining hall...

our awaiting spread... here at antonio's.

bottomless dalandan juice.

scallop sampler with greens

oyster creamed soup

guava sorbet.. to cleanse the palate in preparation for...

the entree. angus beef tenderloin medallion, served with pasta and a bed of arugula.

dessert was a slice of the densest chocolate ice cream i have ever had, with toasted pistachios.





happy mother's day mom!