The WISIWYG Blog

This isn’t a blog post about food or the delicacies that can be savored in Tagaytay.  If the title sounded like it would be, well I am sorry.  I just can’t forget those homemade provisions that we indulged in before and after we enjoyed the rest of Tagaytay – or at least those places that we knew exists in Tagaytay. :)

Our Tagaytay weekend trip was actually a long overdue Dev 1 plan.  The idea came months after the planned Antipolo weekend outing, which has until now not yet materialized.

The plan was big – twelve or more persons traveling together towards the breezy city and doing pretty much anything that can be done there, including swimming among other weird things.  Days before the weekend, however, people started getting sick (blame it on the season) while others started backing out.  So that big group of 12 or more started to dwindle.  And on the day of the trip, we were down to six persons.  But that didn’t stop us from pushing forward to the trip.  With half the crowd we were originally expecting, we went off to the second coolest (literally) city in the Philippines… Tagaytay City.


First Stop – Leslie’s

Stop and go traffic and long trips are sure ways to make your stomach protest.  So after more than an hour of travel to Tagaytay, we were only looking for one thing – some place to eat.  But wouldn’t it be nice if you can satisfy two things at the same time?  In Tagaytay, that would be good food plus a pleasant view.  Good thing, our able tour guide (he goes by the name of Iggy :)) ) knows where to go; and he guided us to Leslie’s.

Leslie’s is one of the famous restaurants in Tagaytay that gives a magnificent view of the Taal Lake and Volcano.  Equally famous restaurants thrive nearby, like RSM, Josephine’s, etc.  But why did we pick Leslie’s?  I actually don’t know.  Our tour guide told us that what he likes best about Leslie’s is their bottomless Bulalo broth.  And hungry as we are and craving for Tagaytay’s famous Bulalo, we decided to abide by his suggestions.

The foods at Leslie’s are quite pricey, but they are satisfying and in my opinion, we got our money’s worth.  Servings are abundant – we ordered a set for five persons but the six of us fought hard to gobble up everything served at the table.  The food tasted as expected from a restaurant like theirs – tasty and satisfying to say the least.  And the bottomless Bulalo broth is not a hoax.  We had our large bowl of Bulalo refilled with broth three times, with us never seeming to be satisfied with every fast sip we take.

Aside from the Bulalo, the set we ordered also had (baked?) Shrimps, Steamed Fish (Maya maya?), BBQ Chicken, Sizzling Sisig and Laing.

Aside from filling our stomachs as much as we can, our eyes were also satisfied with what can be seen at Leslie’s.  The majestic sight of the Taal volcano and Taal Lake at one of their sightseeing cottages is probably the main attraction.  The sight, however, is shared with pretty much all the restaurants in the place overlooking the Taal Volcano.  So what else have they got to get an edge against the competition?  I would have to say their garden.  There is a particular part in their large garden area where we took a lot of pictures.  Why?  Because entering that specific area seems like going into another place.  The flowers and the architecture are simply heavenly.


Foggy Heights Villa – Our Home at Tagaytay

Still sleepy because of our recent bout with the homemade food at Leslie’s, we decided to drop by Foggy Heights Villa next, which would be our safe for our 2D1N Tagaytay adventure.  The twin apartments looked pleasant and the interiors were unexpectedly spacious.  Ours had three big rooms upstairs that has a bed for two persons but can accommodate two more with additional mattresses.  Two toilet and baths (with hot/cold showers) are existent for use, one upstairs and one downstairs.  Downstairs, there’s a living room (where we played Pusoy Dos and watched Wall-E :D), a dining table and a kitchen area (the microwave oven and electric pot, together with the various kitchen utensils are free for use).

Outside, there’s a small swimming pool for whoever wants to swim amid the cool Tagaytay weather. Unexpectedly, my officemates weathered the cold night and plunged into the water.  Ika nga ni Don Edot, parang Ifugao lang yan. Lusong agad para hindi lamigin! :))  It took only a few seconds for him to take back his brave words.

They were not the lone brave men out there, however.  After a few minutes at the pool, our short-time neighbors braved the cold waters as well – some of them bikini clad ladies that made the night quite warmer (hehe).

We spent probably half of our stay in Tagaytay at the villa – staying awake late at night talking about various things like Super Mario Bros. characters, Wall-e-like life/love stories, college adventures, and the bikini clad ladies we were looking at a few minutes back (bwahaha).  Then there’s the weird inuman session, where we had Coke Light and Royal for our drinks and chocolates for our pulutan :p.


Sonya’s Garden – Ocular for an Upcoming Wedding?

After an hour or so of playing cards at our Foggy Heights flat, we were again itching to go somewhere else.  After all, we didn’t go to Tagaytay just to play cards, eat and sleep.  So at around 4 in the afternoon, we were on our feet again (actually, it’s on Iggy’s van again) to go somewhere interesting.  And our tour guide’s suggestion for our next destination—Sonya’s Garden.

Sonya’s Garden is actually already out of Tagaytay City.  The exact address is at Barangay Buck Estate, Alfonso, Cavite.  With the convenience of a car, however, going there from the heart of Tagaytay is a breeze – though our tour guide cum driver may not agree so.

Though we were not able to tour the entire place—there was a wedding being held when we arrived and many parts of the garden were off limits for non-paying visitors—we still had a good look of its garden of various flowers and colors.  My officemates who are familiar with the place, however, claims that the better parts of the garden were those where we were not allowed to go to.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed whatever free sights that the garden has to offer, with DJ probably enjoying more than anyone of us (hehe, you’ve got to be there with us to understand this one).  And we took a lot of pictures, some of which are news headline worthy, like the one posted below. :D

RSM – Last Stop for a More Affordable Bulalo

Sleeping late on a Saturday night can only result to one thing: waking up late on Sunday!  And we did just that.  So came Sunday morning, we didn’t have all the time to go anywhere else in Tagaytay.  But before we droved downhill back to Manila, we decided to have one last taste of Tagaytay’s famous cuisine, but somewhere where the food is more affordable than Leslie’s but equally satisfying.  And that place happened to be RSM.

RSM Lutong Bahay Restaurant is the full name of the place.  Just like Leslie’s, it offers a good view of the Taal Lake and Volcano.  And just like Leslie’s, it had a wonderfully landscaped garden to boast of.  Camera addicts that we are, we took a lot of pictures of ourselves again at RSM’s garden.

But we went at RSM for the food and not the view, and in that aspect, we were neither disappointed.  For our last meal in Tagaytay, we had a couple of pampabata foods (pampabata mamatay :D).  For our main dish, we had Crispy Pata and Sinugba (an assortment of grilled seafood including Tilapia, Tahong, Squid and others).  Then, we also had the Tagaytay restaurant staple—Bulalo with bottomless sabaw!  We had less food on the table compared with our feat at Leslie’s, but we were all satisfied with what we had nevertheless.  In fact, many of us loved the Bulalo broth at RSM better than the one served at Leslie’s.  And of course, the Crispy Pata with all the cholesterol that comes with it was pure delight! Haha.

The End

Well that ends our Tagaytay weekend adventure last November 15 and 16.  Two short days to let stress brought by office activities flow away with the mountain winds.  Two short days to let money flow away with the stress (hehe).  And two short days to actually feel why weekends were provided for office workers—to get away from the busy city life and relax to the fullest.