jamiesque

Hello again!

For today’s post, I’m going to be talking about a popular tourist city, Tagaytay. I’ve already been here once before, so today was mainly eating, but Tagaytay is so much more than just food.

Tagaytay is home to the world’s smallest above ground active volcano. It is the second most active volcano in the Philippines, and I’ve only ever gotten to see it with clouds blocking most of the view! However, besides the activity of the volcano, my favorite thin about it is islandception. The Philippines is an archipelago, a chain of several hundred islands. The island where Manila and Tagaytay are located on is Luzon. Within Luzon there is a lake that holds a mountain. Within that mountain is another lake. Inside is the Taal Volcano. Pretty cool isn’t it? It’s islands within islands within islands! If you don’t believe me, feel free to check out this google map and zoom out. The best way to get a view of this beautiful volcano (or at least, the island surrounding it) is to eat at a restaurant overlooking the lake. We did that five years ago and this year as well!

This time we ate at the incredible, Breakfast at Antonio’s. Sorry all you Hepburn fans, it wasn’t Tiffany’s.   Not only was it delicious, but it had an incredible view of the Taal. All customers are welcome to walk to the back of the restaurant to view the volcano from their deck or from the ground. If you’re lucky you could even get a seat at the window facing the volcano!

I ordered a Granny Smith Apple slush. It tasted like an apple that they just ran through a blender a few times. Not too sweet, and very apple-y. However, I was hoping it’d be a little bit more artificial because I’m allergic to apples!  It’s okay though, an itchy tongue never killed anyone and it just proves how fresh their ingredients are! My niece ordered the cream of mushroom soup, and when she couldn’t finish it anymore, I gladly took it off her hands. It was so delicious mmmm. My order was the bruschetta BLT. It was on Italian bread, but it wasn’t really bruschetta. The egg in the center with the bacon and lettuce was delicious none the less. It even came with fries. I highly recommend eating it with the curry ketchup!

My family is a firm believer of having dessert and coffee after a meal, so we went straight to Bag of Beans after our brunch. There’s two of them, but this one was the one closest to Breakfast at Antonio’s and it’s a little bit hidden. Once you go downhill, past a couple of houses, you get to the cafe and bed and breakfast. While it didn’t have a view of the volcano, it was still incredibly stunning. Walking down the small trail to take in the view was a bit scary though; the ants were huge! Thankfully they weren’t near the area for eating. I ordered the iced white cafe mocha and we all split a banana split (split^2!). The vanilla ice cream was so good! I was creamy and sweet and reminded me a bit of Cornell Dairy Ice Cream and its perfection. The bananas were also great. Bananas in the Philippines are different from the bananas sold in the States, so if you’re visiting you have to take some time to try them. They’re 10x better!

Besides all this food, you can do a bit of local shopping in Tagaytay too. Fresh fruits, especially pineapples, are sold in huge amounts, and if you’re looking for plants to liven up a room, there are several flower stands with cute starter hydrangea bushes and large bright sunflowers. And once you’ve picked up flowers for your living room and fruit for your kitchen, you can buy furniture for the rest of your house! Tagaytay has an abundance of work working talent, and you can buy anything from a beautifully carved wooden door to hand crafted chairs to gazebos to clay pots and vases. If you’re looking for something unique for your house or apartment, you should definitely check out Tagaytay!

I’m wishing you guys all the best in this hot hot weather, or cold weather for my followers down south! What do you think you’d go for Tagaytay for? The food? The views? Plants? Fruit? Or furniture! I’d love to hear about it in the comments and hopefully I’ll be able to reply with some recommendations!

Love,
Jamu