A Special Moment at Sonyas Garden

Many of you correctly inferred in a previous post that me and my beloved took our relationship to a higher level. That special moment in our lives happened in a restaurant that is popular for its romantic ambiance. That place is Sonya's Garden.

People mistakenly thought that Sonyas Garden is located in Tagaytay City. The truth is that Sonya's Garden is located in Alfonso, which is about 45-minutes’ jeepney ride from Tagaytay. The garden can be reached by riding a Nasugbu-bound jeepney at Olivarez, Tagaytay. Tell the driver that you will embark at Buck Estate or Sonyas Garden. You must look at the left side of the street so that you will not miss the big signboard of Sonya's Garden. Ride a tricycle at a terminal near the signboard to finally reach Sonyas Garden.

Sonya's Garden looks like a private mansion. The reason for this is that Sonya initially intended it as her private getaway. The place was open to family members and friends only. Many people discovered the beauty of this getaway and soon the owner was convinced to open the place to the public.

There was a sort of comedy when we entered Sonya’s Garden. We entered the area where only the Bed and Breakfast (B&B) guests are only allowed. Sonya’s servants chased and directed us to their restaurant.

The area open to non-B&B guests are limited to the parking lot, the restaurant and a short walkway leading to Sonya’s spa center. The walkway is interesting because it is lined up with numerous flowering plants, benches and the “outdoor” bed that has been the icon of Sonyas Garden.

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This photo of Sonya's Garden B&B is courtesy of TripAdvisor.

Of course, we didn’t miss taking photos on that bed.  Sonya’s Garden also has a panaderia (bakery) where freshly baked bread are being sold. We entered the restaurant to do what we went to do, which is to eat a sumptuous lunch.

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Sonya's greenhouse styled restaurant

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The other end of the restaurant where the toilets are located.

Sonya’s Garden offers a three-course meal of salad with freshly-baked bread, pasta and dessert. The food is unlimited so guests can ask for more food ala Mang Inasal. Bottomless dalandan juice is included. Dining at Sonya’s costs 610 pesos per person.  The first food that was brought to our table is the salad.

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Green, leafy and freshly picked from the garden.

The salad tastes good, especially Sonya’s Secret Dressing. Our salad was accompanied with sliced mangoes, egg, cucumber and pineapple. What we didn’t like with our salad is the purple oxalis, which tastes bitter. Our salad was also accompanied by a piece of bread straight from the panaderia.

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What came next is pasta. This can be mixed either with sun-dried tomato or chicken cream with mango. The toppings are shitake mushrooms, black olives, salmon belly and cheese.

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My dalandan juice, sun-dried tomato sauce and salmon belly.

My sauce of choice is the chicken cream, while my beloved chose the sun-dried tomato sauce. I tasted both the sauces and I like the pasta with sun-dried tomato sauce better.

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Pasta with chicken cream sauce on my plate.

The last course is dessert. They served a slice of home-made chocolate cake, turon (banana roll) with sesame seeds and langka (jackfruit) and glazed camote (sweet potato). The turon and glazed camote were fine but my favorite is the chocolate cake. They also served tarragon tea, which the waitress said is good for digestion.

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Yummy chocolate cake.

All in all, we enjoyed dining at Sonya’s restaurant. We took our time eating and chatting and we don’t feel being rushed by the staff. I guess it took us more than an hour eating and talking about a lot of things. We felt a bit out of place at the start but that was because we don’t usually eat at a formal restaurant. The ambiance of the place, the good food, and courteous staff made us more relaxed and allowed us to focus on our food, and of course, on the special moment that unfolded for both of us.

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Boiled Beef Meat is Not Bulalo

I have different expectations when I go to a restaurant. The more expensive the restaurant, the more I expect to taste delicious food. I will not complain to eat a so-so meal if I'm at a turo-turo (economy class restaurant). Expect me to grumble if I'm at a relatively expensive restaurant eating a so-so meal. So, here I am to grumble.

We had our first family outing at Tagaytay City. Lunch time came while we are strolling at Olivarez so we searched the area for a place to eat. Olivarez serves as the junction of roads that from Nasugbu, Dasmarinas City, Talisay and People's Park Tagaytay. Located at Olivarez are the usual restaurants like Mang Inasal and Jollibee. We were looking for a restaurant that could not be found in Metro Manila. What we found is Eli's Barbecue.
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Eli's Barbecue is popular, according to the cashier/waitress, for its barbecue. The waitress said that Eli's Barbecue uses real Angus Beef. There are no other customer at Eli's Barbecue during that day. The cashier/waitress said they had been busy during that week because they had busloads of customers that are in Tagaytay for a gathering of sorts.

We are very hungry so we ordered Eli's unlimited meal that costs around 2,000+ pesos. This meal doesn't only have unlimited rice but also unlimited viand. The only thing that is not unlimited is the drinks, which I think is a sly way getting even with a glutton customer. Cooking Eli's unlimited meal takes time so we just enjoyed the view of Taal Lake.

What I like with Eli's Barbecue is its rooftop that gave us a good view of Taal Lake. The cashier/waitress allowed us to climb to the rooftop to take photos of the world-famous lake and its volcano.
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Eli's unlimited meal is composed of Java rice, barbecue, pork ribs, pancit canton, and fried chicken. A cup of macaroni salad served as our dessert. Our sabaw (soup) is bulalo.
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The food on our table are mostly OK. We noticed that the barbecue and pork ribs were rushed. Some parts of the fried chicken is not well-cooked. I have no complaint with pancit canton and I think that it is the best of the food on our table. What got the ire of the family is the “bulalo”.
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This is Eli's "bulalo".

The real bulalo is stewed bone marrow with vegetables. What we got is just boiled beef meat without the bones. The meat is stone hard and the flavoring used is Magic Sarap. In short, even their boiled beef meat is not good.

All in all our lunch at Eli's Barbecue is not satisfying. The food is rushed and the lowdown is the bulalo. The cashier/waitress asked us to eat again at their restaurant when we return to Tagaytay City. I think that we will not grant her wish.

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