Where We Ate in Baler

Food and travel go together well. As in, think of the late Anthony Bourdain. Not sure if he really was but I think he pioneered the will-travel-for-food-and-nothing-else attitude. I mean, please show me videos of him bungee jumping and rappelling. I might just have missed it. But him traveling to a place just to eat? He has lots of those! In fact, he made Jollibee famous in the side of his world. He may have sadly cut his life short for whatever reason he had but he surely touched a lot of lives through his love for food. Sigh. Anyway, this isn't about him naman. Cheer up na tayo. This post took more than a month to be posted 'cause I still can't find the right words to describe our foodie experience in Baler! The town doesn't really have specific delicacies aside from Nanay Pacing's Homemade Peanut Butter but we're so glad they have awesome restaurants that cater to their hungry tourists well.

We arrived in Baler a little before lunch time so after we toured a bit (saving that kwento for another post), we headed to Bayler Restaurant.

R's Birthday Lunch at Sambo Kojin Eastwood

If there's one thing that can make my husband R forgive me should I made him mad, it has to be my laing or some fresh,  raw and expensive fish. With my homecooking, I guess you already know that by now especially if you are one of my longtime readers but with fish – well, yes, he has deep appreciation for sashimi. It's safe to say that it is his ultimate favorite food! So for his birthday last month, we went to where he can eat a lot of it without spending a lot.

The sashimi monster was overjoyed, apparently.

I asked on my Facebook page and IG stories for suggestions and recommendations on where to go. There were a lot who suggested Sambo Kojin because of food variety and having the birthday boy eat for free. Well, after some research (aka checking its rating in Zomato and reading other people's experiences), we went to Sambo Kojin in Eastwood City a day before his actual birthday.

Nicandro

Living near the foodie capital of this city surely has perks. It was one tiring day after our weekend errand for Bebeng's Kitchen when we had dinner at Nicandro Lutong Bahay in Lilac Street. There are many restaurants in the area that we still have to try but it was one of those days that we were craving for, well, lutong bahay.

Then I remembered that I saw my cousin's post on Facebook that they ate there. I asked him if food's good and he said the kare-kare is a must-try.

Galaxy Freeze

After we had our savory hotdog sandwiches for Sophia's 7th birthday dinner at Mad Mustard, we craved for something cold and sweet so we looked for ice cream parlors within the city but found none. There was one outside Marikina, though and glad it was still open when we arrived. Galaxy Freeze is located in front of SM Masinag so it's practically near our home. I personally like how the store looks. It's very Shaider! You know, that moment when he's with Annie and will say, "time space warp ngayon din!" LOL. The name of their ice cream variants sound cool (pun intended), too! Say - you want some Inertia Treats or Jupiter Rises?

Mad Mustard

It was my girl's exact 7th birthday when we chose Mad Mustard to be her simple birthday dinner venue. She had a McDonald's party with our family and some friends the weekend before so we opted for something more casual; not that McDonald's is grand. Well, hotdog's one of the birthday girl's favorites, too so we're glad we found a cool hotdog joint nearby!

Birthday Breakfast at Rowena's

For R's 30th birthday last month, we went out of town. It was a fun-filled day for this military family of three! Off we went to Enchanted Kingdom in Sta. Rosa, Laguna and enjoyed the perks EK gave the Armed Forces of the Philippines, dubbed as Enchanting Kawal (yup, kwento and photos on a separate post).

Since we planned to maximize the day, we left the house early in the morning and had breakfast in Tagaytay, 'cause EK opens at 12 noon. It was our first time to go to Tagaytay as a family so R and I really wanted to give our little girl a memorable experience. Okay, not really. We just wanted to eat right away. Our little boss gets grumpy as hell when starved. Who won't? In fact, Miss Minchin clouded my entirety for 10 good minutes. Anyway, failed to go to an underground (aka, not Josephine's, not Bag of Beans, not Sonya's Garden) café and restaurant, we opted for a sikat and known and empty (at that time) resto and pasalubong house — Rowena's!

Moving-Up Dinner at Casa Feliz

For my little lady's Moving-Up dinner last Saturday, we went to Casa Feliz, which was right beside SKOW. I have this sort of pledge or pact or whatever self-promise that R and I will do our best to dine or visit all the neighboring restaurants in Marikina. Ironically, we got lost again. Thank God for Google maps!

Dinner at Some Kind Of Wonderful (SKOW)

R came home last Tuesday for their promotion thingamajigs. Yup, my young dashing lieutenant will soon be a mighty captain, by God's grace. I know he can pass their physical fitness test required for getting promoted. Only, with lots of sweat! Hehe. See, he's not the sporty type. And getting fit is such a big deal already. He lost a lot of weight since I last saw him. He told me he's on a strict diet - a diet he made for himself: no breakfast, heavy lunch, no merienda and light dinner. Well, he knows his body well so I guess it's working for him. He avoids pork and greasy dishes, too. It's sort of a tough task for me as I love meat and anything fried. Last Thursday night, I was not feeling that great and LB has colds. He decided to dine out. We both agreed to look for somewhere within Marikina. We already tried Cafe Lidia for my birthday dinner last year; so we chose the next resto I know - Some Kind Of Wonderful or better known as SKOW.

My soldier sure knows how to read maps and can actually spend more than a month in the mountain; but we surprisingly got lost looking for this place. Like what he said, "wala naman kasing sinasabing one-way sa mapa". Haha! That is, Google Maps. For me, we had a hard time looking for SKOW because 1) madilim na 2) one-way ang daan papunta dun so we have to make ikot pa, nakakalito swear 3) wala ng MAPA --- mapagtatanungan. I guess it has been a lot easier if we commuted. 'Cause according to our fellow netizens: sakay jeep to SSS Village then ask manong driver na ibaba ka near St. Paul Parish Church, which is katapat lang ng SKOW. But if you're on a private vehicle like us, make sure na if you'll be looking for it eh hindi kayo ganun kagutom. 

Breakfast at Vizco's

I haven't done a restaurant review since I started blogging because I felt that it'll be something forced if I would do one after visiting a new place. But this time, I am so into raving about Vizco's! I just thought it would be best to do it now as to have something new for 2013. When we went to Baguio City on January 2nd to make R's holiday break more special, we didn't go to places we are used to dining in here in Manila. My husband, despite being a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy has not actually explored the city that he failed to suggest a good place for good food. Good thing that I have a friend who resides there - she served as our human restaurant-finder.

My friend, D and her boyfriend met us for dinner. We ate at Solibao because I told her I want something where families dine, since we were with Sophia, but affordable at the same time. Oh yeah, the price was right! But the food was just so-so. Though I loved their Sinigang na Baka (okay, I'm drooling now), everything else was so ordinary. R ordered Blueberry Cheesecake for dessert and he was so disappointed. So D recommended Vizco's!

That's where we went for breakfast the morning after. We thought we'll have cakes at 8 in the morning eh. But they have a wide array of delectable breakfast dishes to choose from naman pala. 

I ordered Spanish Omelette, which was so creamy on the inside. The Garlic Rice that came along with it has the perfect texture - I love my rice "buhaghag". 

R ordered Baked Rice, which he can't finish because he wanted to leave space for his Red Velvet Cake. The Baked Rice has this sinful mozzarella cheese on top that made my cheese-monster of a husband super dee-duper happy!

Sophia has inherited my penchant for anything pink so she chose Vizco's best seller on the menu - Strawberry Shortcake! Baguio is known to have the best strawberries in the country. So having the freshest strawberries on top of the cake was heaven. And it's only Php80 per slice! The cake itself is not dry and the filling has strawberry bits in it. Howmaygad. I already miss it. I just didn't eat that much from the slice since I saw how R liked it. 

I didn't order Belgian Waffles for the girl anymore because I thought she's going to finish the whole slice but it was her pop who made the crime scene as shown in the photo above. He obviously loved it.

Yup, he didn't eat the Red Velvet Cake that he ordered. He said it just tasted like those old breads sold in some community bakery elsewhere. So I ate it. I can't tell if it really has to taste like that. It was my first Red Velvet Cake. And I didn't become a fan. I know a few netizens who go gaga over it that it even went trending at some point. Not me, though. So can somebody change my mind about it? Where could I find an orgasmic red velvet cake?

I like the friendly and fresh ambiance of the restaurant. What I didn't like though was their house music. It was too dance-y for the place. I was expecting more like a Sitti Navarro, Lenka, James Morrison, Colbie Caillat or something chill and soothing. The current music played while we were eating was so Jolibee-ish. But it didn't ruin our stay there. It was just a very small fraction of negativity as compared to how we really enjoyed the food and Vizco's per se. 

I just forgot to take a photo of that one pretty server, who has a Barbie-like feature. Yeah, I'm the one who noticed her. Or was he my husband just good in hiding it from me? Charot. So I took pictures of the breads and cakes that the magical hands of the pastry chef behind Vizco's has made instead. Drool. Cry. And travel to Baguio now! 

R and I looked for its fan page in Facebook while we were still satiating the best Strawberry Shortcake we have ever tasted. You can find them HERE. You will most probably forget other versions once you tried this one from Vizco's. And we will definitely go back should we visit the summer capital of the Philippines again. ♥

VIZCO'S RESTAURANT AND CAKE SHOP
8GF Puso ng Baguio Building 
Session Road, 2600 Baguio City, Philippines
(074) 446-7092
+63917-570962
vizcos_resto@yahoo.com