Right after our pancit batil patong Tagaytay lunch and finishing our business at Tagaytay City Hall, we quickly went back to the Tagaytay Ridge for our much-delayed dessert. It’s actually a bit cold in Tagaytay when we went, but still, we were on the lookout for an ice-cold glass of halo-halo, and not just any halo-halo though, the place has to have a good view of the Taal Volcano. I mean, why eat anywhere else when you’re in Tagaytay?

We were on our annual daytrip to Tagaytay with my parents, and as usual, we were unprepared on where we would eat. I’ve tried bringing them to the Mahogany Market bulaluhan the year before, but they don’t seem to fancy the food being hawked there.

With a couple of hours to spare en route, I Googled for some of the most interesting places to eat in Tagaytay—there are a lot, but I’m particularly looking for a somewhat inexpensive one. What I found was a pancit batil patong place in Tagaytay, with prices that seemed friendly enough.

So, before heading to the Tagaytay City Hall, which is what we really came to the city for, we stopped at MASINGngo Restaurant first for lunch.

►TRAVEL MORE: TAGAYTAY TRAVEL GUIDE

Tagaytay is the nearest and most accessible weekend getaway from Metro Manila. Located in the province of Cavite, a Tagaytay daytrip from Manila is very popular with tourists. And even with its proximity, it hosts a number of scenic spots, delectable food places, and fun activities suited for couples, families, barkada, and even the solitary traveler. It is, arguably, one of the most famous and loved tourist spots in the Philippines. 

The city provides a cool and breezy holiday—the so called Tagaytay weather—to soothe frayed nerves and bestow a renewed sense of vitality to city-worn souls. Much has been written about this place, but for those new to the city, this Tagaytay travel guide (with a sample itinerary and a budget guide) is an invaluable resource for a trip to literally one of the coolest places this side of the Philippines.

An islet within a volcanic lake within a natural lake, all within another island—Luzon Island, that is. It took me a while to figure out what the island within a lake that is on an island within a lake that is on an island phrase that kept coming up whenever Taal Volcano is mentioned, totally forgetting that Luzon is an island too, lol!

VULCAN POINT, AN ISLET IN THE MIDDLE OF TAAL VOLCANO’S CRATER

I visited this conundrum of a volcano a couple of years back, remembering it after a failed hike from our Taal Vista Hotel staycation. Tired from always looking at that volcano in the middle of Taal Lake from the many restaurants lining the Tagaytay ridge, I, together with a few companions decided to finally take that ride down to the town of Talisay and see the volcano up close.

I’ve always thought that the best bulalo in Tagaytay is located at one of the many fancy restaurants fronting the Taal Volcano. Boy, was I ever wrong! I’ve heard about the best bulalo being sold at one of Tagaytay’s many markets, but have no idea where it was. Little did I know that I’ve been passing through it countless of times, it was just at the Mahogany Market all along.

CARINDERIA STALLS AT TAGAYTAY'S MAHOGANY MARKET BULALOHAN

Half a day of walking around the drizzly pathways of Caleruega made some dents on our tummies, immediately turning our mini tour into a Tagaytay food trip. We immediately headed towards the bulalohan area along the Nasugbu Highway to replenish our batteries but were immediately turned off by their prices (PHP380.00 per bowl).

We packed up and boarded another jeepney, this time to Mahogany Market, there’s also a bulalohan strip there that’s much cheaper, although sans the view, my friend says to me.

As if we weren’t gut-bustingly full yet, after another sumptuous dinner at Taal Vista Hotel’s Lobby Lounge, we went out into the chilly Tagaytay evening and off to another food place. We weren’t just going to any old restaurant, we’re going to a full blown food park, the Barracks Food Camp.

FRESH BIBINGKA AT BARRACKS FOOD CAMP, WE CAN’T EAT NO MORE

Alright, we really didn’t go here to eat. Heck, with our shirts bursting from the seams from non-stop eating in Tagaytay—we can’t eat even if you treat us and force it down our throats. What we were here for was to drink. Yes, Taal Vista Hotel has beer, but the ones at The Barracks Food Camp was a third of the price from those at the hotel; an easier, and far cheaper, way to get inebriated.

► CHECK TAAL VISTA’S DISCOUNTED RATES

A spread of eight sumptuous dishes were laid on our table for what was supposed to be a simple brunch. Yes, there were also eight of us—one for each—but the problem was each serving was almost good enough for three persons. We’re stumped on how we’d finish everything! We definitely have one deliciously huge problem on our table.

WEEKEND OF NOTHING BUT FOOD AT TAAL VISTA TAGAYTAY

With traveler friends in tow, we headed off to the highlands for the long weekend. While we have only the vaguest Tagaytay itinerary, what’s clear was that we’re gonna eat. A lot. Billeted on one of the three Lakeside rooms of Taal Vista Hotel, we did nothing that weekend but cram our tummies full—a food binge worthy of the seven deadly sins. And we didn’t even have to go out of the hotel to commit it too.

It was thirty minutes to midnight when we arrived at Taal Vista Hotel’s front porch and there’s a chill in the weather, typical of evenings in Tagaytay. Tired from dodging the weekend traffic and the long drive from Manila, we mightily slumped ourselves on the comfy couches littering the lounge. A singer was crooning out sonnets for long lost loves and a fire was quietly smoldering at the fireplace. Some minutes later, a menagerie of food were slid on our table. Welcome to Tagaytay, it said.

TAAL VISTA TAGAYTAY’S ICONIC FACADE

Taal Vista Hotel is one of the pioneer Tagaytay City accommodations. Its history dates all the way back to the end of the thirties when then President Quezon expressed his desire to develop the area as a tourist destination. Eventually, the same guys that did Manila Hotel constructed a Tudor-inspired lodging on a ridge overlooking Taal Volcano.

Besides beer, coffee is the next best beverage for me. I’m not the grind-your-own brew, nor the sip-your-hundred-peso-fancy-coffee type—I like my 3-in-1’s. Sacrilege it may seem, but yes, I like my instant coffee. Well, okay, sometimes, I do indulge with a Venti of Frappucino at Starbucks, granted that it’s free. I collect Starbucks Icon Mugs and I usually buy them using Starbucks cards, which gets you a free cup of coffee. Cheapskate, I know.

STARBUCKS DOWNHILL TAGAYTAY

During our recent staycation at Crosswinds Tagaytay, it just so happens that I have a couple of cards with free drinks with me. So, on our way home, instead of dropping by the Bulalo Stalls at Mahogany Market like we usually do, we instead went to one of the newer Starbucks Coffee in Tagaytay.

A plethora of colors and textures greeted us as we entered the ornate doors of Café VoiLa. It was lunchtime and we were staying at the Crosswinds Tagaytay. We’re thinking of heading to Tagaytay’s famous bulaluhan but commuting to the city’s food hub seemed too much of a trouble. We were told by the hotel staff that there’s a restaurant serving good South East Asian dishes right by the resort’s gate and it was just a free ride away from our room. No debate needed, we got off our lazy asses and followed the will of our rumbling tummies.

CAFE VOI LA’S COLORFUL INTERIORS

Café Viola reminds me of Hanoi’s Old District in Vietnam. I can’t put my finger on it, but the jumble of vibrant wall colors, eclectic furniture, bare concrete floor with randomly tiled parts, heavy antique cabinets, solemn Buddha figures, and the chandelier’s exploding colors, all seemed to transport me to Vietnam. It wasn’t really Vietnam, but somehow, it was.

THE AL FRESCO BAR AREA

The transformation from Tagaytay to Hanoi, was easy enough though, both having cool pleasant weather. And the moment we opened the menu, the transformation was complete. They have cha gio, my favorite spring rolls from Vietnam, and caphe sua da, Saigon’s ultra strong coffee!

Food prices are a bit on the high side, a single dish averaging at around PHP400.00. Nevertheless, we were assured by their attentive staff that the serving size is sharable up to three persons. I had my doubts until the first of our orders arrived. That’s when we realized we ordered way too much food!

THAI POMELO SALAD ~ PHP395.00

We were five in the group and our table looks straight out of our usual two-month trips around Asia. For starters, Thai Pomelo Salad, quickly followed by Pork Cracklings and Satay Sampler. Then the main dishes, Homemade Chicken Pork Adobo, Café Voi La Chicken Curry, Trio of Spring Rolls, and Café Voi La Pad Thai.

PORK CRACKLINGS ~ PHP595.00

Indeed, the servings were gargantuan. Our table couldn’t fit everything and we had to occupy the one next to ours just so we can eat in comfort!

And then dig in we did.

SATAY SAMPLER ~ PHP595.00

The salad’s huge prawns went perfectly with the juicy pomelo. The pork cracklings, a combination of succulent brick-oven roasted pork belly and crunchy chicharon was overwhelmingly sinful! The pork rind’s vinegar dip was the bomb. The sticks of satay were beautifully presented over a pit of coal, it was as hot as from a hawker’s pit. The turmeric rice that it came with was also superb.

TRIO OF SPRING ROLLS ~ PHP395.00

And then it was time to sample the spring rolls. The serving is a mix of spring rolls from the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, I quickly went for the Vietnamese ones and it was as I remembered it from my trips to Saigon and Hanoi!

HOMEMADE CHICKEN PORK ADOBO ~ PHP425.00

We were almost full as we attacked the main dish. Surprisingly, the star of the show was the adobo. It was just so darn flavorful! The meat, both the chicken and pork, were also very tender—with the vinegar, garlic, black pepper and soy sauce penetrating deep inside every bite.

CAFE VOI LA CHICKEN CURRY ~ PHP495.00

The curry, a slightly spicy affair with falling-off-the-bone-tender chicken, crunchy string beans and fried tofu, was also quite good, making me almost forget my pad thai! Lol. In between bites, a glass of caphe sua da, iced coffee with sweetened milk, cleansed my palate as I switch between Café Voi La’s dishes.

CA PHE SUA DA ~ PHP155.00

And as if we weren’t stuffed full, a plate of Thailand’s Black Sticky Rice with Mango (PHP195.00), Salted Caramel Cheesecake (PHP215.00) and a bowl of Malaysia’s Gula Melaka in Coconut Cream and Palm Sugar (PHP165.00), were plunked down our table.

CAFE VOI LA DESSERTS

While everything’s good, the clear winner for this round is the cheesecake. It. Was. Amazing. Everyone agreed that this is the best cheesecake they’d ever had. And even with our belts unfastened, the whole slice disappeared quickly from our table like nothing happened.

Hanging Out #LakadPilipinas x #Tagaytay

A post shared by Christian L. Sangoyo (@lakadpilipinas) on Mar 29, 2017 at 8:14pm PDT

Café VoiLa was definitely a surprise. I wasn’t aware that Tagaytay holds a very authentic Asian restaurant within its fringes. It may be way out from the Magallanes area, where most of the popular restaurants are in Tagaytay, but this is definitely worth the visit especially if you want to reminisce your past travels and unique cuisines you’ve once eaten on smoky hawker stalls on alleys and crazy streets around South East Asia.

Cafe Voi La Tagaytay
Address: Tagaytay-Calamba Road, Magallanes,
              Maharlika East, Tagaytay City, Cavite
Contact Number: (0905) 331-4457
Email: cafevoilacrosswinds@gmail.com
Open Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 8:00AM to 9:00PM
Menu | Facebook | Instagram
GPS Coordinates Map: 14.136373, 121.010840
►► SEARCH FOR DISCOUNTED HOTELS IN TAGAYTAY

Finding a good cheap place to drink in Tagaytay has always been a problem for us. Not that the city is lacking in bars, but beer prices are simply too expensive for our usually meager budget. Having a bottle or two on those kinds of places wouldn’t be a problem, but we drink in buckets. With stress on the s.

And so it was, after our very satisfying lugaw dinner at Merienda ni Nanay, we proceeded to the restaurant strips lining Tagaytay’s Magallanes ridge. We went to the second floor veranda of the original Starbucks Tagaytay for a quick cup of coffee, always a nice chill place to hang out, before hunting for cheap beer.

We tried the nearby bars overlooking Taal Lake and its diminutive volcano, but the prices, as we expected, were just too high. Almost losing hope and thinking of settling at the Baguio-ish Mile Hi Diner—our usual watering hole in Tagaytay, which has no view of the lake—we took a chance at Jaytee’s Filipino Cuisine.

We were so hungry we were ready to eat our camera straps. It was several hours back in Manila when we’ve had our last meal. We rode the three-hour bus trip to Tagaytay, checked in at Crosswinds Tagaytay, and did some photo ops. It was fully dark when we alighted from a jeep at the Magallanes Square, the happening area in the city, for some grub.

It’s unbelievable that even with our level of hunger, we were still picky on where to eat. Our criteria? The budget. We’re set on having plates of longsilog and tapsilog paired with a serving of Tagaytay bulalo at Ahy Foodhouse, my favorite cheap tapsihan in the city. We were devastated to find an empty spot instead of a carinderia, the guard at the 7-Eleven told us that it has since moved to another place.

The afternoon was at its most beautiful when we finally decided to go out of our room. With golden rays slanting heavily on the pines surrounding Crosswinds Tagaytay, we were almost tempted to walk the three-kilometer winding road all the way to the main highway where we can hail a jeepney to the city’s downtown area. The light became more radiant as the resort shuttle dropped us off at the café with a faux windmill, and like crazy kids, we quickly ran down the road. We were hoping to catch the resort’s iconic Hollywood-esque sign bathed in golden light which could only be seen right on Tagaytay’s main road.

GOLDEN AFTERNOON IN TAGAYTAY

It’s been quite a while since we last visited Tagaytay, and with our two-month Same Same Summer Trip looming ahead, we thought of having a quick staycation south of Manila. The thought of sipping a hot bowl of bulalo and a few bottles of beer overlooking the Taal Volcano made us pack our bags for the weekend.

The sun had escaped down the horizon as we boarded a jeepney bound for Picnic Grove Tagaytay. We snuggled tightly as it sped past the city rotunda, the chilly evening air wafting through the open windows, and zipped through the dark highway. We were off to our gang’s Christmas party of sorts. We were headed to Estancia Tagaytay.

WHITE AND BLUES AT THE RESORT’S LOBBY

Located on the scenic Tagaytay ridge, the hotel follows the slope of the land. From the receiving area, we took an elevator, one level down, to Estancia’s main lobby. The Mediterranean theme is immediately evident, white walls and columns with subtle blue highlights (quite reminiscent of our Thunderbird La Union stay).

We then went further down through a maze of hallways, through a garden path, past a lighted swimming pool, and onto a golf cart that slowly putt-putted to our homes for the night.

► CHECK OUT: TAGAYTAY TRAVEL GUIDE

Laughter and stories were being swapped around a table with bottles of Red Horse and San Miguel beers. The air was cool, and from our vantage, I can see the famed Taal Volcano. We were in Tagaytay City, one of the most accessible tourist spots from Manila (see Tagaytay Travel Guide). But wait, we weren’t really here to have endless cheers over beer bottles or swap blogging rumors, but rather we were brought here to review the newest budget lodging in town—Our Melting Pot Hostel Tagaytay.

I’ve been to Tagaytay City innumerable times, and one thing I really don’t like about it is the price of lodgings whenever I want to do an overnighter. It is expensive to stay in the city. Usually, rates start at around a thousand pesos, well, with the exception of Tagaytay Backpacker’s Inn, but it isn’t really within the city limits. So, when I heard that there’s a new lodging in town, a hostel at that, I quickly grabbed the chance to be part of the group to review the place.

Every traveler worth his salt has probably watched an episode of the popular reality TV show The Amazing Race even once. I was addicted to that show even before the travel bug hit me and it always crosses my mind how it would be like to actually participate in it.

GOOGE CAFE, A TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE GAME IN MANILA

A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail inviting me to be part of something very similar to the Amazing Race. Google Philippines set off a travel and adventure event titled Google Café. It would have teams competing on race from Manila to Tagaytay with no one guiding the competitors along except cryptic clues and cellphones glued to Google.

►CHECK OUT: TAGAYTAY TRAVEL GUIDE

Tagaytay City is one of Metro Manila’s favorites when it comes to weekend getaways. It’s affordable enough for day tours, but when you want to extend your vacation for a day or two more, it suddenly gets expensive as there’s not that much decent but cheap accommodations in the area.

A year ago, a lodging catering to the backpacking crowd sprouted up at Tagaytay City’s outskirts, the D-Zone Backpacker’s Inn. While not really located in Tagaytay City but in Silang, Cavite; it’s still just a few minutes away from the Tagaytay Ridge by jeep that you can consider it to be a Tagaytay accomodation by virtue of its location.

I remember the first time I set foot in Tagaytay City with a couple of office friends; they showed me around the area, tried out leaf dishes at Sonya’s Garden and walked around Caleruega’s sprawling gardens. Then one of them mentioned a palace in the sky. My curiosity got piqued; a palace in the sky? Really?

Images of Hayao Mizaki’s anime classic, Laputa flashed before my eyes. Is there really such a place in Tagaytay City? I asked my friend. She quickly backed up, saying it was more a park really than a castle. Dubbed as People’s Park in the Sky, it is located at Mount Sungay, the city’s highest point.

Tagaytay old-timers would probably not forget that unassuming cafeteria off the side of the Tagaytay-Nasugbu Highway that sells the quirkiest kind of burger. Instead of the usual beef patties, this burger joint uses a healthier option for their sandwiches, mushrooms. For more than thirty years now, the legendary Mushroomburger has been serving the locals these earthy buns and I queued up just to check what the fuss was about.

Caleruega has always been a favorite haunt whenever I climb up to Tagaytay City. It’s the perfect place to forget the bustle of daily life and embrace nature’s silent whispers. It’s a hilly retreat where one can simply sit still, look at the far off landscapes of Nasugbu and trace the rugged outlines of Mount Batulao.

► CHECK OUT: TAGAYTAY TRAVEL GUIDE

I can’t count how many times I’ve visited this place; with friends, families, and old flames. Caleruega’s many stone hallways are probably familiar with my steps now, the rough adobe walls silently saying their welcome backs as I retrace my steps along its smooth brown-tiled floors.