This year is probably the busiest so far, for both my work and our tiny family. And just before it gets even busier come Christmas season, our little family was gifted with two overnight stays at Baguio Country Club. It's a perfect break after all the crayyy and definitely an awesome down time before another wave of busy that is coming before the year ends.
Since it's been raining cats and dogs lately, going to Baguio - the summer capital of the Philippines, might seem like a crazy idea. A lot of the touristy activities here are mostly outdoors which are best enjoyed when it's bright and sunny. Thinking about it, not a lot of things we can do really.
Sounding like a boring trip already? Nope. While the things to do were very limited in the rainy season, Baguio offers a lot of nice places to eat that are equally worth your time.
This is a lengthy and photo-heavy post so I hope you'll enjoy reading. Here are some of the places we visited and the yummy eats we had from this trip!
We arrived in Baguio around lunch time. After checking in at BCC and a little bit of rest, we went out to find a nice place to have our welcome lunch.
Hill Station is located at the ground floor of Casa Vallejo which you can easily spot along Luneta Hill, Upper Session Road. I loved how the old century building was restored to house this beautiful dining hall. A narrow dining area at the entrance leads to this spacious dining hall that features a high ceiling and these wide windows that allow natural light and fresh air come in. We loved how, if not all, most of the establishments in Baguio utilize its natural cool weather.
We started with these grainy complimentary bread accompanied with the usual olive oil but definitely not your usual Egyptian Dukka dip with various flavors of seeds, nuts and spices. We also ordered their Beef Salpicao, but totally forgot to take a photo. The salpicao didn't really set the tone of our meal too well because it was very ordinary, and the serving was really small.
Caesar Carpaccio. Now this is definitely an appetizer. The fresh greens, which is one of the things to take advantage of when in Baguio, together with the cold smoked beef carpaccio set our taste buds high and excited for our next meals. Definitely a great comeback from the salpicao.
Moroccan Spiced Baby Back Ribs. True to its name, the flavors and spices in this dish are very rich. Not to mention the tender and moist meat that falls off from the bones.
Lechon Kawali with Laing sa Gata. Might look like your ordinary combo, but this dish is definitely a whole lot more. The Laing is so rich and creamy with a spicy hint. The winner of this dish is the Lechon Kawali with the meat so tender and the skin so light, like a chicharon.
Except for the Salpicao, the servings at Hill Station were good. Might be a little too much because we didn't have room left for dessert. But all in all, definitely the best dishes we had from our trip.
MT. CLOUD BOOKSHOP
Just right beside Hill Station is a quaint little place called Mt. Cloud Bookshop. The small space of this local bookstore is filled with books that are mostly Filipiniana, for both adults and kids.
TSOKOLATERIA
Still full from our late lunch earlier, we decided to just get some dessert to cap off our first day. And what better way to enjoy a rainy night in Baguio than a cup of hot chocolate drink. We ended up at Tsokolateria which we have spotted when we left Hill Station.
The small open space allowed us to enjoy Baguio’s night time breeze, even with a little bit of rain. Our little fambam enjoyed our warm cups of hot chocolate, churros and some bibingka. Perfect way to end our day.
BENCAB MUSEUM
What we have planned for our second day is a visit at the museum. Bencab is one of the must-see places in Baguio. While we have not been to a lot of museums in our country, Bencab is an interesting place to visit because aside from housing the art collection of a National Artist, Ben Cabrera, the four-level building also showcases the Cordillera culture.
The museum also features an outdoor garden with the forest as its backdrop.
You will also find Café Sabel at Bencab. The Café is small but definitely interesting with a lot of colors popping from its furniture and some wall pieces. If only we didn’t have a nice buffet breakfast from BCC, we would’ve explored the menu of Café Sabel more. Instead, we just sat down with another cup of hot chocolate while enjoying the view of the clouds and the forest.
SOLIBAO
Dinner for Day 2 was at Solibao, one of the most famous Filipino restaurants in Baguio. After stuffing ourselves with all those nice dishes earlier, Mr. T wanted to go back to basics and craved for some home-cooked meals. And that’s exactly what we had at Solibao. Home-grown and straight-forward Filipino dishes with an ambience to boot.
Ensaladang Mangga. Winner of this dish is the bagoong. It perfectly binds the green mangoes, tomatoes and itlog ng maalat.
Lechon Kawali with Kangkong. Second Lechon Kawali from this trip and still did not disappoint.
Solibao Buttered Chicken. For the little tot, we specially ordered this one since she’s been very good at keeping up with our gastronomic adventures. This dish is not the usual buttered chicken because it’s coated with a tomato-based sauce and sprinkled with some sesame seeds. I was a bit of surprised and got a little worried because Ava wants her fried chicken balat crispy and crunchy. But surprisingly, we all loved this!
If ever you missed and craved some comfort Filipino dishes somewhere along your trip in Baguio, Solibao is definitely your go-to place.
CAFÉ BY THE RUINS
One of the highlights from our trip was our quick dessert stop at Café by the Ruins. We ordered Leche Flan, Chocolate Lava and their Coconut ice cream specialty. All were so sooo good I wish they also offer the same desserts in Manila. And we'd love to come back so we could try their food to. But for now, these pictures.
VIZCO’S
The last for our food adventure was a pahabol recommendation, Vizco’s. Since we wanted to have another round of dessert before heading back to Manila, we decided to drop by their branch at Camp John Hay Technohub. The cakes were good, especially the Chocolate Decadent. I wish we could’ve known about it earlier, too bad it will take another visit to Baguio for us to try their other cakes.
BAGUIO COUNTRY CLUB
Ending our travel story with our wonderful stay at Baguio Country Club. We decided to make this trip a more relaxed one. We spent half of our day time inside our hotel room. Napping, watching TV, basically just lazying around. And we loved it!
In case you haven’t noticed, our little family loves to eat. And BCC has one of the best buffet breakfasts we’ve had. What we loved more about their breakfast was that the menu changes everyday. So more for us!
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take photos of their spread because we were so busy eating. But the buffet offerings ranged from a wide variety of breads and pastries, fresh fruits, salads, Filipino breakfast staples and more.
Of course we did not leave BCC without trying and taking home their famous Raisin Bread! What made our stay more awesome were the staff and crew of the hotel. Maybe it’s the weather but every single staff we encountered or just simply came across the hotel were so warm and accommodating.
My little family is just so grateful to our Ninong and Ninang :) for giving us this gift. Truly, one for keeps. :)
Dinner for Day 2 was at Solibao, one of the most famous Filipino restaurants in Baguio. After stuffing ourselves with all those nice dishes earlier, Mr. T wanted to go back to basics and craved for some home-cooked meals. And that’s exactly what we had at Solibao. Home-grown and straight-forward Filipino dishes with an ambience to boot.
Ensaladang Mangga. Winner of this dish is the bagoong. It perfectly binds the green mangoes, tomatoes and itlog ng maalat.
Solibao Buttered Chicken. For the little tot, we specially ordered this one since she’s been very good at keeping up with our gastronomic adventures. This dish is not the usual buttered chicken because it’s coated with a tomato-based sauce and sprinkled with some sesame seeds. I was a bit of surprised and got a little worried because Ava wants her fried chicken balat crispy and crunchy. But surprisingly, we all loved this!
If ever you missed and craved some comfort Filipino dishes somewhere along your trip in Baguio, Solibao is definitely your go-to place.
CAFÉ BY THE RUINS
One of the highlights from our trip was our quick dessert stop at Café by the Ruins. We ordered Leche Flan, Chocolate Lava and their Coconut ice cream specialty. All were so sooo good I wish they also offer the same desserts in Manila. And we'd love to come back so we could try their food to. But for now, these pictures.
VIZCO’S
The last for our food adventure was a pahabol recommendation, Vizco’s. Since we wanted to have another round of dessert before heading back to Manila, we decided to drop by their branch at Camp John Hay Technohub. The cakes were good, especially the Chocolate Decadent. I wish we could’ve known about it earlier, too bad it will take another visit to Baguio for us to try their other cakes.
Ending our travel story with our wonderful stay at Baguio Country Club. We decided to make this trip a more relaxed one. We spent half of our day time inside our hotel room. Napping, watching TV, basically just lazying around. And we loved it!
In case you haven’t noticed, our little family loves to eat. And BCC has one of the best buffet breakfasts we’ve had. What we loved more about their breakfast was that the menu changes everyday. So more for us!
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| Day 1 Breakfast Plate Number ### |
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| Day 2 Breakfast Plate Number ### |
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take photos of their spread because we were so busy eating. But the buffet offerings ranged from a wide variety of breads and pastries, fresh fruits, salads, Filipino breakfast staples and more.
Of course we did not leave BCC without trying and taking home their famous Raisin Bread! What made our stay more awesome were the staff and crew of the hotel. Maybe it’s the weather but every single staff we encountered or just simply came across the hotel were so warm and accommodating.
My little family is just so grateful to our Ninong and Ninang :) for giving us this gift. Truly, one for keeps. :)
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