DAY 1 – The Other Bloggers Food Crawl: Your Itinerary for a Day of Bonding Over Great Food in Baguio

In this post, we’re going to pair up some of our favorite local places for your complete outing with friends: a big lunch or dinner followed by some chill time over desserts and coffee.

For a no-frills, al fresco dining experience, check out Tangay-Tangay on Green Water Road behind Nevada Square.  The place is a branch of its sister restaurant in Pozorrubio, Pangasinan.  They serve a wide variety of savory foods from Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Our absolute must-try recommendation is the lechon kawali.  You really can’t go wrong with lechon kawali, but Tangay-Tangay’s offers not just great flavor but also a fabulous crispy texture. Tangay-Tangay also has a good selection of dishes for people who love spicy food like bibimbap and laksa.

After you’ve had your fill at Tangay-Tangay, head over to Sessions Gallery Café on upper Session Road to kick back, eat dessert, and enjoy some artwork by local artists.  Sessions Gallery Café is an Igorot-owned establishment whose walls are lined with pieces by visual artists from the Cordillera.  If you’re from the highlands – or if you love the highlands – you’ll see some familiar scenes and faces on exhibit.

We love Session Gallery Café’s blueberry shake.  It’s smooth, sweet, and refreshing.  You might not necessarily order it alongside a meal as it’s deceptively heavy, but it’s perfect for a cold dessert.  They also serve chocolate Sans rival with a thick, creamy chocolate top layer and a lot of nuts.

If you’d like to have a night out in a more formal but still very homey setting, head over to The Kitchen on Upper General Luna Road.  The Kitchen belongs to the subset of family-owner Baguio restaurants that set up shop in a house, renovated the kitchen, and opened their doors to the public.  They are called “The Kitchen” simply because the owners love the idea of bonding with family and creating long-lasting memories with food – and food comes from the kitchen.

If you’re bored of pork and beef dishes, The Kitchen has you covered.  Among their specialties are goat pigar-pigar and pan-seared duck breast with a choice of tea gravy or chili garlic sauce.  Some guests like to combine the two.  We had the privilege of tasting their lamb steak, which they will soon add to their regular menu.  The Kitchen serves flavorful, aromatic dishes, and all of their flavor are authentic – no MSG or additives.

Gossip Coffee Shop is a short distance down the road from The Kitchen. It’s a café that doubles as a bridal shop and is owned by business partners in pharmacy and marketing respectively.  You can walk over there after your meal for a wide variety of drink options from coffee to shakes to Italian sodas.  Alternately, if you’re still hungry, they also serve rice meals, pasta, and pika-pika.

Matcha is a trendy flavor right now, and if you’ve hopped on the bandwagon, you’ll love their matcha Oreo shake. They don’t skimp on the matcha, and it’s a surprisingly pleasant combination of flavors.  For a fruitier shake, try the strawberry-based William’s Goblet.  It’s thick, creamy, and topped with a biscuit – what more do you need in a shake?

Matcha is a trendy flavor right now, and if you’ve hopped on the bandwagon, you’ll love their matcha Oreo shake. They don’t skimp on the matcha, and it’s a surprisingly pleasant combination of flavors.  For a fruitier shake, try the strawberry-based William’s Goblet.  It’s thick, creamy, and topped with a biscuit – what more do you need in a shake?

Matcha is a trendy flavor right now, and if you’ve hopped on the bandwagon, you’ll love their matcha Oreo shake. They don’t skimp on the matcha, and it’s a surprisingly pleasant combination of flavors.  For a fruitier shake, try the strawberry-based William’s Goblet.  It’s thick, creamy, and topped with a biscuit – what more do you need in a shake?

If you’re completely stuffed and want something lighter to push the meal down, try their Italian sodas.  There are plenty of flavors to choose from.  Your bloggers’ favorite was the passion fruit.

The Coffee Library is more than what it’s name has to offer, this is a bonafide restaurant with good food and great service, oh and of course good coffee! Located at Rex hall along Bonifacio street, The Coffee Library serves a fusion of Vietnamese and Filipino cuisine, and you’d be surprised that they have one of the best food in town, why? Please! We urge you to go ahead and try them out! Let us go over our top picks from this awesome place:

Spring Rolls: Our no.1 pick from everything on the basis that we finished every roll and kept on coming back for more! Rice paper, Ground Pork, Shrimp, Mushroom and Parmesan– delicious combinations that kept us inching for more, and the word delicious is not enough to describe this dish, this is rated as DIVINE

Beef Pho: Another Favorite! One of the best Phos in Baguio City, mix it well with the Sriracha and Oyster sauce that comes with it, you’d be treated to ‘pho-nomenal‘ goodness.

TCL Cheese Burger: There are many delicious burger joints around baguio, keep this on your list of burgers to try! It is overflowing with cheese (oh yeah) and then of course 100% beef patty- and we all know, when your patty is 100% beef…it means no extenders, just your good old beefy burger!

Buffalo Wings: Coated in their own special homemade sauce, try eating it with the blue cheese dip! Delicious! Beverages: Well, it’s no brainer that they serve good coffee, they have a wide array of choices when it comes to coffee, from Italian, Vietnamese, Turkish and Kapangan coffee, they do invest plenty when it comes to their coffee! but let us rave about their smoothies! They serve two flavors of this: Sunny Tropical Yellow Smoothie: Fresh pineapple, mango, banana and yogurt,,,and their Ruby Red Smoothie: Fresh Strawberry, watermelon, apply/dragon fruit and yogurt. Ruby Red is one of our personal favorites, we always order this smoothie! really we do!

You might want to dip your tongue into this unique dining experience in terms of ambiance and food, because that is what you will find in Cafe Cueva!

Get an up-close taste of old traditional Baguio or Cordillera in the artisan cavern of Ili-likha Village along Assumption road. Cafe Cueva is all about traditional Cordilleran food and their own twists on Pinoy food in general.

Tinapa Chao Fan: Get your carb. and protein boost with this dish after a workout! You are faced with a huge dish of Tinapa flakes, red eggs and rice stir fried together into this delicious hot steaming dish, that we believe is ideal for brunch especially if you are craving for that old Pinoy breakfast meal that mother used to make.

Grilled Pork chop with Salsa: Who does not love pork chops? The salty-sweet medley of flavors coupled with their own fresh salsa is really delicious and of course a must try.

Kiniing wrap: Smoked salted Meat or kiniing (a traditional way of preserving meat by strapping it above a stack of burning eucalyptus wood and sprinkled with guava leaves and chesa leaves) served inside an Italian Chavata bread. Sounds really interesting? Yes, it is something your taste buds should experience. Something to take home or eat along the road, zero-mess!

Pinuneg: Pinuneg or blood sausage is a native delicacy among the Ibaloys and Kankanaeys, this hearty meal composed of pig blood, large intestines and spices is served with a special garlic yogurt sauce, best eaten with your Tinapa chao fan. If you haven’t had Pinuneg yet, this is something you should experience, especially if you are within the Cordilleras.

Tuna Crepe: Tuna, egg and ensalada swathed in crepe, we vouch for how tasty and healthy this is, did we say delicious! Definitely! Smoothies: You want to loose weight? Try their green smoothie composed of herbs you might want to know about from chef Laydah of Cafe Cueva, not only is it delicious, you are bound to have a flat stomach after taking a glass of this, make sure you get home in a few hours.

The Kalye with a K, not to be confused with the food hub with the same name, Kalye Uno is a true gem you should put on your to go list, apparently they’ve been at it for more than a year now and we can’t believe that we had never heard of them up until the recent food crawl! Thank god we got to them, for one thing, we had a truly divine experience with their fusion of Pinoy-Bulacan cuisine, cooked and prepared by Mylene Diño a true blue Bulakenya!

Sinampalukang Manok: This is by far one of the number one favorites, delicious chicken simmered in tamarind broth, the sour and savory medley had us cooing the typical ooohs and ahhhs when we had a taste of this perfection of a dish.
Lumpiang Giniling ala Kalye Uno: Doesn’t look like your typical lumpia does it? Wrap their delicious ground pork ala Korean Bulgogi, in fresh romaine lettuce with crispy rice noodles and enjoy this amazing no. like their sinampalukan manor, this will leave you wanting MORE.

Pancit Batil Patong: The famous pancit from Tugegarao, Cagayan is what it is, DELICIOUS and FILLING, Kalye Uno’s version is one of those dishes we finished in a whiff, and when that happens, you know it is really something else!

Tapang Kabayo: The joke was, since Kalye Uno is very near Wright Park, where do you think the horse meat comes from?? (HAHA) they shoot horses don’t they?? NO, Don’t worry guys they have their own supplier! But yes! IF Tapang Kabayo sounds a little bit exotic, well, high time you experience their twist on this one of a kind dish AND can we add that they also have another horse dish on their menu?? Try their Kalderetang Kabayo.

Cordilleran artifacts, books, spectacular views and amazing interiors and of course COFFEE and their famous sweet camote pie is what Arca’s yard is known for, that wonderful homey place shelfed along Tiptop road has kept everyone abuzz that despite being literally on the outskirts of Baguio, you can’t help but make the effort to go there and have a beautiful experience with all the visual and gastronomical adventures they have to offer.

Crispy Lemon Orange Chicken: It is Crispy chicken coated in this citrusy savory flavor, it’s been a while since we had these kinds of treasures, really delicious and absolutely a must try! This takes a no.1 spot on our taste bud charts.

Summer Salad: It’s quite rare that we appreciate salads mainly because most of us are carnivorous individuals here in eatsinbaguio, but their fresh summer salad is delicious! Their vinaigrette is the secret, and the fresh veggies of course.

EBI tempura: This is not your typical Ebi Tempura that you must have tasted in Japanese restaurants, Arca’s has their own twist! They added luscious eggplants, and the combination is just heavenly!

Lechon Kawali: Everyone has their own twists on lechon kawali, and somehow everyone succeeds in preparing their own version of this classic dish, Arca’s nailed it of course.

The establishments mentioned in this post were all participants in The Other Bloggers Baguio Food Crawl 2017.  For more information on the restaurants and the crawl, check the hashtag #TOBBaguioFoodCrawl or see our press release here.

Check out the map for directions:

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/4/embed?mid=1wCB-Bf3TW9_lVhDkkqOZ4nGRnhQ&w=640&h=480]