The Tagaytay trip part 1: La Trobada
November 8, 2006
Filed under Food trips & events
We spent three days in Tagaytay last week. For better context, perhaps, you should start by reading this. On the first day, after checking into the hotel, we had a late lunch at La Trobada Restaurant. No, not upon anyone’s recommendation. It was a totally unfamiliar restaurant but I wanted bulalo and La Trobada sat on a great location overlooking the Taal lake and volcano. So, we went there.
I would have chosen to dine in one of those huts but it was a wet and foggy day so we proceeded to the main dining area. Now, it was an open and elevated dining area with one side facing Taal Lake. But the fog was really bad and visibility was even worse. So, instead of taking photos of the volcano while waiting for our food, we started taking photos of one another and of just about everything that had an interesting shape or composition in the dining area.
When we chose the dishes, we did ask for how many persons each serving was. The waiter said four. So, we went ahead and ordered bulalo soup, sisig ang sizzling squid. I should have asked more prying questions. It turned out that the bulalo alone, good for four, was enough for an entire meal for four. We ordered too much and we had leftovers.
Below is the bulalo soup. How was it? Not bad. Nothing outstanding either. The usual. The shank was very meaty and had we not ordered anything else it would have sufficed for a meal. But the meat wasn’t as tender as we prefer. With really good bulalo, the meat should be so tender that it separates from the bone when lifted from the broth.
The sisig, below, was okay as well but, again, nothing spectacular. We’ve had much better sisig, notably at the Niagara Hills Restaurant along Sumulong Highway right here in Antipolo.
As is always his role when we eat out, my husband Speedy was in charge of cutting the meat from the bulalo soup and filling everyone’s soup bowl with broth, meat and vegetables. Below, stirring the raw egg into the sisig.
I cannot say anything about the sizzling squid, below, because I didn’t touch it. Allergy. But Sam seemed to have enjoyed it.
The bill was a little over PhP1,000.00. Not cheap considering the food was rather ordinary, but pretty reasonable if we consider the size of the servings. Because it was already around 3.30 p.m. when we finally finished our late lunch, we skipped dinner altogether. However, we did go to Bag of Beans for dessert and coffee at around 5.00 p.m. But that is another story. A beautiful one at that. I’ll tell you about it in the next post.
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Hi there! can i ask if you have suggestions on what restaurant in tagaytay seres the best bulalo and if the prices in that resturant are reasonable?
Hi there! I recommend your family to try Tong Yang Restaurant in Quezon Ave., Q.C. Its a hot pot as well as a teppanyaki restaurant all in one. It’s buffet style so be ready to eat a lot. What I like in that restaurant is that all your members in your family will be able to cook your own food as well as you have the freedom to eat what you like. hehehe. you could cook your food through hotpot which has 3 kinds of broth(sinigang,mild,spicy) and you could saute your food in a teppanyaki plate beside the hotpot. I’m sure you’ll have a great time there because the restuarant can easily be fully packed by families as well as couples who enjoy cooking and eating. I think for lunch its 380 per head and for dinner its 430 per head. Believe me, it you guys enjoy eating and cooking, this is the place that you could spend a long time enjoying eating. Service in this resto is good because most of their staff are concentrated in the needs of their customers.
Alvin, I will write about the “best” bulalo in my next two or three entries. We had bulalo in two other restos aside from La Trobada and I want write in detail the good points of each.
Re Tong Yang. Yes, we had been there many times in the past before we moved to Antipolo. It just seems so far away now to go to Quezon Ave just to eat there. Loved the hotpot and the setup. Even my kids who were much younger then enjoyed choosing their own food and watching them get cooked right on the table.
Hi also love eating at tongyang, Try the Tongyang at Jupiter Makati, Its smokeless and food are quite diff from the normal tongyang
Thanks for the tip, Spicykar.
hi sassy! I love bulalo and since my mom hails from Batangas, the best bulalo is actually found there. The Rose and Grace Restaurant in Sto. Tomas is one of those who offers true authentic bulalo. Try it when you make a trip down south. It’s worth it, I think they also have a branch in Laguna.
Oh, I know the one in Laguna. Okay, next time. Thanks for the tip. I’m addicted to bulalo anyway. LOL
hi! no offense to tulip, i’m from quezon province and i have been to rose and grace resto. the one in calamba is far better (grace, sister of rose resto) than the one in sto. tomas (as far as i am concern) but recently we discovered the newly opened el mare resto in sn pablo. we had bulalo w/c is delicious and the meat is very tender, carderetang baka, sinaing na tangigue and 5 cups of rice. we were 4 adults and 1 4yr old child. our bill was P500. wow!
we usually go to Diner’s resto for our bulalo… it’s right in front of a medical clinic in Tagaytay, paglampas lang ng konti sa mercury (if you’re coming from Manila)… mura lang ang food. kc mejo carinderia type yun…but food is great. kung cowboy ka (if ya wanna take a break from sosi food/places), try this. masarap bulalo. very tender ang meat….
eiram, we went there too on the second evening. the fresh lumpia was wonderful too. gee, didn’t I post an entry about that?
just wondering…do they have kimchi hotpot in tongyang???