Sunday, May 18, 2014

Tagaytay birthday weekend

A few weeks ago, I took my family to Tagaytay to celebrate the birthday of 'Nanay', my grandmother on my mom's side. We stayed at Crosswinds Resort Suites.


We actually stayed there last year for my birthday but almost the entire time we were there, it rained a lot and we were unable to take photos and enjoy the scenery. When I saw another online voucher for this place in Deal Grocer, I figured it would be good for us to revisit in better weather so we could appreciate it more.


We got there in the early afternoon and since we hadn't had lunch yet, I took everyone to Buon Giorno at the Cliff House. My family had never eaten here before and they did enjoy the food. Actually, every food place that I took my family to that weekend, they had never been to before so it was a weekend of firsts. I think the Buon Giorno Special salad portion size got smaller but it was still good.

After resting a bit in our 1-bedroom suite in Crosswinds, we headed to Picnic Grove since one of my nephews really wanted to go horseback-riding.


It was still late afternoon when we left Picnic Grove and we still had a couple of hours to spare before dinner so I decided to take my family to Java Jazz Coffee. I really like this place and I figured my family would too (they did, and I guess the warm and friendly service made our experience here even better). The artwork on display that day were photos of the churches in Bohol that were devastated during last year's Visayas earthquake; proceeds of the art sales would go to church restoration efforts. We looked through the photos and enjoyed some coffee over the next hour or so before we headed to our dinner destination.

I've seen Pamana Restaurant in Tagaytay several times before and I actually saw it featured on a TV show a few years ago but I never got to try it until that weekend. We got there at around 7 PM that evening and thankfully we arrived when we did because I didn't make any reservations and when we got there, only one table was available. Perfect! We actually took a short tour of the place before ordering because on display throughout the entire restaurant were a lot of Filipino showbiz memorabilia. The food here is decently priced, with most dishes being in the P200-400 range. Along with the great service, our dinner in Pamana was a really good dining experience.


We checked out at noon on Sunday and for lunch, I took my family to Chateau Hestia. While waiting for our food to arrive, my mom and my grandma took a look at the items on sale in the deli and they eventually got several items, including some really good cookies (which they served to us while we were waiting) and bread. I'm also happy that everyone enjoyed the food. The cool thing about our lunch here was that they actually gave us a small cake on the house for Nanay's birthday. One of the waiters actually overheard me mention that it was my grandmother's birthday. Cool! Oh and the cake was really good too.


We had initially intended to pass by Good Shepherd on our way home but we stopped by Rowena's instead. My family got several items and I also bought a couple of boxes of their delicious assorted tarts. We also stopped by Paseo de Sta. Rosa where we did a bit of shopping. I ended up getting a pair of shoes.

I was completely knackered by the time I got home but it was well worth  it. Everyone enjoyed the great food and some new experiences over the weekend. Definitely an incredible way to celebrate Nanay's birthday.

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