One Friday lunch in Baguio, after a glimpse and souvenir hunting in Mines View Park, we went straight to have lunch in Café by the Ruins.
Mom saw an article about this place and promised that once we were in Baguio, she’ll make it a point to have a lunch/dinner here for us to check out the place.
Well, I can say that this place is really fantastic. It is set in old ruins of the residence of the first governor of Benguet, Phelps Whitmarsh Jr. It was destroyed during the last great war by the American forces in hot pursuit of retreating Japanese forces that holed themselves in the mountains of Benguet.
After the war, the place was bought by Teodoro Arvisu who is also one of the founding father of the city.
Postwar generations saw the opening of the cafe as a haven for artists by Cristine, the great grand daughter of Teodoro.
The place is cozy, and adorned with artwork as how it was intended to be opened. It is not airconditioned and for some reason, I felt that it has an art museum ambiance.
I had a serving of their Tita Susie’s Crispy Tapa. This is uber good, I love it! Their TapSi rendition came with a generous portion of deep-fried beef tapa shreds and with a side dish of unhusked organic mountain rice and a slaw of chopped tomatoes and onions over a bed of lettuce. The tapa is crispy and went well with a spoonful of rice, slaw and vinegar. Though no egg was served, their TapSi still satisfied my hunger.
For dessert, we had a sharing of the Pain au Chocolat. This treat is a pastry which is made of multiple layers of bread hugging a chocolate fudge in the center. The fudge is killer, very sinful but also delicious.
For the whole meal, I was also sipping a mug of their Chocolate de Agua which is a hot chocolate drink with a hint of cinnamon. It’s a perfect beverage for a hearty filling meal that I had in Café by the Ruins.
Their Pinikpikan is also good. It has a little gingery taste which is the taste that my tastebuds prefer.
I had a perfect and filling meal at this place and promised myself that I will revisit this when I set foot on Baguio again.
Kudos for the great food, warm service and very informative menu! :)
Cheers!
Cafe by the Ruins
25 Chuntug Street,
Baguio City
074 442-4010 / 074 446-4010
The Cafe by the Ruins is looking forward to seeing you all and serving you your favorites and our new items this Holiday season. On that note, we'd like to announce our holiday schedule for this year.
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