Batangas Food (semi) Adventure

I went to Batangas today to visit my college BFF Peaj. Initially, the plan was just to have lunch at Cafeno in San Juan. Peaj decided to take me on a mini-food trip.

At Cafeno, Peaj had chicken adobo flakes served with garlic rice while I had the steamed chicken with three dipping sauces also served with garlic rice. She had the tamarind iced tea while I had the pandan iced tea. The food was really good. I liked the menu--there were enough options for you to choose from but you wouldn't be overwhelmed by the variety. I wish we were able to try the dessert and the coffee. It was too hot so we decided to save those for our next visit. What I didn't like about our visit was that there was no electricity :| It was so hot, I tell you. I think we would've enjoyed our stay more if there was a fan and it wasn't so humid. Nevertheless, the ambiance and the food more than made up for the heat :) What I also like about the place are the decorations and the establishment itself. It's basically an old, Spanish house with a lot of cool vintage items used as decorations. I wasn't able to take a picture of our table--it was quite an ingenious idea to use old sewing machines as dining tables! Cafeno's definitely worth another visit! I'd like to bring my other friends there. I think they would enjoy the place.

After eating at Cafeno, we had halu-halo (a Filipino dessert/snack that's basically shaved ice and milk mixed with ingredients that vary depending on where you are) in Padre Garcia (I think it's a town). The common ingredients you'd find halu-halo served with in almost all areas here in the country would be leche flan, ube (purple yam), and minatamis na saba (a small but thick variety of banana sliced then simmered in water with brown sugar to make a light caramel sauce). The halu-halo we had was quite different. I never imagined you could eat it with mashed kamote (sweet potato/yam)! At first I thought it was mashed squash, haha! The other ingredients mixed in were the three ones I mentioned, a bit of corn, garbanzos, and gulaman (jelly). I'd have to agree with Peaj, that was the best halu-halo I've ever had! Even better than Razon's (which is famous for its halu-halo).

We were supposed to go to this resort of sorts in Lipa City, but the traffic was horrendous so Peaj brought me to Cafe de Lipa. I think there are branches here in Metro Manila already, but I'd rather go to the original one :) The coffee was good! I was surprised that I liked the kape barako (a variety of coffee that's quite strong...barako def. strong/tough). I didn't add any milk or sugar. I think they added a bit of whipped cream on top since I told the barista that it was my first time to drink kape barako and I didn't want the experience to be memorable (i.e. not get any sleep until tomorrow hahaha). According to the barista, all the coffee beans used in Cafe de Lipa are from the owner's coffee farm. I actually bought a pack of ground beans which I brought home :) I'll be using that to cut down on my Starbucks expenses hehehe :p

I will definitely go back to Batangas and go on a foodie adventure with Peaj. She has yet to bring me to the other hole-in-the-wall places she's been telling me about. I can't wait to visit Batangas again!