Ziggurat!

We are very pleased about Ziggurat being here.  Well, not exactly in Sta. Rosa, but at the border--in Silang.

It occupies a corner of the ground floor of Stanford Suites in Bgy. Inchican. Right across the St. Scholastica's College, and St. Benedict's Church.

I don't know how Ziggurat is related to the Destination Hotel (a few roomswithin the building), but they gave us discount vouchers for the rooms after we paid for our meal. Oh, the building is a condo-tel. 
http://www.southforbes.com/house-lot-laguna-cavite-philippines-stanford-suites/
I am not connected in any way to the owners or staff of this restaurant.  We simply just enjoyed it in our previous city, and now here it is in our next one.

We are very, very pleased...

...having lived in close proximity to the main Ziggurat in Makati prior to here.  We didn't know we had missed it.

OKAY BEFORE I CONTINUE...LET ME SAY WE ARE LOVING PERI-PERI CHICKEN IN SOLENAD NUVALI. APPARENTLY SO DO MANY PEOPLE, AS THAT PLACE IS ALWAYS FULL! 

ZIGGURAT IS A JUST LOCATED IN  NICE QUIET CORNER NEAR THE CHURCH WITH CUISINE WE ALSO SAVOR.

I will leave a few not-so-great photos...but the menu, the extensive menu of North African, Middle Eastern, African, Meditteranean Indian dishes....I will leave for you to peruse in detail when you visit.  Extensive as the menu list is, not all the dishes are available at any one time because of ingredients on stock.  I am happy as long as there is lamb!
(and hey, prices are reasonable)

couscous!

https://www.facebook.com/Ziggurat-Cuisine-Restaurant-125013094177654/

Socrates' Secret

I do want this place to remain...secret.

Just because it is an ideal place for me to enjoy, in peace.  It is spacious enough for busy dining hours, but I like it spare, like this.

The interiors are very pretty, blue and teal walls...not exactly the usual Greece blue, but just as attractive; various owls in many shapes and forms; comfortable seating,  lovely lamps, interesting curios. Most of all, an inviting children's corner with wood furniture.

moussaka...there is also a vegetarian variant. They serve whole wheat pita 

The food! So delicious, so rich in flavor and scent. Ingredients are obviously not scrimped on. Portions are just-right to generous servings and picture-pretty presentation.  
I was told the chef was trained by a Greek chef.

lamb gyro

The design draws one in, and it's a really good thing the food equals the care put into the decor details. They even have board games for guests to play with...but really, the food is enough for me to come back.  I see this place as perfect for ladies getting together; and apparently, some faculty members of a nearby school have been coming over for the same reasons I would...the calm ambience, and the dishes, of course.

Okay, it is in the Laguna Central Mall...below Shopwise. At the corner of Laguna blvd. and the Tagaytay-Sta. Rosa Highway.It is next to...what happened to...Kenji's Steamboat? Where I enjoyed the Bak kut teh? Sayang...


These next two photos were taken at Ble, in BF Homes, Paranaque...

This was actually the only dining space (plus a table outside) they had.  As of a few weeks ago, they have a new branch on another street also in BF.

Oh, Socrates' menu has a good selection of popular Mediterranean favorites, except maybe for seafood like calamari...which Ble, pictured above, serves.  Ble is in Aguirre St., BF Homes, Paranaque, and from a tiny, 12 or so-seater nook, now has a branch on another street. It is owned by a Greek couple.  There are equally pretty pendant lamps but again, my photo fails to capture them.  Again, love the blues, but they are a bonus for the actual attraction---the food.  

Concha's Garden Cafe

     Maybe last year...I cannot recall exactly when, I posted photos of Mother Earth's Garden.  I may have fantasized aloud about the location being perfect for a cafe...

     This has been the story of my life for the past decade...witnessing others fulfill some "crazy" idea of mine which I could not have implemented myself.

       However, I would have capitalized on this view of Mt. Makiling and built a second level with big picture windows, or just an open balcony.  (Unless that is in their expansion plans).  Sniff, sob, I guess I am still reeling from the loss of King Bee's Makiling view...

  Here is where Concha's is located.  Next to the Petron in Puting Kahoy, Silang. For Manilenos and other non-Silang/Sta. Rosa residents, this is on your way to Tagaytay.  Right across the Adventist University's (AUP) fence and grassy field.

   Now I don't know the owners, though the owner/chef was there the times I dined.  She is not one to introduce herself to customers, or even smile at us I think.  The man, while also being discreet in a corner, is the more welcoming one.  

   Finally and the most important detail: her food is good. It's a full-blown restaurant, to my mind, not just a cafe.  Everything we've ever order was...yummy...lovely presentation, flavorful, and matches the cozy Spanish-influenced Filipino home ambience, and of course, the garden.  The last dish my taste buds still recall is...the Sinampalukang Manok.  Go and try it.

Bucal, Calamba

View from main entrance of Sol y Viento resort

IMHO only, a waste of mountain, space & spring water pool opportunity; design?! while awesome in size, position and certainly unique, the man-made waterfall is...well...too man-made for my liking I guess

Well, couldn't this town have been much more...quaint

Okay...adequate showers & they look alright imho; but do swimmers use them pre-plunge?
at least they, the guests, weren't in cotton t-shirts and shorts unlike in most resorts here

along the national highway

Oops why is this photo here...Tom Yum Goong made by Indonesian neighbor; two weeks ago, surprise Kimbap made by Korean neighbor. I don't ask! They give :-)  All masarap 

Pho Hanoi restaurant along the way to Los Banos

simple, clean, straightforward, so you know focus is on the food, which must be good; note palochina furniture of which there are many along the road. The pho and some other dishes we ordered were delicious, fresh, in a home-cooked Vietnamese way; but we were slightly put off after realizing the special Pho Hanoi did not contain the ingredients as pictured...and we were only told after we asked about it (and after we had eaten it all, in hunger) that it was all beef, and with added beef as the other ingredients were out of stock. Sadly, the cold dessert (Three Colors--bean, gelatin, with shaved ice and milk) was not available as the gelatin imported from Vietnam was out of stock. Oh prices are alright too. Reasonable.

Fields of Angels

   I had noticed the bamboo lined entrance years ago, just past Mr. Moo along the highway in Silang.  Eventually I noticed a small wooden sign "Angelfields".    Each time we drove by I wondered...to where did the path lead.  

   I was feeling out of sorts...terribly out of sorts.  In my head echoed "you need to find your center. You are out of balance".  Things came to a head when the kid would not take an afternoon siesta again, had been waking up for midnight snacks.  After weeks of "good" sleep on her part, and enough shuteye for myself as well, that routine broke down inexplicably and so did I. This is just a long-winded way of saying, I was tired.  So this day, I just demanded that we "go, go on a drive!".  He needed to have a destination...he grumbled about possible notorious Saturday afternoon traffic at the direction I pointed--South.  South is THIS way, the kid said. Haha, not the supermarket today, dear.  South toward the ridge but not all the way. 

    A destination, he demanded. "Angelfields", the head whispered...I want to finally check out that angel fields.  I love bamboo.

    The guardian at the gate, sorry...the man at the entrance was very friendly saying it is a wedding/events place. Ohhh. Just go down the road and follow the right side, he directed.  Voila, down there, more bamboo. I love bamboo. And bamboo led me to this sanctuary.

The bamboos creaked as they swayed, their leaves rustled. Instantly I was healed and that's just the entrance.  Sounds of nature--birds, wind, trees. That's all.

      This being a quick, sudden drive out, I forgot to bring a proper camera.  

    The very accommodating and cheerful guest officer who showed us around explained that the owner being "very religious, a devout Catholic", set this property up as a place for prayer.  It does make a pretty garden wedding location.  It's like having a wedding at home.  It is actually also a B&B.  With casitas named after saints, crucifixes and statues marking each, it looks like a Catholic retreat place.  It is conducive to contemplation, reflection on the faith.  The birds are cared for--the owner avoids fumigation, etc which may harm them. It is after all called a "Nature Sanctuary" and well, St. Francis, animals, you get it.  On the table as we dined was a black bug with white patterns, and a caterpillar.  Good signs, but in my humble opinion maybe they should have carabao grass and not the bermuda grass (or is it zoysia? philippine grass?) they were watering to rehabilitate. I mean the lawn is pretty, but...I don't know...maybe too high maintenance. 

     I hope their wide and deep drainage system is enough for the monsoon season. There is a creek along the property and it is currently dry, but the place looks like a catch basin. Oh what do I know, they know what they're doing. Just a word of warning I suppose, for monsoon weddings...

     A pavilion named John Paul II, a devotion to St. Francis, with his image everywhere...interestingly this was opened a year ago.  Will a Pope Francis pavilion come next?

     Oh I forgot to mention, yes there is all-day dining for walk-in guests.

     

coffee machine in every casita

There is a piano in here

It is pretty in the evening. Huge appeal for weddings

mahogany trees planted by the owner 13 years ago

   

Cool Sunday evening, Warm Bulalo

Santa Rosa-Tagaytay highway, 6 pm, approximately 21 degrees celsius.

We hardly cook or eat beef and pork.  We can, and do, however, enjoy it once in a while.  We can, and did, walk from home and back.  In the current weather walking around these parts is...a breeze. (pardon that!)

LZM Restaurant Solenad 2

Ack! What an irresponsible/impulsive/slow blogger am I.  I posted on "Solenad 2" that the restaurants there are "the usual".   I said something to the effect of not having any unique fare in the area like "Kanin Club's". I KNEW I saw a packed "LZM Restaurant" the two times I was at Army Navy burger...I KNEW I saw photos of Filipino food somehow. 

It took FOOD magazine's October issue to correct my Solenad 2 dining impression.

In it is a photo of what they deem to be their favorite daing na bangus.
I recalled LZM were the initials on that Filipino restaurant's sign.  He would not believe my saying he didn't have to go to the Tagaytay nor Silang branches, as it was right there in Solenad 2.

My husband quickly called the number listed and voila LZM is indeed in Solenad 2.

We didn't have to, but Googling LZM just makes me wonder where we have been in the Tagaytay dining scene. Turns out LZM in Silang and Tagaytay are "hidden" holes-in-the-wall type of places famous people like Marketman of Marketmanila love.  I read a 2007 post that said theirs was his favorite daing na bangus.

When we arrived early last night, the only customers happened to be---a cousin of mine and his colleague.  HE had known this "secret" in Tagaytay all along, and has been having his bulalo dinner regularly in this Solenad branch ever since it opened.  They work in Batangas and travel this route thrice weekly.  He says they prefer this bulalo over Rose & Grace's (located across Paseo), which doesn't have as much gulay.

Anyway...again, I'm no food blogger.  I'll just say, the bangus is extra large, plump, light and very very very delicious. It was rainy last night, and the sinampalukang manok was both comforting and tasty.  I try not to eat bulalo, I'll take my cousin's word for it.

This daing na bangus is also sold marinated frozen, for frying at home.  Basta, I can't describe it...it's just good. And LZM is dangerously going to become our next special lutong bahay place to eat or order from, just a few minutes from home.  The owners were there, and I wonder if they know how this early, their investment will surely pay off.  There still are other imported franchises out there playing it safe--Chicken places, pizza joints...   I wonder if they'll ever come.