October in Baguio

Today, the weather bureau announced the start of the chilly Christmas weather in the Philippines.

Coincidentally I marked this happy bit of news in supposedly the coolest place in the country, the city of (disappearing) pine trees, Baguio.

However, Baguio did not seem to have heard the news, as the weather was more balmy than anything else, with just the hint of a breeze passing for the desired, yet paradoxically dreaded, cold.

October in Baguio is a first for me, so I knew not what to expect.

What I found were many many vehicles causing slow moving traffic congestion along the narrow winding thoroughfares of this erstwhile idyllic city.  I started wondering what it would be like during the Easter holidays and the Christmas holidays!!!

What I also found was a lot of convention delegates to every describable type of conference converging in the grounds and the hotels of Camp John Hay.

What I found was a few interesting eateries shorn of the typical tourist groups, ostensibly because all conventions provided full board anyway.


I too was in Baguio for a conference, and like most delegates, all my meals were covered, so there should have been no reason to leave the confines and comfort of the hotel for other culinary treats.  But after two days of bland meals, ennui set in, and it was time to set out for tastier pastures.

What ensued was an unexpected epicurean pleasure.  The whole package.  Good food.  Great view.  Gorgeous ambiance.  And some socio civic commitment for good measure.

 

First stop for dinner was OH MY GULAY on Session Road.  The once thriving Main Street of Baguio, now left in the name...and dust... of pseudo commercial progress, was home to this unique restaurant.  There was no visible signage, it did not have ground frontage, and my companions and I had to climb five flights of stairs to get to it.  Granted the steps were ergonomically measured, and calf and shin friendly, but five flights is five flights.
 Once I got to the top of the stairs, none the worse for wear, although perhaps panting a bit,  I found a different world.

My first steps brought me across a small bridge overlooking a koi pond, into an Igorot village that seemed to have magically been transported atop the concrete jungle of Baguio. Rough hewn tables and chairs of solid dark wood were scattered in three levels of uneven flooring, more like stones found on a trail. To the left was a well-lit typical house of wood and woven straw and grass, accessible by an indigenous ladder.  In it were handicrafts painstakingly crafted by tribal children, women folk, and senior citizens, sold for a nominal sum for their livelihood and upkeep of heir community.

To the right, was the dining areas...two balconies where smoking was permitted, and the deck overlooking the night lights of Baguio.  Everything in Baguio was refreshingly alfresco anyway.

Everywhere there were works of art, carvings, murals, frescoes, of artists both known and new, both famous and emerging, from all over the region and the rest of the archipelago.  Apparently, this most interestingly decorated restaurant was a living gallery and a shelter and haven of the Victor Oteyza Community Art Space or VOCAS, among the advocacies of which included the preservation of the Mountain Province Igorot art and culture.

Everywhere one could see and enjoy the warm palette, touch and feel the smooth texture, and smell the fragrance of native, natural materials. Wood. Woven fabric.  Bamboo.  Straw. Plants galore.  There was nothing synthetic, nothing fake here.

     

OH MY GULAY, a very Filipino play of words on the American expression, Oh My God, with the word GULAY meaning vegetables replacing the divine reference, is a vegetarian restaurant opened by the venerable artist Kidlat Tahimik (Silent Lightning) aka Eric de Guia, who is married to a German lady who is herself a committed vegetarian.

My companions and I ordered the restaurant's version of Pasta Puttanesca, served with more kick, meaning more chili, than other variations.  We also had Pancit Gulay, a local noodle dish laced with tofu, and the freshest Baguio mountain vegetables, OH MY GULAY fried rice, the club sandwich, and Cesar Asar, their take on Ceasar Salad but without the anchovies and the bacon bits, washed down with freshly squeezed Dayap juice.

Being carnivores, we expected these dishes to be lightweights, but were pleasantly surprised to be feeling quite full! But the most pleasant surprise of all was the price, which was quite reasonable, considering the quantity we ordered!

The walk down the stairs was easy, though I expected us to be hungry once we reached the street. Five floors was five floors after all.

We had dessert at CHOCOLATE DE BATIROL back in Camp John Hay.  BATIROL referred to the wooden stirrer used to cook the chocolate in an iron ewer and keep the liquid from congealing and hardening.

It looked like a little bistro by the roadside.  I walked in, and was greeted by a rustically picturesque eatery draped by the Baguio night chill.  Several long tables made of driftwood with matching benches took center stage; while all around were little nooks of armchairs, rocking chairs, and coffee tables, all made of wood, framed by wooden and bamboo pillars.

The specialty of the house was of course the chocolate beverage.  Pure cacao tablets were blended with ground roasted peanuts and enhanced with brown sugar to form a fine yet robust drink, that was perfect for the increasingly cool night.   It went down soooo well with native rice cake drizzled with shredded coconut meat or bibingka, and the turon de langka, or the native banana crepe with jackfruit.

Curiosities included dried seafood that was a part of the native breakfast staple...dried boneless anchovies, dried baby swordfish, dried baby squid.

And the loveliest bit of surprise was a little sign that said part of the proceeds of the sales would go to adopting and developing cacao farms in the Cordilleras.

I spent the first evening of the coming of the cold to the Philippines in a city where the temperature had indeed dropped to a nuzzling level that night.  But inside me I was all wound up, warmed by a rich multi sensory experience of food, drink, and remarkable atmosphere..., comforted that somehow my gluttony had done other people some good.