Can't get enough of Laguna Garden Cafe, Cebu

During my recent trip to Cebu, my friends and I just couldn't get enough of Laguna Garden Cafe. It almost seemed as if we wanted to have each and every meal there.

Turon

We would usually start in the morning, with intentions of having (only) breakfast there. However, it is a very pleasant place to hang out in, so we'd end up having merienda there as well.

Like in my previous entry about Laguna Garden Cafe, I had a lot of SMT (Suman, Mangga, at Tsokolate) this time. Their hot chocolate is just too good to pass up, and it really goes very well with the suman and mango.

Actually, I had a lot more to eat there during this trip. My favorites were (aside from SMT), their pancit palabok (with pork removed), and their turon, which I requested to be served with vanilla ice cream. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take pictures of most of what I ate, mostly because I totally forgot about taking photos when the food arrived and just went straight to business.

The best thing was, the waiters and manager didn't kick us out even after we'd been sitting there for five hours. For that, I declare their service simply excellent.

I have so many fond memories of this place... having way too much SMT, watching the Ateneo-UP game on their TV while having even more hot chocolate, and just spending quality time with my friends in this well-lit, very comfortable, and cozy cafe.


Laguna Garden Cafe
Ayala Center
Cebu City, Philippines

Dinner at Abuhan Tres, Cebu City

I spent All Saints' Day weekend scuba diving with friends in Southern Leyte, with Cebu as our jumping off point. We all flew in to Cebu from Manila, took a boat to and from Leyte, and flew back to Manila from Cebu. We luckily had some time to sample some Cebuano cuisine before heading for home.


Some new-found dive friends suggested that we try the "best pochero in Cebu", which could be found in a restaurant called Abuhan Tres. Of course, I was not interested in pochero, since I doubted they'd have a seafood version. But, I agreed to go with them because I was sure there would be some pescetarian fare on the menu.


We were all tired from the dive trip but determined to go to the place, so although our eyes were all getting droopy, we took a cab and rode off in search of the restaurant. Thankfully, it was easy enough to find, since we were all famished.

My friend and dive buddy Zara decided to just share dishes, so we could try more of them. We ordered the Kilawing Tangigue to start. I thought there was too much sauce, but the taste was all right. Kilawin in general is too sour for me, but Zara enjoyed it and polished it off when I was all vinegar-ed out.

Kinilaw na Tangigue

Then we had some Adobong Kangkong for our veggies, and some Sizzling Squid with White Sauce. I had most of the kangkong, which I liked because of the large amount of garlic in it. Squid is Zara's favorite, and so we both enjoyed that dish. At first I was rather wary of how it would taste because I don't remember if I'd ever had white sauce with my squid, but it turned out pretty tasty.

Adobong Kangkong

Sizzling Squid with White Sauce

The waiter had a pleasant surprise for us in the middle of our meal- he told us that because our bill reached the P1,500.00 mark, we could get a free "mixto", which meant a combo of various dishes. We chose the appetizer mixto, which had calamares, crispy kangkong, and lumpia.

After all that food, we still had some room for dessert, so my friend Anjou and I decided to split a Brownie ala Mode, which we ended up sharing among five of us. It was so good though that we just had to have another one.

Brownie ala Mode

We all left the place happy. My carnivore friends enjoyed the pochero and declared it worth the trip, and for me the highlight was the surprise chocolatey treat to top off the meal.


Abuhan Tres
Unit 108 i2 bldg.
Asiatown I.T. Park
Cebu, Philippines, 6000
Phone: 4123025