We wanted to go native for lunch on our day trip to Tagaytay so Mig and I decided to have a nice Filipino meal at Viewsite Tagaytay. It was already about 2:30pm and my stomach’s been grumbling , on this trip we wanted to try what Tagaytay is usually known for — bulalo and the tawilis, and a bunch of other little accompaniments.
On my last trip to tagaytay, my uncle Bob told me about what he usually eats in Viewsite, and his eyes light up as he said, “bulalo soup man, how can you go wrong with a 90 buck bulalo soup and it’s got nice chunks on it and some vegetables”. Since we were only 2,it’s pretty hard to order a lot and stuff yourself because you’re trying to finish what you got.
Bulalo soup was perfect. It definitely had the long simmered, buttery flavored beef (buttery, probably from all that fat) with a hint of pepper. And yes, Uncle Bob was right (and this guy is the VP of discovery hotels), the bulalo soup had about 5-6 chunks of beef and wonderful wonderful tendons and fat surrounding the chunks. I even got one that was all made out of slow simmered beef tendon, probably from the cow’s knees (no wonder i felt a little woozy after). For two, it was perfect and had a few pieces of pechay and string beans, a wonderful start for our native lunch. I made my all-around dip for this bulalo out of calamansi juice, lots of red labuyo, a few drops of vinegar and fish sauce, and some soy sauce. YUM!
Then we had inihaw na tawilis. Actually Mig ordered the crispy one, but since I’ve gotten to eat that a couple of times, we settled for the grilled one. Honestly, I didn’t think it would turn out good but the fish was delicious (well, try not to eat the head because the bones aren’t as brittle as the deep fried ones). It was so simple, the fish was grilled with a touch of salt, like the how Japanese would usually do grilled fish (Yakizakana, simple and uncomplicated, but flavorful). Obviously, the fish was fresh when it was grilled and the flesh and bones were tender, with a light crunch on thicker bones. I put a little calamansi juice in mine and dipped it in my all-around dip and I was in heaven.
Of course, this was made better with the mango ensalada i ordered which was simply, mango, red onions, tomatoes and bagoong.
Mig was craving for lechon kawali so he ordered it, but it wasn’t much to rave about. It was properly done, but the sauce wasn’t so great. He washed his food down with a nice bottle of SanMig Light, I decided to keep away from the alcohol and have an iced tea.
I was pretty happy with the meal, considering everything seemed fresh and honest. Viewsite would be a wonderful place to take your family since they have large tables to accommodate a lot of people. The wait staff are pretty helpful too.
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