My Gourmet Cafe Experience

My cousin who works in the Cavite area has always raved about Gourmet Café. I would usually ignore her ravings until I finally was able to go there, taste their food and experience their service.

It was a tiring Saturday afternoon when we went there. We were immediately greeted by Maricris, the manager, and after the obligatory hellos, she asked us if we were interested to attend mass.

Mass? I thought, may simbahan ba rito?

At the back pala of Gourmet Café is a nice place called The Sanctuary. It seems to be a venue custom made for weddings. It has a nice modern chapel. 10 zen inspired rooms, and a reflection pool with swan. It also has a large lawn that can accommodate up to 200 guests. Grabe talaga! Super ganda ng place!

Sayang nga lang kasi we have already booked Caleruega and Collosian Gardens so di na talaga option yung place. Pero, since the rooms nga are very nice, with a modern, minimalist and zen feel to it we thought it could very well be our wedding preps venue na lang. They have all the amenities pa of a regular hotel kasi they have a butler service and the rate of the room includes breakfast na.

Apparently, it was built pala for retreat and meditation. Hindi din pwede magkaroon ng wedding sa chapel kasi hindi pa authorized. Pwede daw Christian weddings doon pero medyo Malabo ang Catholic weddings. So, okay na din. Mon and I did not feel too bad na. Medyo pricey din kasi ang packages nila for weddings.

After the mass, we decided to have our early dinner na at the restaurant. We had pizza and soup and salad. It was very filling and the Banaba Iced Tea was also very refreshing. I was told that they also have receptions at the restaurant and the al fresco area of the resto. We were about to leave na when the piano man started playing. We stayed some more and then the acoustic band of Gourmet Café “Streamline”, arrived na. I really wanted to leave because we had to go to Collosian pa for the night ocular. But, Mon said we’ll come back to have coffee and watch the band.

Super sulit naman pagbalik namin. This is not your ordinary acoustic band. They can do songs from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s aside from the current r&b hits. They can also sing accapella. Grabe! Pwedeng pwede sa wedding talaga! We also jammed with them after their last set and they are so cool. Mga bagets ‘to sisters, pero they sing classics well.

Sa mga Tagaytay brides, drop by Gourmet Café, I tell you it is worth it! It is along the highway going to Silang from the Rotunda. You won’t miss it. The band plays on Saturdays and Sunday lunch.

Gourmet Café rocks!

More Wedding Prep Stories

It has been several weeks now since I last posted my updates. Here are some more I worked on the past few weeks. You guys might get some nice ideas especially for Taggie brides out there.

Mon and I decided that we need another visit to Tagaytay to see Collosian Gardens (our venue) at night and to also do an ocular of the Flowers of May Resthouse. We also included Ilog Maria Bee Farm in our itinerary and Gourmet Café. We also wanted to visit other resthouses/hotels that I got from Joy’s (another w@wie sister) On-line Photo Gallery.

First stop was the FLOWERS OF MAY RESTHOUSE. There were guests there at the time, however with the help of caretaker Jenny we were able to see the rooms and the interior of the house. It is a big house with three rooms, an attic, a nice kitchen, a living room, a music room that opens to the garden and the gazebo. The garden is big with a lawn that could accommodate up to 150 guests if you will hold a reception there. There are two t&bs. One, downstairs and another one upstairs. The master’s bedroom is airconditioned, all the others are not. There is no need for airconditioning anyway since Tagaytay is cool in March and most of the year.

Next stop was Ilog Maria Bee Farm. I was really insistent on this coz I have seen the said farm featured on t.v. once and I had been curious since. Knowing that its location is just near Tagaytay, even though it is actually in Silang, Cavite already, I wanted to include it in the itinerary of our visiting guests on our wedding weekend. Aside from being an interesting place to do an excursion, I also wanted to get some of their products for favors, and gifts for the entourage.

Their products are not only Honey and Honey Cider but also beeswax candles, various organic soaps, and cosmetic products, also health supplements culled from bee products like royal jelly, propolis, pollen, etc… The Mercados, owners of the farm, were very accommodating. They even gave us free soap. There were also many visitors when we went there though they were already almost closing. They have a form you have to fill up if you will do a tour of their farm and there is a fee. They told me to just fax the form a month before the date of the tour. The order for honey is also done around Sepetember coz Honey harvest time is around February and March which is good for me coz my wedding is on March. Even the soaps I am giving out as favors should be ordered three weeks before the date of the wedding so that the soaps will be fresh. They can also stamp a design that you want on the soaps. The soaps cost around P30/each. The honey is P200/500 g. Their website is www.ilogmaria.com

We decided to have our merienda at Gourmet Café. Now, our Gourmet Café experience merits another post but for this post, suffice it to say that we had a great time. We also discovered a really nice place in Gourmet Café and it is called The Sanctuary. It is a really beautiful place. We enjoyed good food, good music and great service. We bought their hazelnut flavoured coffee and Mon is raving about it til now. We decided to include gourmet café coffee in the gift basket we will give to our Principal Sponsors. 250 g. is P220/pack.

After Gourmet Café, we went to the Collosian Gardens. It was pitch dark. But, Mon and I asked the caretaker if he can open the lights of the grounds for us. He obliged us naman and we were satisfied with the lighting. Not all the lights were put on but the caretaker assured us that during night-time functions, Juan Carlo adds some more lights to the existing ones. Good enough for us. We also did an ocular of the Bridal Room and the other rooms in Collosian Gardens. It was okay naman.

Eight months more… so far so good… and everything is still right on schedule.

Peachy ni Mon
March 10, 2006
Caleruega/Collosian Gardens
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