Weekend Stay at Taal Vista Hotel Tagaytay and Food Trip at Taza Fresh Table Restaurant [Day One]

Our recent stay at Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay to check out and have a food trip at Taza Fresh Table Restaurant I must say is one of the most enjoyable Tagaytay trips I have ever had as of yet. One of the best staycations I had in my blogging years. Although it was a quick overnight stay, the fun, enjoyment, and relaxation - I appreciate to the core. 

While it helps that I was with some of my KTG Family, we could all say that the main reason for our grand time in Tagaytay City was the accommodation at Taal Vista Hotel and the kind service they provided us.

A lot has been said about Taal Vista Hotel. About how great of a hotel it is, about its historical past, and about how enjoyable it is to stay with them. Now it is high time for me to share here on the blog how I enjoyed my stay at Taal Vista Hotel with some friends.

Day one of our Taal Vista Hotel Stay started with a meet up for a quick brunch in Outback Makati with my good friend Gio of The Hungry Giant Blog. We were to meet with Eugene of The Hefty Foodie and his friend Rakee, our fellow staycationers.

Everyone came just in time, thus the journey to Tagaytay began. A lot of catching up happened on that road trip since I wasn't able to join majority of our group's dining engagements for the past months.

Just in time for or check in, our group was warmly welcomed by the hotel staff including the General Manager Mr. James Bevana. 

After the check in and a little chitchat with the staff, we were assigned our respective rooms at the lake view tower part of the hotel. Inside, a little welcome surprise awaits us in a form of delicious sweets, fresh fruits, and a note from the General Manager. It was a much appreciated gifts. 

Quick selfie with the roommate, Gio.

We were given the Premium King Room at the Lake View Tower which is a 38-sqm room that has one king size bed and a comfortable sofa bed.

Usual stuff are included such as an LCD TV, work table, mini ref filled with goodies, and the things one would normally seen in a room's mini bar. 

There's also a big closet with ample room inside for the guests' luggage and other things. Safety box, iron and iron board, bathrobes, and then some are all safely tucked inside the closet for guests' use.

The bathroom is very spacious. Simple but everything one may need for bathroom use are well provided. 

Now my favorite part of the room was the veranda, claiming it as my very own spot from the get go. 

From the veranda, there's the view of the beautiful Taal Vista Hotel ground landscape. 

A view of the famous Tagaytay amusement park, Skyranch.

And of course, a view of Taal Lake. 

The main goal of our staycation was to relax, enjoy, and stuff ourselves silly over the entire weekend. So the afternoon was pretty much spent doing just that. 

After resting for a bit, we invited the rest of our group over for some hardcore catching up. It was a fun afternoon having spent it with friends in a place perfect for occasion such as that. 

The couple Richie (The Pickiest Eater) and Rina (Rina's Rainbow) brought some goodies from SM Merchandise and shared it with the group. 

We also feasted on what was left of our sweets and fresh fruits from Taal Vista Hotel staff. 

Judging from that relaxing afternoon we had, I was so confident that the staycation will turn out to be one of the best, and thankfully I was right.

We were scheduled to have a dinner at Taza Fresh Table Restaurant so before sunset, we headed out.

The super cold breeze of Tagaytay air didn't stopped us from enjoying our little stroll from our hotel building to the restaurant.

We did get to enjoy a little time at the hotel's View Deck and took some group photos as well before dinner. Despite the slightly strong wind, disheveled hair and all, we took photos - we were having a really great time.

Taza Fresh Table is one of the restaurants at Taal Vista Hotel that boasts of delicious dishes made out of freshly sourced ingredients - some are organic. The well-respected chef behind the impressive dishes is Chef Jaime Natividad.

Our dinner started with a medley of appetizer tagged as Mezze (Php769) on the menu. It is basically four good grubs perfectly combined with warm pita bread. If my memory serves me right, there were hummus, Mediterranean egplant salad, spinach dip, and chicken liver. 

There were also two kinds of salads; Tazza Salad (Php411) and Warm Local Spinach Salad (Php487). Both were good so I cannot really decide which one is my favorite. Everything is as fresh as I hoped it to be. And given the circumstances that we were at Taza that boasts of fresh food, these two salads did not disappoint. 

The Homemade Bacon (Php191) certainly made all the pork lovers in us happy campers. It was smokey and sweet, and the tender has the right texture. Served with what I am guessing as apple campote, this bacon can really go well with the suggested combination. But when eaten as it is, it still impressed the hell out of us.

Two pasta dishes were served, namely Mushroom and Spinach Matagliati (Php427) and Squash Agniolotti (Php394). These two were a welcome respite from the usual pasta I usually enjoy in Manila so every bits were savored. I specifically like the Matagliati because I am mad crazy about pasta with mushroom while I appreciate the Agniolotti because it is one of the best I ever had. 

Also, Agniolotti dish is one of those which are hard to perfect and Taza is doing a great job in creating such a simple yet complex pasta dish.

A Taza Pizza Sampler (Php761) was also served. Varieties escaped my memory but I remember enjoying the one with pesto on it. 

All of the dishes were great but what stole almost everybody's heart was the Toahawk Porkchop (Php865). Forget the fact that it was served in such a gorgeous way meant to drive any meat lovers into salivating mode - this one is pure love and downright delicious. 

The tenderness of the meat down to the savory flavor of its every morsel, this dish is something I cannot soon forget.

Another dish that blew me away was the Beef Stew (Php635) which tenderness and flavor were a dead giveaway of the long hours it spent over fire. I was dead set on skipping rice since I already have pasta, but this one deserve such amazing accompaniment. It was a great dish.

The Seafood Stew (Php602) on the other hand reminded me that I have always been in love with seafood dishes. Taza did a great job in translating the taste of the sea in beautiful summer time through this dish. 

For dessert we had Taza's Olive Oil Ice Cream (Php235) and Peanut Butter and Jelly Tart (Php219). Both were distinctly impressive but what really captured my attention was the ice cream since it is not everyday that I get to chance upon a flavor as uncommon as olive oil. 

Needless to say that we had one hell of a good time during that dinner at Taza which made us look forward to our breakfast buffet the next morning.

Right after our dinner, everyone gathered at Richi and Rina's room to watch Richie's TV guesting at Pop Talk. Richie was the one who talked me into guesting again to feature Angono Rizal in Pop Talk, so during his own guesting, I am all support just like the rest of our group. 

Group photos while in full support for Richie's TV guesting. 

After sending the kids to bed, everyone was back to our room ( the non-parents room, if we may call it that.) Everyone was so hooked with binge watching horror series save for myself because I don't watch horror stuff you guys. 

So I just enjoyed my own sweet time at the veranda and welcomed anyone in the group who happened to want to take a break from watching those gory scenes and enjoy the cool weather outside instead.

Len (The Mommist) brought some pizza from Taza which we all finished while exchanging stories after movie binge deep into the night.

Around past midnight, we were ready to call it a day. After all, there's still the next day to enjoy at Taal Vista Hotel. Which you will be seeing on my next blog post.

Taal Vista Hotel

Kilometer 50,
Aguinaldo Highway,
Tagaytay City 4120

Website: www.taalvistahotel.com
Contact Nos.: (+632) 917.82.25 / (+6346) 413.10.00
Mobile: (+63917) 809.12.54
Facebook: Taal Vista Hotel
Instagram: @taalvistahotel
Twitter: @TaalVistaHotel

Related Post:
Day 2 Staycation at Taal Vista Hotel Tagaytay and Food Trip at Taza Fresh Table Restaurant