Of Container Van Rooms, Chicken Tim, Sky Eye, Cheese Tarts, and Koi

It was supposed to be just a random road trip, this drive to Tagaytay City. Then in a blink of an eye, I found our group scouting for place like a headless chicken where we could spend the night. Warm bed after a nice shower isn't a bad idea so no one opposed. The thing is, it was a holiday - all hotels we could think of were fully booked. 

There's really nothing much to write about Tagaytay Haven Hotel save for the fact that it saved us from spending the night in the car like homeless runaway kids and that it is probably one of the most affordable hotels in Tagaytay.

But nope, no glaring review here, no rants either. It just served its purpose during our stay, no more no less.

There are plenty of rooms that Tagaytay Haven Hotel Ulat Branch offers. It just so happen that the only ones available during our visit were the Container Van Rooms with rate of Php1,500 a night with complimentary breakfast for two. 

For Php1,500 a night plus breakfast, what can one expect? Not much.

Then again I'm not complaining. It has given me the basic needs for an overnight stay; air conditioned room, decent bed, hot shower, accommodating staff, and a mighty fine weather outside. Although their Wi-fi pretty much sucked to high heavens, it's a good thing there's cable TV.

List of rooms, amenities, and facilities are available on their website (havenhotelsph.com) should you be interested. But I haven't fully explored nor experienced those stuff because we only stayed in our room during the night, the rest of the day, we were out.

The container van room that we got was decent enough to accommodate two adults. It is nice that the shower room is separated from the comfort room. Other than that, there's really nothing noteworthy.  Basic toiletries are provided but only on minimal (towel, shampoo, conditioner, mini soap, toothbrush, toothpaste) Didn't took any photos like I normally would because they were too uninspiring.

So yeah, breakfast for two is included on the rate. It can either be served on your room or you may go to their dining hall and have your breakfast there. 

Again, thou shall not expect much.  

This was the complimentary breakfast. 

Nope, not complaining. There are several people dying of hunger in Africa. Hell, there are several people in different parts of the world dying of hunger. I won't complain because I was given this after paying a meager Php1,500 for an overnight stay. Nope. #NoteToSelf

So it is still best to have a stash of food if you plan on staying here. Sure there are other items on the menu which can be purchased, but after seeing what they have to offer during breakfast, we cannot rely on pure luck, can we? 

I guess the best way to put it, is tat if you just need a decent place to sleep after exploring the city the entire day, you might want to consider booking an affordable hotel like Tagaytay Haven Hotel. It wouldn't put a dent in your budget especially if you will opt for their container van rooms. 

But if you plan on staying in your hotel room for the entire day to relax and experience a hardcore staycation, then I still recommend Taal Vista Hotel. 

Since it was a holiday, just like the hotels, most of known restaurants you can only find in Tagaytay were fully booked at that time (I am looking at you, Bag of Beans. Antonio's, why so elusive? why?)

We were lucky enough to secure a spot at Balinsasayaw Restaurant. We had Chicken Barbecue, Liempo, Danggit, Balinsasayaw Rice, and the proverbial Bulalo among many others.

Everything was good but what stole my heart was the Balinsasayaw's Chicken Tim. Basically it's a Pata Tim dish, but instead of the pork knuckles, whole fried chicken got the spotlight. 

And it was so good. The fried chicken was crisp fried which sort of reminds me of Max's Fried Chicken. Then, the usual Pata Tim sauce with all the nice veggies made it all the more delicious. It made the drive to Tagaytay well worth it, I must say. 

I've way too many photos at Sky Ranch which I would like to post so I shall reserve that on a different blog post. It was a nice place, made me feel like a kid again.

I shall say this once, there is no other place in Tagaytay where you can get really delicious pasalubongs other than Rowena's. 

Forget those road side stores that promise to offer the most delicious Buko Pie and other delicacies because they are all mostly crap. 

Rowena's is legit. 

And they offer varieties of tarts among many other delicious stuff. They also have a restaurant but lemme reserve that on a different blog post as well because they deserve it.  

Tip: Rowena's Cheese Tarts, yum!

Greens. Because I am doing my best to revive my house garden after our massive house renovation. 

On the way back to Manila, someone thought that fish feeding needed to happen for some reason. So yeah, Nuvali.

Plenty of Koi fish and plenty of restaurants around that area, right? Shall I blog about those restaurants as well?

So there you go. I am posting this random trip because apparently, some of the lovely readers of this blog have been sending me emails asking if I am still well and alive. And I really really appreciate that. I apologize for blogging less these days because I am sorting out some things in my life.

But yeah, I am still here. Still alive. Still loving and appreciating all of you who regularly visits this blog despite my absence. And yes, more blog post to come. Just hang in there, amigos.