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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Enjoy food and nature at Choco-late de Batirol in Baguio City

In my last two posts, I shared about how our family was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Vigan in Ilocos Sur, Pagudpod in Ilocos Norte and the country's summer capital, Baguio City. We had the time of our lives! The six-day vacation enabled me to bond with my two sisters, our mom and nephews and niece. The kids had tons of fun! We so enjoyed visiting places, shopping for souvenirs, swimming and of course, eating! 
In Ilocos, we grabbed the chance to eat local specialty dishes like the "warek-warek", the funny-named eggplant dish "poqui-poqui", the kids' favorite bagnet (they were eating it for 3 days!), and even the unique pinakbet pizza! In Baguio, we were happy to discover Choco-late de Batirol, which specialty is thick hot chocolate made from local cacao beans. Batirol, I read, is the wooden instrument used for mixing and frothing the hot chocolate. Anyway, I heard that Choco-late de Batirol is a must-try in the City of Pines. It's a very charming garden restaurant where you get to enjoy nature and eat good food and drink their famous hot chocolate. The only thing we didn't like was there were many items on their menu that they have ceased to offer but were still listed. So we were disappointed a number of times ordering something and being told they don't have it. They might as well purge the menu of those items, right, to avoid confusion and disappointment on the part of diners. Overall though, we had a good time at Choco-late de Batirol with the great natural ambiance (lots of plants and trees all around) and delicious food. 
 These were our orders:      

Tocino Kalabaw, P160.
I was in the mood for the unfamiliar so I ordered this one. 
Carabao meat was not rave-worthy for me, though I Iiked that it was very tender. 
Pork Binagoongan, P280 per order, good for 2-3 persons.
Lechon Paksiw, P310. 
Beefsteak, P300.
Bibingka (P105) and hot chocolate traditional blend (P90). A match made in heaven!
How their hot chocolate is prepared.





A simmering cup of chocolate de batirol. Too bad our orders came in paper cups instead of china (ceramic).

 In and around the garden restaurant









When visiting Baguio, you'd be happy to include Choco-late de Batirol inside Camp John Hay in your itinerary. They have two locations in the summer capital and another one in the City of San Fernando in Pampanga. Enjoy your hot cup of goodness!
(Note: This post also appeared in my blog The Awesome Grind which I have discontinued)

Today's Word: Luke 8:24

This morning was quite scary, wasn't it, no thanks to typhoon "Glenda (international name Rammansun)". I was a bit nervous because I hadn't experienced such violent winds in my whole life! All that I relied on was GOD. I was praying loudly already after the wind destroyed our garden, toppling down the bamboo wall that my husband had lovingly built three years ago and shattering our beautiful and unique lamp made from differently-colored wine bottles. Another thing I was sad about was the destruction of our Pycos tree with one huge branch cut off. Then I heard on TV that the typhoon was on its way yet to Metro Manila and my fear worsened, thinking we had to brace for even stronger winds. I was afraid our roof would be blown away. Amazingly, the wind died down minutes after my loud prayer (I'm sure many Manilans were praying as well). Thank you so much, LORD! You are so good indeed! 
Many lives and properties were spared. 
For this let us all praise the LORD!

                                                  Photo credit: http://wallpaper4god.com