Savoring the secrets of the south by Michael Kho Lim

Finding a place to begin a life and build one�s family is never easy. This is what Verdana Homes Mamplasan tries to solve. It offers a place suitable for the family person with a fast-paced and active lifestyle. Verdana is a safe and intimate community whose highly networked location makes it the gateway to the booming metro south, an area which used to be just vast green pastures but is now filled with culinary, leisure and recreation, and commercial destinations.

Ilog Maria Honeybee Farms

First stop is the Magsaysay Family's farm called Ilog Maria Honeybee Farms located in the highlands of Silang, Cavite. Silang is the largest town in Cavite known for its variety of fruits and coffee. Its pristine environment also makes the town an ideal place for keeping honeybees.
Joel Magsaysay started his farm business with only two colonies of bees, which were given to him by a friend. The bees are shipped to the Philippines from Australia. Since the bees are used to saving up honey for winter, they work very hard and gather as much honey as they could. After one year of being acclimated to their new environment and realizing that Philippines has no winter, however, the farm's honey production decreases. Thus, Magsaysay imports Australian honeybees annually to keep up with the production requirements.

Ilog Maria's other product lines are born out of family needs. One day, they ran out of bath soap and didn't have enough money to buy soap. Magsaysay mailed many letters to friends and relatives abroad to send him books about bees and making bee-related products. When the books arrived, he and his family studied the different production processes. Later on, the farm started producing soap, honey cider vinegar, beeswax candles, lip balm, throat spray and insect repellent, among others.

All Ilog Maria's products are pure and natural. The Magsaysays don't have any plans of expanding their store. People can only purchase online by visiting www.ilogmaria.com or when they travel all the way to Ilog Maria. And once in the farm, also try its house drink, ice cold honey-buko (honey-coconut) juice.

Bawai's Vietnamese Kusina

Next stop is the hidden kitchen of Bawai on Lagusan Drive, Tagaytay City. It's located right after the Dona Leoncia Country Retirement Homes. After a right turn at Purok 5, Bawai can be seen on the left side.

Bawai is Vietnamese for grandmother, while kusina is Filipino for kitchen. The restaurant is owned and operated by Bawai herself. She is Banh Da Lon or simply called Yong. In 1972, she migrated to the Philippines with her Filipino husband Virgilio Tatlonghari, who was then working in Vietnam.

The restaurant is really the couple's retirement house. Both of them had no plans of putting up a Vietnamese restaurant when they decided to retire last year. Every weekend they would have a family gathering in Tagaytay and their children would invite some of their friends to join them. The guests enjoyed Bawai's cooking that they also invited some of their friends to dine at Bawai's. Since then, the couple has decided to open their lovely home to the public for weekend dining.

Bawai's Vietnamese Kusina serves close to authentic home-cooked Vietnamese cuisine since Bawai imports ingredients from Vietnam through her friends and relatives. Some of the house specialties include the Vietnamese fresh lumpia called goi cuon fresh noodles, shrimp, pork and veggies wrapped in Vietnamese rice paper served with Bawai's peanut sauce. Another dish is called the nem nuong grilled Vietnamese sausage in skewers served with dry noodles and fresh vegetables, rice papers and special Vietnamese patis or fish sauce. Bawai's pho bo remains a favorite among the diners. Pho bo is a Vietnamese soup of flat rice noodles with thinly sliced beef cooked in hot beef broth, topped with cilantro, spring onions and scallions. Bawai serves banh da lon for dessert. It's a Vietnamese version of sapin-sapin that's made of pandan and monggo beans.

Bawai's place can't receive many guests. Prospective diners need to reserve and order in advance since each meal is cooked by Bawai herself. Bawai's Vietnamese Kusina is only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. For reservations, contact 0920-97BAWAI (22924).

Chateau Hestia

A short walking distance from Bawai's Vietnamese Kusina leads to Chateau Hestia. In Greek mythology, Hestia is the goddess of Earth, who presides over domestic life. She sees to it that her people are well-fed and that the sacred fire of Olympus never dies out.

Chateau Hestia is co-owned and operated by Johannes Zehethofer. He is a civil engineer by profession and comes from Vienna, Austria. He travels around the world and sails around the Philippines. His fondness to entertain his friends, and his love for wine and good food have given birth to Chateau Hestia.

Johannes brings to Tagaytay his European culinary experience. He personally attends to his guests, offers them different dishes from his collection of recipes, and serves them with his homemade wines.

An example is Johannes' Filipino version of lemon cello. He makes use of the local dalanghita in lieu of lemon. One can take this as an aperitif, or a digestive drink after eating Chateau Hestia's sinful yet heavenly dessert sampler. Some of the house specialties include panna cotta topped with marmalade and paired with Ferrero homemade ice cream, and mousse au chocolat, a bitter sweet ganache topped with red wine poached pears.

Johannes finds Tagaytay to be a very relaxing place for travelers to dine and unwind. The 5,000-square-meter property is surrounded with many types of greenery that give diners a laid-back feeling and a homey ambience. Chateau Hestia is open from Thursday to Sunday for lunch and dinner. For more information or inquiries, contact Johannes at 0918-9305372 or visit www.chateauhestia.com.

Yoki's Treasure

Somewhere in Mendez, Cavite, is a private museum with a collection of Chinese and Balinese artifacts called Yoki's Treasure. A 30-foot giant Buddha and other life-size replicas of animals greet its visitors near the entrance. Although it's a private place, Yoki, the owner, allows students to visit the place and just charges them a minimal amount of P10.

Yoki'�s Treasure also has a large farm where it grows beds of lettuce and other vegetables using the hydroponics technique. This is an ingenious home-built soil-less method where terrestrial plants are grown using mineral nutrient solutions. The vegetables grown here go into Balay Indang's dishes.

Balay Indang, also owned by Yoki, is a bed and breakfast place, garden refuge located in Indang, Cavite. A wide expanse of flowering plants and trees surround this beautiful and relaxing sanctuary that makes it a perfect venue for weddings, retreats or even team-building activities. Balay Indang has a large, well-maintained swimming pool, a luxurious and airy pool-side pavilion with billiards, mahjong and a collection of classic board games, and a fish pond with red kingfish tilapia where everyone can enjoy fishing together. And Balay Indang won�t be complete without its well-stocked kitchen and restaurant that serves sumptuous local and foreign home-cooked meals.

Those interested to visit Yoki's Treasure or dine at Balay Indang may contact Marge Tan at 0917-8665825.

T House

T neither stands for "tea" nor "Tagaytay", but T House does serve a cold glass of lemon grass tea in the captivating view of Tagaytay City. T really stands for tranquility, the Zen-like ambience for guests to relax and recharge away from the stress, problems and pollution of the city life.
Upon arrival, T House staff greets the tired traveler with a warm smile together with a damp face towel to cool one down. This is followed by a cold glass of kamias with pineapple shake to complete the refreshing welcome.

The food at the dining hall is superb. T House only serves the best-tasting homemade pan de sal and the famous Mang Rudy's puto topped with local cheese. In Tagaytay, it is only Mang Rudy's puto that everyone craves for because he uses rice to make this delicious delicacy. T House also offers the most tender chicken and herb grilled chicken. And sealing this hearty treat with a sweet kiss is T House's fresh and juicy fruit kebab.

Everything in T House is designed to provide rejuvenation and serenity for its guests. From the clean, modern architecture, the sound of flowing water, the birds in the fruit-bearing trees, the smell of fresh herbs, to the spa treatments, everything is intended to indulge one's senses to pure delight.

There are 15 rooms to choose from, clustered into fire, earth and water, with each having its own distinct personality and blissful experience to offer. All rooms are air conditioned, provided with a cable TV, and hot and cold shower with a complete set of bath amenities.

T House is located on 3195 Calamba Road, Tagaytay City. For inquiries and reservations, call 0922-8THouse (846873) or visit www.THouseTagaytay.com.

Kanin Club

The final stop is an all Filipino rice-based restaurant located at the heart of Paseo de Sta. Rosa called Kanin Club. The establishment started when mountain biker Anthony Mendoza and his friends were drinking coffee at Cafe Breton. One of them asked, "Is there any rice being served here?" Everyone gave a big laugh, but that also gave Mendoza an idea to put up a restaurant beside Cafee Breton that caters to people who love to eat rice, or simply put members of the kanin (rice) club.

Anthony himself takes charge at the kitchen while his wife Emily and the couple from Cafe Breton help him out in the business. As the restaurant name implies, it serves a wide range of rice dishes. Bestsellers include aligue (crab fat) rice and tinapa (smoked fish) rice. One also has the option to option to order "All-You-Kanin" which is an eat-all-you-can white rice for only P40 per head.

Kanin Club is also famous for its crispy dinuguan, deep fried pork skin and innards flavored by vinegar and stewed pork blood. Its other crispy dishes include crispy tainga (pork ears) and crispy liempo (pork belly). Other house specialties are sinigang na tadyang ng baka (cow ribs), spicy tahong (mussels), chicken curry, Thai green mango salad, Itsy-Bitsy (string beans with beef flakes) and the famous seafood kare-kare, which is mussels, squid, shrimps and vegetables cooked in peanut sauce and served with bagoong (shrimp paste).

For dessert, Kanin Club has its signature turon a la mode. It is banana, purple yam jam, macapuno strips and monggo beans wrapped and deep-fried in a rice paper roll, served with a scoop of Arce Dairy ice cream on the side.

After two years of satisfying the Filipino palate in Laguna, Kanin Club has expanded and put up another branch in Westgate, Alabang, just this January. For inquiries or reservations, contact (049) 544-0332 or (02) 771-1400.

Verdana Homes

With all these exciting places and tasty treats surrounding the area of Verdana Homes, living in the south will surely be a fantastic experience. It is indeed the gateway to the south. Verdana Homes Mamplasan is a residential subdivision located only five minutes from the Mamplasan Exit of South Luzon Expressway.

Verdana offers residential lots and house-and-lot packages that are perfect for those who want a home that combines the warmth and traditions of suburban living with modern-day facilities and amenities. It also combines innovation and comfort, and beauty and function of the southern lifestyle. Verdana Homes is a project of Community Innovations, backed by the solid experience of Ayala Land in developing superior communities.

Living in Verdana spells fun for the family. Since it is designed to foster ideal family living, Verdana is perfect for young families with growing kids since there is a spacious field for children to run around. They can spend hours playing, discovering and exploring while getting to know other kids. Residents can also swim, play badminton, work out at the gym, relax at the spa, play poker, hold parties or group gatherings, or simply hang out. Access to malls, shops, schools, office and other establishments is also in convenient proximity.

Truly, there's no place like home in Verdana. And as Verdana Homes puts it, "It's easy to be a family here."

For inquiries, contact (02) 848-5100 (Metro Manila) or 1-800-10-848-5100 (outside Metro Manila), or email cii-sales@ayalaland.com.ph or visit www.verdanamamplasan.com.ph. Interested parties may also visit the Verdana Homes showroom in Alabang Town Center located at the 2nd level, across from Paeng's Towncenter Bowl.


Michael Kho Lim is a Philippine Daily Tribune Life and Leisure contributor. Above article was published in its May 25, 2008 online edition.