Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Birthday Lunch Surprise: Sonya's Garden

I have been targeting to visit a hidden yet well-known “gem” near Tagaytay for quite some time now. Fine, it has been years, two or three years to be more precise. But for some reason, my parents were always busy and my friends were not very fond of out of town adventures. But this 2012 seemed to be nice to me as I finally got to cross out one of the items on my to-do list—a trip to Sonya’s Garden.
I am the type of person who plans out my own birthday. I make sure that I will get to eat good food on my special day (and the day before and two days before that too as I just love birthdays). Hey! I don’t think it is being a spoiled brat or anything like that. I only get to have the right to demand to be special in one out of 365 days! Anyway, going back to Sonya’s Garden…
 
As mentioned, I have been pestering my parents to bring me there on my birthday, for my mom’s birthday, for my sister’s birthday, Christmas, and yes, even Halloween! And every time, I fail to convince them. But this year was different. My friend N and my mom had a secret connivance and decided to surprise me by having my birthday lunch there. It would have been a superb surprise if only my mom didn’t tell me 2 weeks before the actual lunch. [Surprise… FAIL.]
Anyway, we left Manila before 10 a.m. as we wanted to be there by noon. The place was a bit hidden so we all had to keep our eyes open as soon as we went past a coffee and bread place.

Finally, SONYA’S GARDEN. :D
It was really a… garden. The place had this relaxing ambiance and the surroundings were really pleasant to the eyes.
As soon as you sit down, the servers will serve the salad, various toppings, Sonya’s salad dressing, freshly baked sesame bread, spreads and dalandan juice. (They only offer eat-all you-can salad and pasta at PHP610 per head and special order of chicken.)
The salad was indeed fresh and I enjoyed sprinkling my greens with shredded boiled eggs, mangoes, nuts, turnips, tomatoes, and cucumber.
I fell in love with the bread. It was served warm and it went well with the dips. I love the white cheese, basil pesto, bruschetta tomato topping, and mushroom pate. Other dips served were anchovies, black olive tapenade, and fresh green peppercorn in olive oil.
 
Next served was the pasta. There were two sauces—sun dried tomato and chicken cream with mango sauce. I prefer the red one as it was richer in terms of taste and the white sauce was a bit too creamy for me. 
My sister’s eyes sparkled when she saw the ratatouille as it was her first time to see it. (Quite different though from the cartoon version.)
I enjoyed munching on the salmon belly and the shitake mushrooms. I skipped the others—black olives, capers, and peperoncini.
 
Next served was a special order of roasted chicken (PHP495). It sure was cooked well. The meat was tender and quite juicy. The serving was quite generous too.
 
To cap our lunch, we were given a cup of tea and a slice of chocolate cake and turon. We were too full though so we hardly touched the dessert. I had a bit of the chocolate cake though and it was moist and not that sweet.
 
We spent the next 30 minutes or so taking pictures of absolutely anything we see… pretty.
 
It sure was one great lunch. Big thanks to my always loving family and N.

Sonya’s Garden is located at Barangay Buck Estate, Alfonso, Cavite (near Tagaytay City). For reservation call +639175329097 or +639175335140.

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Comments or other recommendations? :)