Some local restaurants Estralians tried while in Baguio City

• 1. Lemon and Olives
• 2. Bahri
• 3. Fish & Chips – London Style
• 4. Baguio Craft Brewery
• 5. Chef Restaurant
• 6. Oh My Gulay
• 7. The Garden Diner at Baguio Botanical Garden
• 8. The Farmers Daughter Restaurant
• 9. Baguio Night Market
• 10. D’Brinks

1. Lemon and Olives

Lemon and Olives is one of the top restaurants out of Estralians 10 places to eat in Baguio. Great views, superb service & food to die for. We heard about this place from the internet and it was also recommended by our friend Jason in Angeles, Pampanga.
The restaurant’s interior is very nice and cozy. It is located on a hillside so you could enjoy beautiful views while dining.

For the main dish, we ordered the traditional Moussaka and mixed meat souvlaki. Our food was very delicious and authentic (Marion has lived in Greece so she should know). For dessert, we had the baklava cheesecake. 100% approved by Estralians, it’s one of the best desserts ever.

The service was professional and quick. We were greeted right away and received with big smiles. It took about 15-20 minutes for our food even with the restaurant nearly at capacity.
The menu had all the basic Greek dishes that one could desire, and the prices were on the medium range. Our bill was 790 PHP.

Highlight: Bank Terminal, which in the Philippines is a rare sight.
Lowlight: Estralians couldn’t fault it or as Simon’s mate Jason described: “it didn’t suck” 😊

2. Bahri

We discovered Bahri while staying in South of Colombo Bed & Breakfast. The Restaurant is located at the edge of Baguio City and has magnificent views over the entire city of Baguio and Club House golf course. On a clear day, you could even see the ocean – hence the name Bahri (sea view in Arabic). As we mentioned on one of our previous articles, they have great internet and Bahri’s outside terrace is a perfect spot for a field office 😊

We dined in the restaurant 2 times. The first time we had some coffee and two different Sri Lankan style curry’s – OMG– DELICIOUS. The second time we had a beef burger and a chicken sandwich. The burger was nice and juicy but the chicken sandwich was a little bit on the dry side – needed a bit more sauce. If you plan to order coffee bear in mind that it is served with yummy coconut milk. (Tip for anyone with allergies)

The service was spot on. As it is a new place (opened mid-May 2019) the restaurant was very quiet, so we got treated like royalty.
The menu has a decent choice of local- and Sri Lankan cuisine. Prices are reasonable. Our lunch bill was 545 PHP and dinner bill 590 PHP.
Bahri & South of Colombo is definitely worth the visit.

Highlight: Super Fast Internet
Lowlight: Can get quite windy on the terrace outside

3. Fish and Chips – London Style

We stumbled on this place because it was raining outside, and we were looking for something that is close to us.
Fish & Chips London Style is located in a newly built complex that has heaps of other food joints in the vicinity. There is no view, but the interior looks fresh and funky and it definitely deserves a spot in Estralians 10 places to eat in Baguio. Grab your cameras with you as this place is absolutely #instagrammable
We ordered the obvious fish and chips and a fish burger. Chips were golden brown and crunchy; fish was soft from the inside with yummy crispy batter around it. The burger was one of the best fish burgers Simon has ever had. Check out Simon’s Burger Section in our blog.

The service was quick and professional.
Their menu is focused on fish and chips style items. Prices are very affordable. Our bill (with a pot of tea) was 466 PHP.
One odd thing to point out is why do they have Petronas Twin Tower napkin holders in London style fish and chips shop??????

Highlight: Teapot with the Winter Hat 🙂
Lowlight: Couldn’t fault it

4. Baguio Craft Brewery

This next place is one definite MUST VISIT place while in Baguio or traveling through. With a huge selection of craft beers and scrumptious food Estralians were impressed :). We found this place through Instagram.

Baguio Craft Brewery was created from humble beginnings. It started with home-brewing in a garage, a passion for craft beer and a love for creating something extraordinary delicious, out of basics, natural ingredients. This Philippine based company opened the doors to its first location in Baguio City in 2014.

The atmosphere in the brewery is great with the vines hanging from the ceiling and plenty of room for all the craft beer connoisseurs. Like the founder and CEO Christopher Gerald Ordas himself.

They have various specials on all the time. Our visit landed on Monday night in May 2019. All you can eat ribs night 299 PHP…ou yeah baby. Can’t go wrong with beer and ribs. Meat that literally fell off the bones.

The bartender was very knowledgeable about their huge selection of craft beers and gave us a few beers to taste before ordering. Very pleasant and quick service.

Highlight: Superb atmosphere and beers
Lowlight: 404 not found 🙂

5. Chef Restaurant

It was another rainy afternoon in Baguio. Marion decided to find a place near our accommodation. Chef Restaurant was less than 2 Kms away.

As per their statement on their Facebook Page: “THE BEST RESTAURANT 2019” across the Philippines, in all its categories, serving AWARD WINNING cuisines & featuring “5 Star Food at no Star Price!”

Estralians love curry, so we decided to pick a few curries to taste. Simon decided to pick Fish Biryani but they were out of fish. No Fish meant that a huge part of the menu was unavailable. We also decided to order Arabic Chai (with cardamon & mint in the menu). The lady brought the tea to the table and said sorry we are out of mint :/

Because there wasn’t much of a choice left and we were famished we chose:

• Chicken Edam (World famous Mediterranean/Arabic Curry)
• Chicken Curry

The food was delicious and well worth our motorbike ride in the rain. Not sure I would call it 5 Star Food but definitely a 4 Star Food. Our bill was 625 PHP at least after re-checking the bill. When we complained about the bill the waiter recalculated it. When she brought it back she said that she accidentally added it all up incorrectly. The Arabic Chai with no mint was calculated 4 times. Which added up to 763 PHP.

Estralians Travel Tip: Always check your bill before paying!!

Highlight: Good tasting curry with affordable price
Lowlight: Award-winning restaurant without the basic ingredients

6. Oh My Gulay

Oh My Gulay is a must-visit gem in Baguio CBD. It offers great views and has a unique décor. Despite sitting on the top of a 5 story building the interior looks nothing as you would expect. In other words, when entering the restaurant, you’ll find yourself in an indoor tropical garden with artistic touch to it.

For our lunch, we ordered a mushroom pasta and a mango crepe and for drinks brewed coffee and iced mocha. Both the pasta and crepe looked good and tasted great. The iced mocha was a big disappointment though. It was very very sweet and had no coffee in it (they had used only chocolate syrup or smth similar).

Also, the service was quite average. No one greeted us or showed us to a table. Furthermore, we literally had to look for the menus and service staff. After we had asked around where to order a servant appeared. I think the problem is that a lot of people just come in, take pictures and wander around instead of actually dining in there. On a positive side, food arrived quickly and the lady who served us was friendly and polite.

If heading up to Oh My Gulay one needs to know that while the menu has lots of different options, it is a vegetarian restaurant.

In summary, Estralians think that Oh My Gulay is definitely worth visiting. It is probably one of the most memorable dining experience we had in Baguio
Highlight: the awesome tropical interior
Low-Light: As Estralians are omnivores we were a bit disappointed finding out they serve vegetarian food only

7. The Garden Diner

We found The Garden Diner when visiting Baguio Botanical Garden. We were not looking for a place to eat but a place to sit down and have a cup of coffee while having a business call. Anyway, after entering the place and looking through their menu we decided to try their food as well.

The restaurant has a nice interior with wooden tables and small cabanas. When sitting by the window you can enjoy a view over the botanical garden. For those using their own transport, it has plenty of parking spots outside.

As we were only having a light meal we ordered a grilled pork stir fry with egg noodles for 2. The dish looked nice and was exactly as said in the menu – big enough for two. Although it could have had more meat in it, it was very tasty.

We found the service on the average side. The tables stayed uncleaned for a long time. After bringing us a cup of coffee it took them around 25 minutes to take the food order. The food itself arrived 15 minutes after we made the order.

The menu has a good variety of food and is quite affordable. Our meal for two was 225 PHP plus coffee.

Estralians think that The Garden Diner is a convenient place to have your lunch while visiting the Botanical Garden or Wright Park. Unlike other restaurants that are located in a busy tourist area, this one doesn’t overcharge you.
Highlight: Conveniently located in the Botanical Garden
Low-light: Slow service

8. The Farmers Daughter Restaurant

We came across this restaurant when visiting Tom-Awan Village. As the restaurant is conveniently located just about 30 meters from the village. It makes it a perfect place for a quick lunch.

The restaurant looks very basic. Straw hut with wooden tables and benches. A good thing about the place is that there is a decent-sized parking lot in front of the restaurant.
As we weren’t that hungry, we only ordered smoked pork stir-fry, rice and lemongrass tea to share. The stir-fry was seriously yummy. It had so much flavor and the pork was nice and juicy. The lemongrass tea that we ordered was tasty.

The only downside is that instead of having sugar on the table they added the sugar into the tea already. Simon doesn’t take sugar and on top of that, they made it way too sweet.

The service at the place was ok. As we stepped into the restaurant we were approached straightaway. One person showed us a table where we could sit and another one brought us the menus. It took about 10-15 minutes for our food to reach the table.

The menu itself had a lot of different dishes and the prices were very affordable. Our bill was 245 PHP for two.
The thing that we most liked about the place was the awesome smell of smoked meat. The thing that we most disliked was the number of flies in the restaurant. The waiter did bring the candle to the table but it didn’t do much. That said, if we would be in the area once again, we would definitely go back there as their food is so tasty.

Highlight: Smoky flavoured food and great chillies on the side
Lowlight: Way too many flies

9. Baguio Night Market

One of the places the best places for street food in Baguio is at the night market. This pop-up market is available to visit every night from 9 PM to Midnight.

It is crazy cool how quickly the market appears. At 9 PM sharp the Police & Fire Department closes the Harrison Road and the fight for the best spots begins.

This is something you can’t describe with words so Estralians decided to create a few short videos. Have a look 🙂

I decided to try Mark La’s Shawarma (Middle Eastern Kebab). Marion wasn’t really hungry and didn’t eat. The kebab was super tasty and crunchy because they added potato chips inside. Absolutely Brilliant for 50 pesos 🙂

Baguio Night market is a venue worth visiting if you are looking value for money. It gets fairly busy and it is quite hard to navigate due to the masses. Marion and I got ourselves a couple of pairs of new kicks, shorts and some knockoff cologne. Everything together cost less than 1000 Pesos. 😀

Highlight: How quickly the market was setup
Lowlight: Very very crowded market. And we have been in Chinatown markets in Saigon, Vietnam.

10. D’Brinks

Now before reading any further, you need to know that D’Brinks is not in Baguio but in Binalonan. The reason why it made this list is because we think that it is a perfect place for lunch while driving to Baguio from Manila, Angeles or Tarlac. It definitely deserves a spot in Estralians 10 places to eat in Baguio list :). It is located 2-2,5 hours from Baguio and to get there from the HWY you don’t have to make a huge detour.

D’Brinks in an outdoor restaurant that has a nice atmosphere. With few more touches, it almost looks like you have stepped into a wedding venue. Also, No need to worry about parking as there is a parking lot in front of the restaurant.

For dinner, we ordered crispy Kare-Kare (pork/chicken in thick savory peanut sauce) and pakbet with binalonan longanisa (locally made sausage with some veggies). For drinks, we went with SM Light and SM Lemon (local beer). Our food was amazingly good and the portions were decent sized.

What we absolutely loved about Brinks were the smiling and friendly service staff members and the owner. Not to mention, the food arrived within 15 minutes.

Highlight: Amazing atmosphere #instagrammable
Low-light: Not in Baguio 😉

Two totally overrated places in Baguio City

Destiny café and restaurant

We visited Destiny café because it was mentioned in someone’s “10 places to eat in Baguio” article.

The interior of the place is nice but nothing special. That said they also have a little balcony overlooking Baguio City which is beautiful during the night time.

Although we were the only table the service was slow and food was cold when it got to the table.

Overall, Estralians do not recommend this place for food. Maybe for live music (there was a stage so we assumed that they might have live music some days)

Highlight: As they didn’t have any tea we asked if they could bring us some hot water, lemon and honey. Instead, the waiter chopped up some lemons into hot water added some honey inside…Perfect #getcreative Salamat po!
Low-light: Food

Grumpy Joe Burgers

We visited Grumpy Joe because Simon was graving for a good burger and Grumpy Joe is apparently known for its great burgers.

The place looks like an American diner. Didn’t look very appealing to us.

Both the Burger and the Pizza wrap were just okay. The pizza wrap had way too much tomato sauce on it and the burger was just boring.

As it was packed when we got there around 8 pm and there was a list to get a seat we decided to order take away. That said the staff was friendly and attentive.

The menu had plenty of choices to use from and the prices were mid-class. We paid 345 PHP for our food. All they have in Grumpy Joe is an alright marketing campaign but food quality is just average.

Estralians do not recommend this place for people who only have few days in Baguio as we think that there are better options. If staying for longer than just a weekend then hey why not, you might land on a better dish.

Highlight: Friendly staff

Low-light: Average food. As Simon said: “Grümpy Joe’s Burger left me GRUMPY” and believe me when I say that no one likes Grumpy Simon.