Eve's Garden has been around for a long while, and i guess the best way to describe it is to say it is Baguio's version of Tagaytay's Sonia's Garden (minus the mini-bakery, B & B, and wedding reception area).
This place is a home-restaurant, and they grow their own vegetables and herbs in their greenhouse. Here's how it works for Eve's Garden: One needs to make a reservation ahead of time, and specify ONE DAY IN ADVANCE which main course from their set menu one wishes to have. Each lunch set costs PHP650.00.
It is quite a distance away from the Baguio city center; and the road going there, whilst in good paved condition, was virtually deserted (as in we didn't see any other cars), so i figure we would have been lost without our dependable navigator S. Thus, after 30 minutes or so, we were glad to see their entrance (above).
The resto itself is a fairly narrow, small space; and there is just a total of 5 tables. Paintings by local artists frame the walls, and there is a simple homey ambiance that makes one feel at ease.
Ah, our table with a view, where our refreshing fresh juice drinks await.
The set menu, as follows: Freshly squeezed pineapple juice with lemon mint and sage, sweetened with Muscovado sugar. This was way too sweet, and had to be diluted with lots and lots of water.
Refreshing, once diluted. :D
The soup was made with a base of onion and squash with seven herbs, garnished with parmesan cheese croutons and yogurt. Pretty nicely flavored with excellent consistency. Portion size was just right.
What i think of as Eve's piece de resistance, their Salad Platter. Made of 6 to 8 lettuce varieties, served with carrots, turnips, walnuts, raisins; and the salad dressing is Caesar-style, made with organic flax oil/olive oil/sunflower oil with seven fresh garden herbs.
Looks too pretty to eat, no? :D Or in R.T.'s inelegant words, "I feel so gay eating this". [no offense meant to our LGBT friends, okay? Peace, mon]
Upon the staff's instructions, we used our hands and put the raisins/walnuts/carrots/turnips onto the vegetable leaves and rolled them, and dipped into the sauce. Sort of like eating vegetarian-style Peking duck, i guess.
The salad was extremely good, so fresh and crunchy! Hard to eat so much, though, since it tends to make one feel full very quickly. (uh oh, is this the secret to losing weight? Eating leaves like a horse? Arggghhh!)
Check out my plate below (and compare it to the one on top). Obviously i ate not so much and just pushed the lettuce around the plate, hehe.
Main course choices were: a) Grilled chicken breast with pesto fettuccini, served with whole-wheat butter fingers; b) Grilled tenderloin soaked in sake, strawberry wine, honey and herbs, served with organic red rice, corn and turnips; and c) Steamed Norwegian salmon with caper dressing, also with organic red rice, corn and turnips.
W.T., S. and i got the chicken breast, which was tender enough. The fettucini was extremely dry, though; and W.T. commented it could have used a dollop of oil.
R.T.'s tenderloin was similarly pretty, and he liked his dish.
Choice of coffee, or ginger ginseng with mint tea; plus homemade dessert made with flax meal, oatmeal flour, molasses, raisins, etc. (a healthy cereal bar). Funnily, the tea tasted like tamarind.
Afterwards, we climbed down to look around Eve's property. Check out her outdoor sala, with the nice wooden trunks. Further down below on the mountain slopes were her greenhouse, as well as the house of her son.
I joked to R.T. that maybe he should buy the empty grassy lots beside Eve's Garden, relocate there, and start growing hogs, which he will eventually turn to organic, grass-fed, free-range, artisanal pork sausages!
Brilliant idea, eh?
EVE'S GARDEN - "Experience Healthy in your Meal"
132 Upper Lamtang Road,
La Trinidad, Benguet
Mobile: 0917 506-6264
**LUNCH ONLY. BY RESERVATION ONLY.
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