BELLY HUNGRY IN BAGUIO (IV): CLIMBING UP HILL STATION

 Hill Station is located at the Casa Vallejo, a restored hotel complex that also houses Mt. Cloud Bookshop (selling mainly Filipiniana books) and North Haven Spa (try their Strawberry body scrub!). This place is right in the middle of things, being literally below that monolith everyone loves to hate, SM Baguio.

It was a Friday night; and around 10:00 PM, we were looking for a place to have a very late dinner. S. made some calls (dear reader, by now you must have realized she is the tour guide par excellence in this neck of the woods ;-D). Pretty soon, we were ushering ourselves at the doorstep of Hill Station.

At first glance of the interiors, i inwardly mused that this place was rather intimidating. It gave off an Old World, fine dining vibe, where one had to be properly dressed (no slippers! no shorts! no headphones!) and be knowledgeable about which piece of cutlery to use for each course.

Turns out the owner of Hill Station is a relative of the iconic Mario's restaurant. S. whispered that this resto was where Baguio's creme de la creme gathered for special social occasions (where they're presumably dressed to the nines).

As we were famished, onwards to the food:

 

 The free bread was quite soft and chewy, and i ate a lot! The dips were flavorful. 

For the Beef Carpaccio (above), we all agreed it was top-rate: Good portion sizes for the beef, fresh crunchy lettuce, and the dressing was not heavy nor cloying. 

 

I liked that the Sizzling Sisig wasn't overly dry (like Gerry's Grill) nor wet/goopy. The consistency was just right, and it was a nice appetizer for all of us. 

R.T. particularly liked his Lamb Spareribs, pronouncing it "very tender".

 

My dish was rather grandiosely called the "Fish Fillet with Five Spice Chile Tea Rub" in Hoisin Lime Sauce. I had high expectations, which unfortunately were not met. Don't get me wrong, the fish wasn't bad - it was just rather average. And the so-called five spices were overpowered by the hoisin sauce. 

Ah, desserts. Here we come to the most interesting part: 

Clockwise (from top left:) 
Dark Chocolate ice cream with Cayenne (the one with orange-colored bits on top); Death by Chocolate cake (brownies with vanilla ice cream, similar to what is served at Chili's/TGIFridays/Italianni's); Flan de Sevilla (leche flan with ground orange rind bits); and Chocolate Lemon Tart (with whipped cream).


The cayenne provided a real jolt, but the dark chocolate ice cream, while tasting of real dark chocolate, had a rather "ice-y" mouth feel. It was just okay. 

Meanwhile, W.T. felt the dark chocolate and lemon didn't quite mesh, so thumbs down for this dish. 

On the plus side, Death by Chocolate was a winner! So gooey and rich! Perfectly fattening! :D

Flan de Sevilla was not just a winner, it was the BOMB!!! Molto fantastico! The texture of the flan was firm, the caramel sauce with just the right amount of sweetness, counterbalanced by the citrus tang of the orange rinds. I'd be willing to get on a bus to Baguio just to eat this dessert again. Right on top of my list for best leche flan!
 

Hill Station Tapas Bar & Restaurant
Casa Vallejo
Upper Session Road
Mobile : 0927 667-8553