Cafe By The Ruins, Baguio: Great ambiance, breakfast food & hot chocolate
Last April 22, I headed over to the Philippines’ City of Pines for Karlo’s birthday, a brief trip to Kalinga, and a wedding at La Union, and what I had hoped would be many days of creative output.
I am not inherently a food blogger, but I AM fond of food, and I find that I am developing more discipline / EQ to take pictures of my food before I begin ruining the plating in favor of my eager taste buds.
Among the first of my Baguio resto discoveries is Cafe By The Ruins.
“Ruins” are the remains of a building, city, etc., that has been destroyed or that is in disrepair or a state of decay.
The inviting cafe was initially built on the ruins left behind by World War II (or so Karlo claims); now, you can see it’s also built around eyesores that lead to the uglification of Baguio, beginning with the glaring Eurotel right beside the cafe. But that’s a totally different story.
Anyway.
I’m a sucker for well-decorated places with great ambiance.
I am more likely to hang out in a place with below average food and great ambiance vs. great food with below average ambiance (I might eat quickly in those places but not necessarily hang out). Luckily, Cafe By The Ruins offers great ambiance, rustic and Baguio-y, AND great breakfast food options.
Choose from a selection of seating areas:
Tables arranged around a dap-ay, which is like a circular gathering around a bonfire.
More seating areas:
Being a lover of breakfast no matter what time of day, Karlo and I shared some breakfast fare for a late merienda. :D
We started with a piece on Onion Bread (P80) with some jam / spread. This was not worth ordering. ‘Nuff said.
Karlo, being on a “see-food” diet, wanted to order a rice meal AND champorado with dilis, which at around 5pm, was way too heavy considering we’d be having dinner in a few hours. So, he decided to get just the Fisherman’s Breakfast (P245) instead, which was still heavy, of course. It consisted of dried fish, scrambled eggs, grilled tomato and some red mountain rice. It was on the pricey side, but Karlo thoroughly enjoyed his order. :)
He also got a pot of Ceylon Tea (P120), which contained enough tea to last two people the entire meal, served with a lime and honey. Good stuff. You’ll also be amazed with how heavy the pot itself is. Kettle bell level.
I got myself the Indios Bravos (P200), which were almost like little bibingkas, or rice pancakes with salted egg (and possibly some kesong puti, if I remember correctly) and dried coconut. Best eaten with lots of muscovado sugar! Yum.
Now, given the size of these baby pancakes, a price of P200 is way expensive for me BUT it comes with this huge and AWESOME cup of really excellent hot cacao. I’m a self-declared cacao connoisseur, and this passes with flying colors.
I hate when I get hot chocolate that is either watered down, thickened with cornstarch or “flavored” with sugar vs. chocolate. This cup was not too sweet, not too thick, not diluted / extended, rich in cacao flavor, very tablea-y. Just how I like it.
We went back to Cafe By The Ruins later in our stay, but I found my Lemon Ricotta pasta rather underwhelming, so I didn’t bother taking a photo. But if you have a little extra cash to spare, drop by Cafe By The Ruins for their breakfast fare any time of day. You won’t regret it!
Okay. Nabusog ako sa blog post ko.
Will be featuring more of Baguio (more food than anything else) in the coming days. In the meantime, Manila work beckons. :P
Back to simpler food,
Jen
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Cafe By The Ruins
23 Chuntug Street
Baguio City, Philippines 2600
+63 74 442 4010
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n/a Freelancer-friendly — didn’t check.
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