Sagada Round II: Fooding

As some of you remember, I tried to brave the Sagada route in November during rainy season. In addition to being ridiculously out of shape, I'd been exhausted from the bus ride and trying to keep up with climbers. Needless to say it was a miracle that I survived. On a whim I joined my friends Ryan, Will & Riva for a longer stay in Sagada and let me just say it made all the difference. Four days in the mountains meant that I wasn't rushed to see all the sights and was a relief from the pollution that is Manila. This entry is mainly centered around food. Honestly one of the main reasons I went back to Sagada was to get a taste of yogurt and eat at the Saturday buffet at Log Cabin. More on that later.

We stopped in Banaue for a few hours just for lunch and a couple scenic pictures, but our main focus was the sleepy little town of Sagada (which is usually overrun with tourists)












Me and will en route to Sagada. Bumping around in a jeep for 2 hours is not that fun, but the view is fantastic.














Will ponders the meaning of life...
Well no not really, but I thought this was such a great picture.
















We relaxed on the first day we were there, and the next morning we got up and headed into this little restaurant in the basement of a building. Maybe we were really hungry, but the food was absolutely amazing. Will had fish and the best stir fried veggies ever. The green beans were very fresh and slathered with a bit of butter, so it was hard to go wrong with that.

As they are still a farming community, almost everything on the table is locally grown. The market is supertiny but they have everything you need. Clearly though, their tents are not made for 6 ft tall foreigners. Let me tell you, if I ever became a vegetarian, I'd park myself here in these mountains.


After one of our outdoor excursions, we smelled the aroma of baking bread and steered away from our course home. We found a bakery a little off from the main road and bought 5 different kinds of breads to snack on. The best one was a pack of cinnamon rolls that were almost immediately devoured by Will.







A good breakfast might be a reason for me to wake up earlier in the morning. Usually I'm up by 8am or so because the sun is so intense in the Philippines, but I'm always cranky. In Sagada, I'd wake up and instantly fantasize about what I was going to have for breakfast. This is what I had at Masferre's. Bread, eggs and and yummy Sagada coffee.







The Yoghurt House was one of my favorite haunts. They make fresh yogurt topped with different things such as honey, strawberries, granola or bananas (or if you're a glutton like I am, all of the above)


So as I mentioned earlier, my goal was to have buffet at Log Cabin. As soon as I was invited to go on the trip I said "and of course we're doing buffet at Log Cabin" It was as good as I remembered. The menu this time was baked tomato, chicken lasagna, fresh salad with papaya blossoms and many more things. I only just remembered to take pictures of dessert so here it is. A white chocolate layered mocha cake with peanut brittle and strawberry toppings and a chocolate biscotti accompanied by strong Sagada coffee.

During our travel to Sagada, we met some German tourists who we would occasionally bump into on the main street. We spent our last dinner in Sagada with them at Masferre's. I had garlic potato wedges and roasted chicken. Mmm. (Pictured clockwise from left: Riva, me, Will, Nicole, Leo, Ryan)