Achieve Inner Peace through Lotus House Chinese Food (Ohhhmmmm)

Chinese restaurants abound in the city of Baguio (and in the Philippines).  And why shouldn’t there be lots of them when Chinese food is so good?  (“,)  As promised, we’re doing a feature blog on the Lotus House restaurant at the old Hotel Supreme.

It’s right where the old Ivy’s Grill and Restaurant used to be and they’ve renovated the place so that it’s not as ominous looking as it was the first time I saw it.  *shyeeew.  Ivy Grill has been transferred across Lotus and it’s also known as Café Palmera.

Ivy Grill and Restaurant/Cafe Palmera

When Race and I got to Hotel Supreme for our Lotus House dinner, the restaurant was still closed.  Take note that this restaurant has a broken schedule.  It’s open at lunch from 11 to 2 pm and dinner at 5 to 9 pm.  Seeing that we still had 30 minutes to wait before Lotus opens, the staff suggested Ivy’s Grill to us.  I really wanted to see what they’ve done with Lotus, so we occupied the time by browsing through the menu for dishes served at Lotus (as well as Ivy Grill).

Of stained glass windows and red walls. (“,)

With the clock striking 5, we took our seat at a table by the window.  The dining set here was new and the chairs had a cute low backrest design that kept us from slouching.  =D  We ordered drinks, yang chow rice (good for three), braised bean curd, and spicy spare ribs from the nice server.  We had the place to ourselves on that visit and we waited for our orders while surveying the restaurant’s renovated surroundings.  It seemed like they accomplished everything they wanted to accomplish with the renovation of the restaurant.

At our table by the window. \m/

The place looks so much nicer now.  You’ll be seeing red (in a positive and zen kind of way) with the paint on the walls that has details of lotus branches.  They still kept the same chairs and tables from the old restaurant at the center of the establishment, though.  (They’re dated looking chairs with white cover – overalls?  *harhar.  All these chairs needed were ribbons tied to the backs and we’re back in the 80s =b).  Boy, was I glad we had our place by the window.

Renovated Restaurant/Chairs in ‘overalls’ =b

Our food arrived after a few minutes.  I quickly zoned in on the yang chow rice.  How can you help from loving fried rice like this?  It’s got everything you need in one bowl.  It doubles up as an entrée.  If you ever need to carb up, you can do well with a serving of Chinese fried rice.  Season it with some soy sauce and calamansi juice and it’s the perfect meal.

Yang Chow Fried Rice

The braised bean curd was a dish that had more than tofu in it.  It had vegetables that were cooked to perfection (a crunch with every bite!  Nice!) and it also had meat (crispy like the way you’d find it in lechon kawali).  (Another complete meal *weeeee.)  The spicy spare ribs weren’t that spicy on its own.  As delicious as it already was, if you’re still looking to get that chili kick, you’re going to need some chili oil.  At Lotus, this was readily available.  It was right on the table together with other seasonings (salt, pepper, soy sauce, etc.)

Braised Bean Curd

(Not So) Spicy Spare Ribs

We had a wonderful dinner at Lotus.  The food was delicious and satisfying.  The service was topnotch.  (Attentive, dotting even – maybe because we were the only customers then.  Nevertheless, 5 treasure chests for service, pronto! =D)  The ambiance, definitely better in comparison to what it was before the renovation.  Thank you, Lotus House!  We’ll be back for your other dishes soon!

X marks Lotus House for good food in Baguio.

Food:

Service: 

Ambiance: 

Price:

Lotus House

Hotel Supreme

113 Magsaysay Avenue

Baguio City, Philippines