My C Boutique Hotel Diet

“A diet is when you watch what you eat and wish you could eat what you watch.” ~ Hermione Gingold

Luckily for me, I must have won some kind of jackpot in the genetics/metabolism lottery that I could afford to be on a “see food diet” – a phrase coined by my sister which means “I see the food, I eat the food”.  (Although heaven knows how much I cross my fingers and mantra that I wouldn’t wake up one day with everything I ever ate catching up with me. *POOF I go, in my imagination. Perish the thought =D)  .

Hearing about the C Boutique Hotel and running a search for their in house restaurant, I stirred myself up into excitement.  This was a food adventure that Race, Jo and I had to go on, TOUT DE SUITE!

When we got to the hotel, there was only a couple dining at their restaurant. Weee! (I sooo like uncrowded places.) We took a seat at the farthest table (one of the perks of uncrowded places: choice seats) to the right of the bar, the one with a couchy-looking seat built against the wall. (Although the regular chairs they’ve got are pretty comfortable too.)

Once we got settled, our attendant brought the menus to us, a regular menu and a high tech one. \m/ She showed us how to work the tablet and with every sliding motion of her finger on the screen, we ohh-ed and ahh-ed over the photos of the dishes that were available at C Boutique Hotel.  (What an inspired idea to entice diners! It worked so well with me that I shifted to a C food diet right there … I wanted to get and eat everything I saw on that menu!!!)

The menu and us (and our attendant) advertising the tablet menu. Into the future, ho! \m/

It took a lot of will power to order within our means (pocket wise and stomach space wise ^^,).  For starters, we got the highlands fresh salad (With which I overruled Jo. We’ll get that next, Jo! Promise! *sheepish grins  Her selection isn’t on the paper menu so you’d have to see the tablet version for yourself.  It’s the one with lots of strawberries.)

Race got himself some chicken curry and the green-me-up health mix.  Jo settled on the spinach and mushroom lasagna and northern light health mix.  Thinking about ratatouille now because of the description on the tablet menu, I got myself the vegetable terraces.  I wanted to get the other Charley’s health mix but that wasn’t available.  (Tomatoes not in season? Hmmm.) Our attendant suggested some ladies drinks but I knew I wouldn’t get any satisfaction from that, so I got watermelon shake instead.

While we’re waiting for our orders … here’s what a nice boutique hotel looks like. =)

The salad took our eyes and hands away from the menu gizmo.  I got down to mixing the alfalfa sprouts, olives, tomatoes, bell peppers, greens and pieces of dried fish. (Oh, yeah, tuyoooo! (“,)) After putting some on Race’s and Jo’s plates, I put a forkful of veggies and tuyo in my mouth. I zinged. What a great salad.  So great it was, in fact, that it got me eating bell peppers. (I’m not really a fan of bell peppers.  =b Nothing compares to the way I feel about bitter gourd though.)

Highlands fresh salad (“,)

Our main course(s) arrived at the table.  With Race’s chicken curry, nothing was extraordinary for him.  Getting a taste, I loved that it had chunks of squishy, juicy zucchini in it. To Jo, it was normal curry.  (What can I say, they were both thinking of Ali’s masala. *hee)

Chicken curry

As for Jo’s lasagna, this was the perfect choice for her. She was famished, you see.  With my spoonful, I got a sense of how rich, creamy and cheesy it was. No spinach and mushroom went with my spoon, but I got to taste its lasagna goodness.  =) (I’m ready to go Garfield on this plate.)

It was by this time that our drinks became a happy trio on our table.  Green- me-up was totally green according to Race with the lettuce overpowering everything else that was mixed in it.  He wondered too if that glass was really a 16 0z serving (as it says on the paper menu).  Jo’s was a bit sour, she said. Highly likely the strawberries blended in there weren’t ripe yet (questionable 8 oz serving, too). Suddenly, I was glad for my simple watermelon shake that tasted just like it should.  Also, it was the tallest glass of refreshment in the bunch.

Spinach and mushroom lasagna, a couple of Charley’s health mix drinks (green me up and northern light) and watermelon shake (the tallest glass in the bunch *hihi).

My little casserole of ratatouille was the last one to be delivered at the table. It was well worth the wait because I liked everything about the dish.  Lots of ooey gooey cheese, packed with veggies (although not as thinly sliced like Remy, the mouse chef’s version =D) It was a good mix with rice as well since I too was starved.

Vegetable terraces … the actual and the one on the paperless menu. (Notice the cover for the mini pot in the tablet image. My vegetable terrace did have that but it slipped from the plate and broke when it was delivered. Whoppa! (a la Big Fat Greek Wedding *snickers)

C Boutique Hotel diners

Like I said, the high tech menu made us all ‘takaw tingin’.  We just had to have to dessert. =b

Jo had her heart set on a blueberry cheesecake but instead of the dark blue/violet berry topping, she got the opposite.  Yes, it was frozen …  a little too much that she was making ice crunching noises with her spoon when she chipped away (like when you start eating halohalo) at it.  I tried some of the cheesecake.  It had an ice cream-y sensation on my tongue.  It was a cheesecake though not as tangy … but still a cheesecake.

Jo’s frozen berry cheesecake =D It’s so buteeful!

Moving on to the leche flan, it was just the right density that Race wanted it … D-E-N-S-E.  It did have the delicious orange flavors in the sauce but Race didn’t appreciate that the flan was wading in it. I sort of liked it, ahh, me and my sweet tooth. (“,) Yey, orange marmalade!

Race’s leche flan with orange sauce =)

Then my mango trifle was delivered to the table.  I found I was no match for its sweetness.  I felt the tonsillitis coming on every time I took a bite.  It was interesting however, how they threw in some teeny tiny gelatin pieces with the mango mushed preserve. I had fun trying to catch and crush each bit between my molars. (Here we go, playing with food. ^^,)

My mango trifle *bite bite bite

Such a pretty piece of cake.  Let’s have a look at that again.

X marks C Boutique Hotel for good food (emphasis on food) in Baguio. I’ll be C-ing you again, C Boutique!  I’m on a C food diet now, too. \m/

Food:  for the salad, Jo’s lasagna and my vegetable terraces.  for everything else we had.

Service:  Actually, it’s supposed to be four treasure chests, but I took one out because they burst Jo’s blueberry cheesecake bubble. Tahan na, Jo na nasawi. Big hugs! We’ll get a true blue blueberry cheesecake soon. (“,)

Ambiance: 

Price:  It’s boutique hotel dining, after all.

WHERE TO EAT IN BAGUIO CITY

C Boutique Hotel

No. 5 Arellano cor. Moran,

Barangay Gibraltar

Baguio City, Philippines

619 0158

cboutiquehotel.com/