UPDATE: C Boutique Hotel … Angels, ‘meet Charley’.

All rightie, it’s confirmed. Charley’s is the name of C Boutique Hotel’s in house restaurant/bar. (I didn’t want to assume when Jo, Race and I went exploring what this accommodation had to offer in the way of munchables. *hee)

Anyhoo, due to the inclement weather we’ve had (Typhoon Nando’s in the Philippine area of responsibility now but I hope, it will leave the soonest *fingers crossed), I (probably everyone) didn’t get out much to check any restaurant off the list or even make a repeat visit to any of the places I liked. Boy, was I in the mood for Charley’s dishes.

It was fabulous timing that Maam Gracie of SkyCable’s Events Next Door invited my fellow blogger eatsplorers, Ane and Sam, and me to an exclusive food event at C Boutique. \m/

Charley’s Bar from the C Boutique Hotel lounge/balcony. Check out the first C Boutique Hotel blog post for more photos of the restaurant.

Let us begin.

For this late afternoon taste testing, we gorged ourselves on appetizers: open face empanaditas; pica-pica: pakbet tempura, pork with tofu, and sizzling papaitan (pulutan heaven, weee!); and one of the main dishes: fisherman’s pie.  To wash these off with, we were given bright and colorful glasses of Charley’s temple.

Open face empanadita ^^,

We all zoned in on the first plate of food that caught our eye, the empanaditas. (Aww, look at the fried quail eggs on top of each one, how cute!) Forgetting about the vinegar (can you believe it? =D), I put some of the meat (I’m not sure if it’s longganisa, … although we were informed this was an homage to the Ilocos empanada), bits of veggies and a small piece of the crispy fried molo wrapper in my mouth; ohh, deliciously milky it became with a few chews.  It was a good thing that after the first forkful that I remembered to drizzle some vinegar onto my empanadita.  It was all the better for it.  Gobbling the quail egg up, I shifted my attention to the pakbet tempura.

Pakbet tempura =)

Fried in batter, this got us talking about neat tricks to get kids to eat their veggies as we also reminisced about how we used to hate vegetables when we were young (and how some couldn’t move on from it … as you’ll see in a moment). I bit into the okra and the squash with gusto after a tip dip in vinegar. (Our chef said this was only a substitute for bagoong.  Of course, what kind of pinakbet would this be without the fish paste, right? =) ) Then I unknowingly speared bitter gourd with my fork. One bite, and I wanted to go minion-like again wiping my mouth clean of chewed ampalaya, going blech, blech, blechhhh … despicable vegetable! =b

Pork with tofu … garnished with deep fried batter covered basil leaves. =D

I reached for the plate of pork with tofu and got a spoonful of the little cubes if only to get rid of the taste of the ampalaya.  Ane of milkcerealsandchips.com liked this dish a lot and everything about it, from the crunchy squishyness of the tofu to the savoriness of the pork to the flavor of the soy sauce and spices, made it seem like biting into my nemesis of a vegetable didn’t happen.  *heehaha A mini nibble on the crispy basil garnish and the world was right again.

Charley’s temple

I took a few sips from my Charley’s temple drink for good measure.  You got it, it’s the hotel’s version of the Shirley Temple mocktail.  =D Instead of ginger ale, this beverage was composed of fruit juice and grenadine. *sip ahhh moment

Fisherman’s pie (“,)

It then came my turn to have a piece of fisherman’s pie.  It was a hit with citybehindthefog.com’s Samantha, who is apparently a seafood monger.  Different kinds of seafood (mussels, cream dory, shrimp and crab sticks) enveloped in mashed potato, it was dish that I liked too.  It reminded me of my Charley’s vegetable terraces for its creamy, cheesy goodness. =)

Sizzling papaitan. Double, double toil and trouble … papaitan sizzle and bitter soup bubble … and fizzle. =))

Essentially, the last dish brought to the table was Maam Gracie’s bet, the sizzling papaitan.  The sizzling effect comes from the soup (served in a separate bowl) that you pour on the meat in the hot plate.  In just a few seconds, not a drop of the broth was left.  While the whiff we had of the pinapaitan made our mouths water, we started looking for what we were accustomed to, beef innards in bitter soup … emphasis on soup. It’s so pulutan-y now, and yes, that was the goal. The innards were tender and tasty and I always, always will enjoy pieces of tuwalya/tripe. ^^,

Charley’s angels \m/
(L-R: Maam Joie, marketing head of the sand, city and pines resorts; Maam Gracie of Sky Cable’s Events Next Door and the tres foodie blogging Marias.)

All in all, this was another memorable food adventure.

1. It fed my love for pulutan minus the intoxicating panulak and friends scolding me that I don’t know what pulutan means *snickers.
2. It was time well spent getting to know more about new friends and colleagues.
3. It was an enriching experience gastronomically speaking and lifestyle wise.
4. It filled my wanting for the C food diet … a diet that I can surely stick religiously to.

Charley’s Bar menu.  Click here for other good eats at Charley’s.

We’re already at the hotel, so let’s take a quick peak into some of the rooms that they have.  Maam Joie gave us the all systems go before the sampling of the beer matches at Charley’s bar.  Click the photo below for a larger view.

First row of photos: Deluxe suite; second and third row: Deluxe suite with loft; fourth and fifth row: Family suite with living and dining facilities, and the last two rows of photos: Studio suite.

Feeling at home in four of the 17 rooms of the quaint and intimate setting that is the boutique hotel.

Love how the rooms have lights for the nooks for coffee/tea making, the closets, etc.  Bathrobes, hair dryers, organic and locally produced bathroom amenities, regular sized bars of soap (none of those one bath use things) and more.  Ah, reminds me of our  Davao Pearl Farm vacay.  Mem’ries (that would make a great subject for a whole nother blog *hihi).

How about some brain flexing entertainment at the second floor lounge ?

Backgammon/tables, chess and tic-tac-toe at the C lounge.  Shhh, Maam Gracie’s on a roll.

*** Thank you so much, Maam Joie for having us at Charley’s Bar and C Boutique Hotel! More power to Maam Charley’s sand, city and pines properties.

‘Like’ the C Boutique Facebook page to get notifications on your news feed about promos and events happening (e.g. bossa nova nights on Fridays, acoustic nights on Saturdays) at what is the hippest place to stay and have a good time in the City of Pines today.

*** Thank you so much, Maam Gracie for letting us tag along!  Super enjoyable chew time.

Catch Maam Gracie in her Events Next Door show on SkyTV channels 12 and 61, Mondays at 11:30 to 12:30.  Get the scoop on what’s hot and in, in Baguio City now. (Have something you want to share with the city? Leave a comment or a message at this blog’s Facebook page so I can connect you with Maam Gracie.)