UPDATE: Chaya Restaurant

Back to Chaya!  V!

If you haven’t eaten here before, my fellow foodies, I’m hoping this update post will turn your cravings for Japanese cuisine on. (“,)

Animal folk at Chaya, birds that have Elizabethan collars of feathers, and lots of little koi in the pond, make a good pastime while waiting for the food.

Since my first post about this great Japanese restaurant in Baguio was a pretty lengthy one, I’m going to leave the coverage of our return visit as a photo blog.   To start things off, the Chaya menu. =D

*click photo for a larger view

Just like clockwork, once you place your orders, you’re going to get a couple saucer-rettes of appetizers.

Appetizers in the new and oh so cute serving saucers. ^^,

For drinks, we went green with glasses of green mango shake and green tea shake.  They were just the way we remembered them, REEEfreshing.

Green mango shake and green tea mango shake. Sip ahh moments yet again.

Of course, I wouldn’t let a Chaya visit pass without getting a plate (or maybe two) of kani salad. *swoon swoon  My tastebuds began singing a la Peaches and Herb.  ♪ ♫ Reunited and it feels so good … ♪ ♫

Reunited with kani salad that tastes SO good. (“,)

For our entrees, we decided to go with something different.  It was tofu hot pot for me (okay, mine’s not totally different. *hihi I do like taho-like consistency tofu served with anything other than sweet syrup and tapioca) and pork rib curry for Race. =)

Tofu hot pot – tofu and vegetables simmered in Konbu seaweed base, served with Donzu sauce.

I used every drop of that sauce (in the bottle that looked like it was meant for laboratory use. Apparently,Breaking Bad has been imprinted in my brain with the marathon watching I did. *hee “Cooking utensils”). Without the sauce, my soup tasted like water. That must be how it is, season to taste. But I did enjoy all the veggies in my little pot … especially the tofu. \m/

Pork rib curry – stewed pork rib with tomato and eggplant.  A Chaya meal served with rice and the house salad (and an unidentified thing that looked like a thin rolled up slice of sashimi but Race insists it was a vegetable sliver – pickled) *giggles.

The salad is described on the menu as sprinkled fruits over greens with fruity dressing. That’s a wide variety of fruits for yah.  It’s got slices of grapes, strawberries, and oranges, and blueberries and passion fruit/masaflora. Mmm!  As for the curry itself, the meat was delicious and tender.  The sauce it was drowning in could go for four more bowls of extra rice. =b

My view of the middle of our table with the Chaya facade as a backdrop. =)) (What a doozy, that sentence is. A facade that’s a backdrop. Weeeee!)

Let me explain that photo with more photos. ^^,

Al fresco dining at Chaya, a whole new dining experience. =) There were enough tables and chairs inside the resto but it seemed a bit cramped for me during that visit. Luckily, there are tables set up in the Chaya yard (right on the patio, beside the kitchen and across the patio where we were.)

What’s lunch at Chaya without dessert of green tea ice cream?

A teaspoon of (or maybe even half a teaspoon of) green tea ice cream. The true definition of the Tagalog word for dessert, I imagine. =b Panghimagas, just a teensy tiny sweety taste to top the flavors of the whole meal off.

If you ever want more of this ice cream, they have more for sale at P80; not sure if that’s a cup or a pint more though.  (For 1.5L cans, we can always rely on Arce Dairy to keep us satiated.)

With all the food from this joint, it’s still easy peasy (authentic) Japanesey!