When Henry Met Sabel … (mmm)

Not too many conversations happened between Henry and Sabel then, (it was devoid, actually.  No matter, there was lots said and joked about between me and my, normally man of a few words, brother) because Sabel is a café at BenCab Museum.  Just like the movie, When Harry Met Sally, this was a quest (tourism wise and food wise) that had a happy ending.

I call this photo, “Introductions”. =)

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

It’s not Baguio folks’ style to go around sightseeing in their own city. (What local would? =b)  My brother, Henry is one of them.  On a day that turned out to be another day off, I suggested we go to BenCab (to accomplish more than just sitting around in front of the PC and since we had another slow internet connection that day, it was a brilliant idea).  As we were getting ready to go out, I found out he thought, I said Yellow Cab.  Man, is it time to get some culture and art into us, brother, dear. *heehaha

More on Sabel … and my sibling trying to be abstract. =))

We put on our imaginary tourist hats (bonnets complete with Baguio City lettering on the lining? *hihi)  and headed off to Asin Road.

Sunbathers by the pond *fluffy fluffy Last photo in the row, narcissus ducks. *hee

While spending enough time in the various galleries, we found ourselves to be more nature loving than artsy. (Although I do adore the bulol installation wall and love how my favorites from a previous visit were still there.)  Spending a bigger chunk of the time in the garden, we relished in the pond teeming with little tilapia; the ducks and their fluffy white huggable looking selves resting to one side (Eeiii, squishies!) and the lush mountain on the other side of the river that completed the whole view.

The Cafe Sabel menu *click to enlarge photo Place your orders here, please. =D

We decided to continue on taking pleasure in this scene by dining at Café Sabel.  They’ve got so much more to offer now and all the dishes sound scrumptious. From out of the blackboard lists of salads, soups, main courses and drinks, we picked santol juice and kamias juice, watercress with egg soup, cream of mountain rice, and the duck flakes rice meals.

In and around the cafe named after Sabel. Henry taking on a dreamy stance because of the view of the mountain. ^^,
Here’s an interesting read too if you’re interested to find out what those baggies of water hanging with the star lights do, click here. Saw that work with my own eyes, amazing!

If you seat yourself at a particular table, you’ll still get a good view of the hut in the middle of the pond and a piece of the property that is lined with Autumn /holiday themed shrubs.  The windows in Cafe Sabel could almost pass for doors with their size and you can always slide them open to let the cool mountain breeze in while you dine away.  Ahhh.

The garden (of organic veggies), the pond, the Autumn/holiday themed shrubs and beyond. *sigh

When our drinks were served, my brother and I asked each other who’s going to go ‘mukhasim’ first. *giggles I took a sip from my drink and he took a sip from his drink but neither of us made a face.  Henry’s santol juice was so true to the fruit, the sweet seed part with just a dash of the fleshy part. It was woodsy enough for him to start looking for vinegar.  My kamias juice was one thirst quenching glass.  With more mint than kamias, I was perfectly happy with it.

Kamias juice and santol juice. Yes, kamias juice and santol juice.

Cream of mountain rice then arrived at the table.  Looking like a risotto that’s almost dried up and topped with ground pork, mushrooms and leeks (“There’s a leek in the boat!” Still on a Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs 2 craze =D), my sibling lit up with a “mmm” at the ready on his lips. One spoonful and the “mmm” finally came out. Until he was done with his meal, nothing intelligible came from him. He might have been congratulating himself for yet another fine choice of a main course … which I concede to. Just the creamy rice was a fantastic spoonful. \m/

Cream of mountain rice with ground pork and mushrooms. Mmm, says my brother

Mine wasn’t half bad either. It was real ducky with the strips of crispy, grainy meat.  (I do hope this wasn’t a friend of the duckies I came to love over at the pond. Although if it is, I accept that we need protein and could only hope it died quickly and painlessly.  I’m already a borderline vegetarian as it is.)  I like that my salad came with pieces of red egg.  it added so much depth to the textures and flavors of everything on the plate.  (And wow, what an interesting sight the underside of the fresh spinach that topped the salad was.  It’s like velvet with clusters of dew on the whole surface. *mesmerized me)

Duck flakes with tomato egg salad (“,)

In between our mouthfuls of our rice meals, we sipped some watercress and egg soup.  At first, it was all runny like the wettest mongo viand and when the egg yolk was popped, the soup turned rich and creamy. I would’ve liked to have more watercress in the soup but, no biggie.

Watercress and egg soup

When my brother was done “mmm-ing” and I was done crunching; the dessert, volcano ice cream totally piqued my curiosity.  Turns out, it’s just a small tower of vanilla ice cream drizzled over with chocolate ripple, called the lava in this case, with sliced strawberries around the base of the ice cream.

Volcano ice cream with fresh strawberries and chocolate lava. Get a load of those strawberries. Oh, how red!

Satisfied with an eyeful of art and a breathtaking scenic view; and tummies full of a tasty meal, we couldn’t hope for a happier ending such as this in a Baguio eatscapade. (“,)

X marks Café Sabel for good food in Baguio. To that, Henry just goes, “mmm”.

Food: 

Service: 

Ambiance: 

Price: 

If you’ve any doubt about how good you’re going to get it at Cafe Sabel today, here are a few snapshots from when we were there in 2010. Note the super simple plates of food … so simple, I would’ve been right to place this restaurant under the Simple but Staple category if I wrote this post before the refresher visit.

Café Sabel

BenCab Museum

Km. 6 Asin Road, Tadiangan

Tuba, Benguet

442 7165

bencabmuseum.org/location-info/

X, the welcome mat. *harhar
Correction, X marking Cafe Sabel at BenCab Museum for good food in Baguio \m/