Whiling Away the Time; Eating, Talking at La Casa Bianca Cafe

Now, for a photo blog post (sort of *hee) on the PNKY turned La Casa Bianca Hotel Spa Cafe.

Breakfast at Bianca’s

The day of one of my closest friends’ wedding, Race and I had a lot of time to kill so we went to La Casa to cross it off the Baguio restaurant list once and for all. It’s a usual feeling for me to suddenly feel famished in the middle of the ceremony, (I forget to eat *tee hee) and we thought this would be a good way to keep the tummy growling away until the feast at the reception.

Breakfast drinks at the gazebos … I heard the elephant’s name is Kendra.

A beautiful morning light shone nicely on the Leonard Wood Road  establishment that we chose to enjoy at a table in one of the quaint gazebos. With nothing but breakfast items available at that time (The whole menu was given to us, such a tease *heehaha), we started our day off with tapa and coffee and Spanish omelette and lemon grass juice.

Tapa breakfast =)

Everything we got was fine; the coffee, the lemon minty flavor of the juice, the meals but a little on the mild side for flavors with Race’s Filipino breakfast. Like it was washed before being fried, I had to chew on the meat a little more to get that savory-salty taste out of it. *hihi

Omelette Espagnole

As for my eggs, it’s just a regular omelette with bell pepper cubes, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and cheese which I barely tasted; served with toast, jam and butter. A dash of ketchup transformed it into something more memorable. Essentially, it did the trick for I didn’t feel the need to buy something…anything from a store near the church.

A Day with the Girls

Cafe scene from To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar movie: Carol Ann: “I always dreamed of having a day with the girls like in New York high society.” Katina: “What’s a day with the girls, Carol Ann?” Carol Ann: “Well, Katina, first you do volunteer work and then you get your hair done and you pick out a new outfit and then you go sit in a cafe and talk.” This is the “go sit in a cafe and talk” part.

Feeling that a good blogpost warranted another visit to Bianca’s house first, a lunch or dinner visit to be more specific, I returned with my sister and niece in tow after we came upon Live Long Detox Bar closed. (From the first time we checked that off the list, I couldn’t get off my mind that the most logical title for that post would be the Vulcan blessing/Spock’s line in Star Trek and with Mr. Leonard Nimoy gone, that would’ve been a timely homage. Oh well, no biggie. I’ll still use that as soon as I have enough material from the detox bar and organic shop. *doing the Vulcan salute)

Instead of getting our hair done, we walked happy and enjoyed the sights at Session Road in Bloom. *hihi the Chuzzle lookin’ moss. As for the volunteer work part, I already did that with the update on who’s serving munchies at Session.

After our refreshing ice cream appetizer from Magnifico Gelato at Ad’Laine Bakeshop (More on that in another post. Whoa, was it hot walking in Session!), we walked the short distance to Bianca’s and got antipasti, insalate and corso principale.

Carrot soup – the soup of the day.

All main course orders come with soup and for that day, it was carrot. Appetizing enough, it got us going when every dish was delivered to our table all at the same time. =)

Strawberry of my eye, chicken strawberry salad ^^,

A pretty and delicious starter was the salad with secret dressing. I’m going to guess it’s sesame dressing a la Kewpie. =)) Interesting, the grilled chicken strips, they were dusted with something like masala that gave a surprising quality to the whole dish.

Sauteed mushrooms

The mushroom appetizer was the last to get to our table. By the look of the ‘shrooms, we suspected it came from a can.  It tasted canned … must be canned. The sizzling dish was saved a little by a dash of salt; but it still wouldn’t compare to the best sauteed mushrooms we’ve had from Dulcinea. \m/

PNKY as the newly renovated hotel, spa and cafe. Thank you for the wider parking area. \m/ “And hats. Hats, hats, hats, for career girls. How I adored Paris.” ~excerpt, Diana Vreeland’s autobiography in the To Wong Foo movie

More on eggplant than in, my niece’s lunch is something you should eat immediately, if you ever choose it. Since we took the time taking photos, the skin wasn’t so crispy anymore and the oils started to solidify.  However, my niece described it as an a-okay plate. Would’ve wanted more salsa though. Oh, and that rice …

Crispy pork belly in eggplant.

… that pasty slush that was also with my milk fish dish. My indecision turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  ^^, At least, my ulam, as recommended to me by one staff member, was fantastic.  Like kiev, the bangus was rolled with cheese and whole leaf of basil, covered in breading and fried.

Crisp bangus ala cheebas (“,)

Childhood dreams come to life/mealtime games relived with the callos order in its presentation in the rice (perfectly cooked red rice. Aww, bat sya lang? =b)  We’re suckers for extra sauce; please, more sauce? Anyway, it was delicious callos with everything in it tender … even the veggies.

Callos *mmm garbazos and tripe

(Still) X marks La Casa Bianca for good food in Baguio. If we checked this place out earlier, I would’ve added it to my secluded, peaceful restos article on Looloo Insights. Indeed, a nice place to while away the time; eating, drinking and talking. (“,) 

Food:  for my fish dish and the salad,  the breakfasts eats, the callos, and the pork chop,  for the mushrooms and for the eeewwver cooked rice. While we didn’t eat that, our fuzzy family members kept us from being wasteful. Shyeew.

Service: 

Ambiance: 

Price: 

La Casa Bianca Hotel, Spa and Cafe

#13 Leonard Wood Road

Baguio City, Philippines

0999 436 8577

The tease … err, menu. Please take note that the nonbreakfast items are not available before 11:00 a.m. =D