BAHAY Buffet Goes to Bahay ni Kulas in Amadeo Cavite

70 Barangay Minantok West , Amadeo – Cavite province, Philippines 

We passed several houses with small garden  and orchids

It was a bright and sunny weather when we were fetch by BAHAY Buffet team from Hotel Intercontinental in Makati , It took us over 2 hours and went on a road trip south of Metro Manila passing several towns along its way .

That is nice about BAHAY Buffet dining experience ,is not  just about foods but also camaraderie, opening of new friendship , sharing one’s personal experiences in life and road trip adventure ! Here is a link to a previous event  held last July 21,2015 in MOCA Farm within Padre Garcia , Batangas

entrance to the farm

The farm is about 2 hectares owned by the family of Cuevas who made a lot of improvements within the property during a 7- year period . Turning the once vine laden with old coffee trees and coconuts area into a lush tropical plantation with dragon fruits, calamansi  with different kinds of orchid hybrids  and bananas.  What i liked about the perimeter wall around the farm is that they are planted with hedge shrubs which makes the family -style farm rustic and green.

The family farm is located a few kilometers from Amadeo Public Market and the town boast  a lot of agricultural produce like Coffee which earn the town its nickname ” Coffee Capital ” of the Philippines .

cattleyas in coconut husk

Almost every home got a small plot of land where they plant coffees, bananas, pineapples, mangoes, dragon fruits and among others .

dancing ladies orchid

Some houses would have Dendrobium anosmum ( sanggumay)  and Dendrobium aphyllum ( fairy sanggumay) planted on host trees such as mangoes, champaka, acacia among others. There are also orchid hybrids like Oncidiums , Vandas , Mokaras .

Dendrobium anosmum aka sanggumay growing on a ficus tree

Weather

Since the town of Amadeo is located between 1,200 feet to 1,400 feet in elevation , The weather is milder and cooler . It is not much developed compared to the town of Silang, Tagaytay , Mendez and Indang.

Ms. Gigi Morris , Ms.Dawn Bolus Mawis , Dr. Ikit Sipin-Chan and  Mr. Racs Cuevas

variety of buffet meal

Buffet

Buffet meal consists of family -style heirloom dishes and those regional food that are found in Amadeo and within Cavite province.

puto seko and jacobina

The dishes were laing , mussels and oysters , steamed vegetables, pininyahang manok, sinaing na tulingan ,halaan soup, binagoongan na baboy,  fern salad , fresh fruits , toasted buttered bread, jacobina , potoseko , freshly brewed Amadeo coffee.

Binagoongan na Baboy

I liked all the foods that i have tasted , it was the epitome of home-cooked recipe which were handed down from several generations.

Seafood Pancit Palabok ni Kulas

One of the family specialties is the Seafood Pancit Palabok which had a mid- flavored sauce and a rich toppings of fresh sea foods like squid, shrimps, tinapa flakes ( smoked fish ) deep fried tofu cut into small cubes, boiled chicken eggs , chopped spring onion leaves and crushed chicharon flakes ( pork crackling ) and calamansi fruit.

SEAFOOD Pancit Palabok

Ms. Jo Bie

Ms. Jo Bie is the one who cooked this seafood pancit palabok

Since this is a weekend family farm, The farm is ideal for team building , retreat , event place ,  buffet meals are also available .  But visitors who wish to come must make a prior appointment before hand. Some of the menus might not always be available due to the availability of the ingredients.

grotto

group photo

Note: I would like to ” Thank” the gracious hosts and Bahay Buffet family for the invitation .

Contact Information:

Contact Persons: Mr. Droz or Ms. Ikit

0917 517 7547, 0929-3612986 or (02) 873-4252

Bahay ni Kulas

Bahay Buffet Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/bahaybuffet

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BAHAY BUFFET Exciting Farm Tour and Buffet Meal at MOCA Farm

Barangay Castillo ,Padre Garcia , Batangas province- Philippines

MOCA Farm buffet meal

BAHAY BUFFET  is a new out of the box concept  offering buffet meals .The word bahay ( house )  is capitalized to mean: Buffet At Home is Always Yummy. This new venture aims to introduce consumers to up-and-coming hole in the wall eateries, small farms, family style -resort , micro-entrepreneurs and other stake holders in the food industry.

opuntia cactus with minimal spines

We met at around past 8:00am at Hotel Intercontinental , Makati city and traveled more than 2 hours to MOCA Farm in Padre Garcia, Batangas province. We arrived past 11:30am .

The town of Padre Garcia is known for their several farms which are family owned , while some are owned by large and multi-national companies.

zinnias in bloom

We were treated with some late morning breakfast meal and (Kapeng barako/ baraco ) Batangas style brew which used Liberica coffee beans as the main ingredient.

Creamy Kalabasa Soup with Malunggay Flakes

Creamy Kalabasa Soup with Malunggay Flakes, MoCa Farm Seasonal Garden Salad ( which consists of (  alugbati leaves , fresh pineapple , katuray/ katurai -Sesbania grandiflora  and blue tertanea flowers  ) Clitoria ternatea. 

Basella rubra  is known as Malabar spinach, Indian spinach , Vine spinach  Alugbati ( Bisaya ) Grana ( Tagalog ) Arogbati / Arugbati ( Bicol )

Zesty Santol with Pork in Coconut Milk and Chillies \

  Cotton fruit or more popularly known as Santol (  Sandoricum koetjape  ) in the Philippines. It is a seasonal fruit which ripen around April, May and June depending on the locality.

I have tasted similar santol recipes when we went to Quezon ( less spicy ) , Laguna ( less spicy ) and Bicol region.

There is a souvenir store where one can buy fresh produce and preserve chilli oil

The owner is from Bicol region ( Albay province )  Her recipe is authentic and very similar to Bicol express ( with the use of santol pulp, siling pansigang , pork  topped with finger chillies) . While the one that i have tasted in Quezon  and Laguna uses santol pulp , little ground pork / shredded fish ( tilapia ) and grounded black pepper with little or no chillies. It is a good way to use santol for cooking , since whenever there is an over supply of santol  fruit, prices tend to goes down and there are a lot of fruits that are gone to waste.

group photo Ms. Maria  Louisen Manuel, KM Sevilla, Edong Reyes and kuya Dodong-Edong’s driver, and Mr. Roman B. Mawis Jr. and Mrs. Dawn Bolus Mawis

Native Suckling Pig Lechon, Pinaputukang Tilapia  (stuffed with finely chopped onion , tomatoes)  wrapped in Galangal leaves, and Sapin Sapin Rice ( Tri-colored Rice )

Clitoria ternatea

Clitoria ternatea, common names including butterfly pea, blue pea,blue ternatea , Cordofan pea . ) This is popular among Southeast Asian countries as ornamental plant and it is being used as coloring for foods, juice , salads, and had been known for centuries as a memory enhancer, nootropic, antistress, anxiolytic and herbal remedies.

sapin-sapin or tri-colored rice

The tri-colored rice was made  from ordinary rice,  extract from luyang dilaw and blue colored rice extract  from blue ternatea

Hubad na Lumpiang Saging

This is a different style of lumpia /lunpia – Unlike others, this is presented using saba banana cooked in syrup and the wrapper is toasted / fried

Ms. Gigi Morris with her famed Santol Juice and Bignay Cider

The host for this month’s buffet meal and farm tour is MOCA FARM , a 1 hectare  family owned and managed farm which used to be an Indian mango orchard before Ms. Gigi Morris slowly converted the farm into what we see today. The farm is brightly decorated with sunflower tablecloth reflecting the sunny personality by the gracious host.

The farm is very quaint and had a charming atmosphere which can accommodate up to 50 person at a given time. ( appointment must be made weeks in advance)

The area is now slowly recovering from the onslaught of Typhoon Rammasun ( Bagyong Glenda) which struck the Southern Luzon provinces  only last year 2014. Trees that were toppled down during the typhoon were carefully festooned with flowering plants or designed into wooden chairs.

Tamales with sunflower syrup

 We were served with a late breakfast meal – Tamales ( Padre Garcia version ) with dried coconut latik and syrup made from sunflower seeds !  I have tasted different Tamales from different provinces  and this tamales had no stuffing like meat , shrimps and eggs .  It is made from sticky rice grounded  ( galapong ) and wrapped in banana leaves.

tamales wrapped in banana leaves

This is a different style and squarish .The coconut latik and syrup made from sunflower seeds made it quite different . This native delicacy had gradually evolved thru centuries from the original Tamales from Mexico.

There were also different kinds of coffee beans – Liberica ( bigger seed granules) –Excelsa , Robusta

Geodorum densiflorum

Geodorum densifolium is a common terrestrial orchid found in many areas of the country. I was able to spot a living orchid with seed capsules  I told the owner about the status so that they will not pull them off the growing area.

native pigs

The farm had native chickens, native pigs, Chinese silkie chickens, rabbits , vegetables , fruits and large Indian mangoes.

Chinese silkie chickens

After the hearty meal and a short farm tour. We left the farm around past 3:00PM on our way to the next venue place. I would definitely invite friends and tourists to the event hosted by Bahay Buffet and MOCA Farm .

BAHAY BUFFET facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bahaybuffet

MOCA Farm: http://www.mocafarm.com/

MOCA Farm Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/MoCa-Farm/144927215529014