Return to Sonya's Secret Garden

When Sam and I started talking yesterday over the phone, we were planning to just go malling today ... but I joked about going to Tagaytay ... which is why I was up early today so that we could arrive at Tagaytay before lunch. We don't own cars so we used public transportation ... as usual.

If deciding to go to Tagaytay yesterday wasn't last minute enough ... how about texting Sonya's Garden for lunch reservation while we were on the bus? You don't just walk in there ... you have to reserve a table. Placing a reservation via text will do. Hope they don't remember that last year I also made a lunch reservation about one or two hours before the timeslot I requested.

Sam has never been there so I decided that we eat lunch there - my treat. It's funny that although her mom has been there more than once, maybe knowing Sonya personally, Sam has never set foot in the place.

As Sonya's popularity hinges on word of mouth and it is not highly advertised, the bus conductor was not familiar with the place. Sonya's sign along the highway is not that big ... so there was a 50% chance that we'd miss seeing it. I was so worried we'd miss the sign that we got off the bus about a kilometer early. At first I thought Sonya's was nearby from where we got off, so we walked along the highway for a few minutes. After asking around we realized we needed to ride a jeepney.

After asking around, someone told us our destination was in Buck Estate. I forgot that Sonya's is located there. We had more luck finding people who knew where Buck Estate is than people who know about Sonya's Garden. Sonya's is not along the highway, so once you reach the entrance to Buck Estate, you take a tricycle to Sonya's.

Things to remember when commuting to Sonya's from Metro Manila: Ride a bus that passes through Alfonso Cavite. Go down at Buck Estate. Take a tricycle to Sonya's. If you are already in Tagaytay, there are jeepneys that pass through Buck Estate.

The menu's still the same from the last time I was there: You start with a bowl of salad greens with a variety of dressings/toppings to choose from. You mix your own salad. Fruit juice and bread baked from Sonya's bakery is served with the salad. Next comes a bowl of pasta, with two types of sauce and three or more toppings to choose from. Fried (?) sweet yam covered in caramelized sugar (camote cue without the stick and cut smaller) and sweet banana rolls (fancy name for a smaller version of the common turon) would be your dessert. They serve tarragon tea with dessert (hot water with a fresh sprig of tarragon).

Visited the garden after lunch.



Some plants were a bit shorter/smaller/had less flowers than the last time I was there. I told Sam that it was lovelier before the typhoon. There was a wedding reception being held in one of the "pavilions" and I realized that had the whole place been reserved for a wedding, we wouldn't get any table today. Sam is a wedding coordinator, so she's now added Sonya's to her list of wedding reception venues.

Near the entrance, Sonya's has its own bakery,


souvenir store,


SPA


and you can even buy potted herbs.


I dragged Sam towards the cottages nearby - last time I was there, only my niece and I were able to look at the place. When we returned bringing my brother and sister along, the gates were shut and we were told only those billeted inside could go in. Sam's lucky now that the gate's open (magic gate - sometimes it's open, sometimes it's not hehehe!).


Very relaxing place ... we plan to stay in one of the cottages in the future.

After taking all the pictures we want/can, we left for Tagaytay. Finding a tricycle to take you from Sonya's back to the highway takes some time though.


See next blog entry for what we did next.

:-)