A few years back, there was this small coffee shop along the highway to Tagaytay named Bag of Beans. It sold what seemed like a copy of Baguio Country Club’s Raisin Bread, among its English pies, and of course, coffee.

Then it started to offer breakfast in the small garden behind it, with big cages housing different birds and which delighted young guests no end, while their elders partook of juicy sausages, breads and eggs, taken with cups of piping hot robust coffee.

After the meal, one would inevitably buy its bakery goods.

We have not been to Bag of Beans in a long time. Thus we got the pleasant surprise two weekends ago on our way to the Twin Lakes complex in Tagaytay.

The place was teeming with people, some on a weekend hotel stay at the hotel, others like us simply having a meal away from the big city.

That was when and where we discovered that the small Bag has burst into a full-service restaurant in the busy complex.

The restaurant is in a huge two-story building on a lush mountainous terrain but with no full view of Taal lake and volcano. The scenery, however, is still picture-pretty, and that day, guests were busy photographing the happy setting.

The dining areas open out to a veranda.  Tables and chairs are arranged allowing enough space to move around.

Service—That very busy day, the kitchen was efficient. We did not wait long for our orders.

Staff—Polite, with welcoming smiles.

Suggested orders—Conditioned perhaps by satisfactory service and food from previous experiences in the original restaurant, most of us settled for the breakfast fare of tocino, eggs and garlic rice. Of course one could not go wrong with this.

But we deviated and asked for roast beef. It was perfect! There were three slices of very tender meat, laced with brown sauce and served with well-done mashed potato.

That was one very satisfying lunch capped with a cup of bold coffee.

Government and services charges are added to the bill. Senior cards are honored.

Rating – 3 Spoons

Rating