Heading for Bayleaf
By Antoinette Licup
Famous for its white sand and mind-blowing parties, Boracay has luckily found itself in the center of a Filipino comfort food experiment. One of these restaurants is Bayleaf Café which merits an exploration!
To reach Bayleaf cafe, we had to brave rain and mud to walk an alleyway that leads to Bulabog beach (better known as the back beach of the island). “Are you guys ready for an adventure?” That was my introduction to my friends Lance, Farah, Myra, Gigi and Christina, who all happen to be a mix of the adventurous and the exciting.
“This better be worth it,” said Lance. To which I answered, “It mostly has good reviews online.”
We had to ask one of the restaurant’s staff to pick us up because we got lost the first time around. Phones and cameras were suddenly brought out and oohs and aahs were heard when we reached the building. “Ay, ang ganda!” I heaved a sigh of relief but this was just half of the battle.
Bayleaf café is located in Palassa private residences, a tastefully decorated boutique hotel. In the center, we found the intimate cafe which can sit about 15 people comfortably. The glass walls spell cozy and reminded me of a pretty little birdcage.
Our first impression: creative homemade Filipino cooking. The dishes’ names were riddles dripping of humor like “true blood stew” and “beef bakaretta”. The menu is not limited to just Pinoy dishes fused with international flavors.
The cafe opened barely a week before we arrived. We ordered the rib-eye steak, twice- cooked adobo, salmon salpicao, Jessica’s chili shrimp, salmon and shrimp sarciado. Unfortunately, the true blood stew was not available. Darn, I would have loved to try that!
The food arrived on a table full of hungry people some minutes later served in huge plates that smothered the small glass tables. The rib eye salad was the starter.
“The dressing has no taste. It is just plain veggies with rib eye steak,” says Lance.
Gigi warns us, “Better make sure to check the vegetables. I don’t think they rinsed it well.”
“What?! But I already had some!” replied a worried Christina.
Myra seconds, “Me too.”
“If that is rib eye, I feel sorry for them.” Lance comments.
Uh oh, it seems we were not off to a good start.
The twice-cooked adobo came with three sauces-regular, creamy and chili. We ordered two kinds-pork and chicken. “The chicken is alright,” Farah quipped, “but the pork is hard and overcooked.” Everyone agreed. We even got into a discussion about what twice-cooked means.
“Yea, which one’s the best sauce?” I asked.
“I don’t like the creamy one.” Lance said.
“But I like it, and the chili one also. The roasted garlic is good. Yum!!! It saves every dish every time,” I pointed out.
The salmon salpicao was mediocre. What turned out to be the best dish was the sarciado. The hotel was enough of a pleasant shock to render the muddy walk worthy and the discovery of a new game application called “heads up” provided entertainment.
The verdict? If you are up for an adventure, yes go for it! For the experience and the ambience, also a thumbs up. For the food, proceed with caution.
If you want safe and tested foodie tripping, Pamana of Tagaytay fame has landed in the shores of Boracay’s station 2. Also In the works is yet another Filipino restaurant concept called Damiana’s.
Cover: Ellen Adarna
