Philippine Business Magazine: Volume 13 No. 3 - Cover

Baguio: Mountain Escape

Everyone's favorite mountain retreat springs some pleasurable surprises

By Teddy Y. Montelibano

My last trip to Baguio was one of the coolest I've made yet to this summer capital up north. A friend referred us to PNKYHome Cottage, which turned out to have more than enough space for my two travel companions and myself. For P6,000 a day, it had adequate room for six and basic amenities. The doors and wall paneling were solid old-wood antique and outside was a two-vehicle carport.

At the Camp John Hay Manor in Baguio , enjoy five-star luxury and the cool pine-scented air

The high-ceilinged cottage is in a quiet residential area (Quezon Hill) and is within the property owned by the family of Pynky Gomez-Magsino. She also has a bed-and-breakfast place, PNKYHome, in a two-story patrician Baguio house along Leonard Wood Road . It has four tastefully appointed rooms with such charming names as Forest Green, Baguio Blue, Van Gogh, and Hideaway.

Leonard Wood Road is a quiet area, but it is only about two minutes away by car from the city's central business district. On the ground floor of the B&B is a store selling things for which Magsino is widely known in Baguio and Manila-beautiful wooden accent pieces, both antique and reproductions, and her own designs of one-of-a-kind furniture and furnishings; lifestyle accessories; and collectibles, including authentic Cordillera tribal artifacts.

A separate building in the same property houses quaint PNKY Café. Concocted by Magsino's business partner, Eleanor Chan, the café's fare includes gourmet tuyo, tinapa, Spanish sardines, fried espada, fritatas, and thick tsokolate for breakfast, as well as burgers, grills, and other sumptuous entrees for lunch and dinner.

On that trip to Baguio , Magsino pointed us to places we haven't been to before. One such place was Eve's Garden, Evelyn Acosta Bond's property in Upper Lampang , La Trinidad. She serves-strictly by reservation and only for lunch-a hearty repast of some of the freshest garden-picked greens, pasta, and grilled chicken (or choice-cut meat) atop her hilltop abode, overlooking sloping land on which grows her eleven types of lettuce.

Other gustatory treats we partook of in that trip included hearty pizzas by Pizza Volante, along Session Road, which is open 24 hours; food from restaurants in the Camp John Hay complex, most notably at Little John; very good vegetarian dishes at Bliss Café; the teppanyaki dinner we had one night at the exclusive Baguio Country Club's Japanese restaurant, Hamada; and lunch the following day of luscious carvings of prime rib from the Country Club's Cotterman Room, brought out for the eating at the verandah overlooking the championship golf course-the better to enjoy Baguio's famed cool, crisp mountain air while gorging on all that juicy top-grade beef!

Baguio is synonymous with pine tree-covered mountains

Unforgettable was that decadent afternoon when we sat down to feast at Le Chef, the domain of chef par excellence Billy King at Camp John Hay's luxury 180-room hotel, The Manor. After an absolutely to-die-for lunch of gourmet salad, prawn pasta, and grilled sea bass, we sweated out excess calories at the sauna of the hotel's Palm Garden Spa and afterwards dozed off while having a vigorous rub by one of the spa's deft therapists.

That particular Baguio holiday was likewise made memorable when we chanced upon world-class Filipino artist Bencab in Tam-awan Village . The village, owned by the Chanum Foundation headed by Bencab, has a coffee shop-cum-native crafts store, a gallery showcasing works by local artists, open spaces for gatherings, and from its topmost area, a panoramic view of mountains and (on clear-weather days) even the South China Sea. Another attraction of the place are the authentic Ifugao huts-some about a century old-that were transported from Bangaan, Ifugao, and re-assembled in the village.

On our last night, we discovered one more delightful place: North Haven Spa, in an elegant old-brick building built on high ground in Avelino Street , in Baguio 's Ferguson district. The Spa overlooks the city, and at night, one emerges from a scrub-and-rub glowing, along with the myriad lights that blanket the city down below. It is owned by young Lala Gonzales, who went to Thailand to study the art of wellness and spa management.

We had a great night's sleep after our session in North Haven and the next day we woke up refreshed and raring to drive back to Manila . We decided to go down via Kennon Road and there was a specific reason why we chose that route.

Earlier, as we bid her adieu, Magsino reminded us, "Don't forget to drop by S.O.U.L Café when you get to La Union." The place, she said, is beside Shell, the first gas station one encounters in La Union after Kennon Road.

So we did. And what a winner this place turned out to be! It is owned by Baguio resident Amboy Guevara, whose family owns the Shell gas station. If the restaurant's appellation (S.O.U.L means Spice of Urban Life) was a befuddlement, there was nothing vague about the way Guevara's food tasted.

We ordered the grilled rib eye, salmon steak, and the osso buco, and much to our surprise, all were amazingly good. An added bonus: our orders, along with all other items in the menu, were priced below P200!

One last order-a hot cup of flavored java-and we were back on the road to Manila, smiling with satisfaction as we sped home, knowing this particular trip we just made to Baguio will long be etched with much pleasure on our minds.