I know the country is in a state of grief, but we had to be in the mountains of Baguio for Brandon’s entrance examination to a Manila university over the weekend. He’s done 2 exams now and he still has to tackle one next week. He chose to take this particular exam rather than entering a mountain bike competition in Nuvali. The dad has paid the biking race registration fee earlier, but doesn’t mind losing the money for his son’s priority. Yes, we let the children make their choices.
Let’s get on with the main story. I discovered Chaya through a friend. I googled the exact address earlier, so it wasn’t really difficult locating the Japanese restaurant, though you could easily mistake it for a house because it is partly concealed and past the busy area of Legarda Road.
Chaya is cozy. The typical diners are tourists and Korean students. The menu consists of modern Japanese dishes. We ordered a medley of light seafood and vegetable dishes. I found salmon calpacho that resembles Italian carpaccio. It was a lovely way to set the palate in motion, but to be honest, the sushi was fairish. I was expecting something grand since the owner, I believe, is Japanese. The ebi (shrimp) heads scared Alexa. The Chaya salad, a bed of greens with an assortment of sweet and tangy local fruits such as passionfruit and strawberries, was the best of the bunch. They gave us free delicious green tea ice cream set off with sweetened red beans.
Service is good and friendly.
The dad’s hot udon soup.
Cold green tea garnished with local sweetener known in Ilocos as balicucha.
Chaya 72 Legarda Road, Baguio City Tel: (074) 424 4726 CP No.: 0916-439 4141
Photographed by Blauearth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2013
