August 22, 2011

Weekend Getaway: The Balay Indang Experience

A friend of mine told me about Balay Indang; where her mom and aunt always go to, to relax. I searched for it on the web and found pretty good reviews about it. People who went there raved about on how excellent the food and the place is. Looking at the photos on some of the blogs that reviewed it,  I was easily enticed and decided that this will be our destination for his parents' anniversary. I texted the number I got from one of the blogs and I received a reply right away. We exchanged a few more messages and our reservations were confirmed.




Balay Indang is a Bed and Breakfast destination. Although you can opt to only avail either their lunch, merienda or dinner buffets for a very very reasonable price. The place is by reservations only. They do not allow walk-ins or additional guests without 2-3 days of notice. I think their overnight stay comes with dinner and breakfast buffets and their rates/prices are per person.





As usual, it intermittently rained on the day we went there. I don't know if Ticoy has jinx, that every time we'll take him on an out of town trip, it always rains! Well when we brought Ticoy home it was also raining, probably that's why he liked the rain so much! lol!




It was a Sunday and we went straight up to Tagaytay. Then turned right to Mendez Avenue, when we got to the dead end, turned right and drove straight to Indang in Cavite. A few minutes after we passed by the "Welcome to Indang" arch, we saw the gate with the number "88" on both sides; it was on the left side of the road.




When the gate opened, we were greeted by a man who directed us to the parking area (the parking is enough to hold, probably 20 vehicles) and told us to follow the pathway to the house. Excitement was already stirring up in us! Seeing all that green and flowers, I was 100% sure that this place will truly free our minds and body from all of the stress from the busy city and from our work!




The Balay (house)
The house was probably someone's rest house. It was full of a mixture of antique and Thai furniture, memorabilia,  figurines and other knick-knacks! It was very homey and cozy! Well, I'll let the photos speak for themselves!


framed newspaper clippings were Balay Indang were featured


The Main Dining Area



The main dining area is like any other "comedor" (Spanish for dining area, which my lola/grandmother always love to say when she's calling us to eat) except for the collection of antique mirrors installed on the ceiling and on the wall. I think people will have different opinions about it; some will find it eerie, some will find it unique. As for me, I found it really amusing :).




Whenever I take a photo and there's a mirror, I always drew inspiration from the Arnolfini Wedding painting by Jan Van Eyck (look it up to see what I'm talking about...)




The tables and chairs do not match and most of them, I believe, are antiques as well. Some are too heavy and are probably made of fine wood. There are two dining areas, one is indoors and the other one is al fresco. Balay Indang reserved a table for us indoors, probably because it was raining.




The Food
In Balay Indang, they do not have a specific set of dishes to serve, it varies. So if ever we go back, they might serve us another set of food. Pardon me for I was not able to take photos of each dish since before I remember taking photos, we were already devouring them! The verdict? Everything was awesome and incredibly delicious! I tasted everything! I am not a salad eater, but this time around, I was not able to pass. Btw, everything is home-cooked, which I love!

These are what they served us (some don't have photos of):

-Salad (lettuce, dragon fruit, peaches, egg are some of it's ingredients; the dressing was great too! We had 3 servings)



- Grilled Shrimps (with peaches, oregano and parsley, we can't get enough of it, he even eat the juice or marinate. We had 4 servings of this)



- Stuffed Chicken (I don't know if this stuffed chicken or what, but the meat that comes with it tasted like embutido. 2 servings only because the plate was always full when they serve it)



- Seafood omellete (1 serving) and Dalandan juice (this was so yummy and refreshing!)



-Tuna wasabi (weird taste but really unique, 1 serving)
-Fried rice (2-3 servings..i guess)
-Tuna pasta (we didn't asked for another serving because we were so pre-occupied with the shrimp and the chicken)
-Buko pie (for dessert, tasted like that of Rowena's Buko Pie)


After having lunch, we were so full (and I mean "so full), we went out at the outdoor dining area where they served us tea.



After sipping some tea, we decided to check out the entire place and walk around. The place is a complete heaven! It was so relaxing due to all the plants and flowers and the cool breeze.




They also have a pool in front of the Pavilion. We didn't get to swim since it was raining and we were so full like gluttons that we just feel like being sloths and just lounge around.


pool view from the pavilion

Overall, it was a great experience! The food, the place, the ambiance, the service, the location, on a scale of 1-10, I would give it a 9! Would I recommend it? Definitely!

Call or sms this number 09178665825 for rates/prices.

How to get there:
-Follow your usual route going to Tagaytay
-When you reach Mendez (where there's a market, SM Savemore and Mercury), turn right to Mendez Avenue
-Follow the road until you reach a dead-end then turn right.
-Drive along this road until you see the "Welcome to Indang" arch
-Drive a couple of minutes more, you will see on your left a wooden gate with the number "88" on both sides.
-Welcome to Balay Indang!

Balay Indang
#88 San Juan St., Mahabang Kahoy Cerca, 
Mendez - Buna - Indang Road, Indang, Cavite
Phone: 0917-8374261 / 0917-8665825 / 775-6886
Email: bookings@balayindang.com



For more information and restaurant reviews, check out their Zomato profile:
Balay Indang Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


post signature 
Follow Me:  Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

3 comments:

  1. my brother-in-law told me mirrors are placed in the dining area to signify double ABUNDANCE...so i guess it's for good luck...

    ReplyDelete
  2. my brother-in-law told me that mirrors are placed in the dining area for double ABUNDANCE...parang laging bountiful..

    ReplyDelete
  3. i didn't know that ate pam..lol! is it a Chinese thing? they put it in the dining room probably for the abundance of food! and the food is abundant nga..i suggest you visit this place when you come home for vacation :) thanks for the comments ate pam! take care and we miss you!

    ReplyDelete

Powered by Jasper Roberts - Blog