CAVITE | Café Voi La, Reminiscing South East Asia in Tagaytay City
Tuesday, June 06, 2017
A plethora of colors and textures greeted us as we entered the ornate doors of Café VoiLa. It was lunchtime and we were staying at the Crosswinds Tagaytay. We’re thinking of heading to Tagaytay’s famous bulaluhan but commuting to the city’s food hub seemed too much of a trouble. We were told by the hotel staff that there’s a restaurant serving good South East Asian dishes right by the resort’s gate and it was just a free ride away from our room. No debate needed, we got off our lazy asses and followed the will of our rumbling tummies.
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| CAFE VOI LA’S COLORFUL INTERIORS |
Café Viola reminds me of Hanoi’s Old District in Vietnam. I can’t put my finger on it, but the jumble of vibrant wall colors, eclectic furniture, bare concrete floor with randomly tiled parts, heavy antique cabinets, solemn Buddha figures, and the chandelier’s exploding colors, all seemed to transport me to Vietnam. It wasn’t really Vietnam, but somehow, it was.
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| THE AL FRESCO BAR AREA |
The transformation from Tagaytay to Hanoi, was easy enough though, both having cool pleasant weather. And the moment we opened the menu, the transformation was complete. They have cha gio, my favorite spring rolls from Vietnam, and caphe sua da, Saigon’s ultra strong coffee!
Food prices are a bit on the high side, a single dish averaging at around PHP400.00. Nevertheless, we were assured by their attentive staff that the serving size is sharable up to three persons. I had my doubts until the first of our orders arrived. That’s when we realized we ordered way too much food!
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| THAI POMELO SALAD ~ PHP395.00 |
We were five in the group and our table looks straight out of our usual two-month trips around Asia. For starters, Thai Pomelo Salad, quickly followed by Pork Cracklings and Satay Sampler. Then the main dishes, Homemade Chicken Pork Adobo, Café Voi La Chicken Curry, Trio of Spring Rolls, and Café Voi La Pad Thai.
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| PORK CRACKLINGS ~ PHP595.00 |
Indeed, the servings were gargantuan. Our table couldn’t fit everything and we had to occupy the one next to ours just so we can eat in comfort!
And then dig in we did.
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| SATAY SAMPLER ~ PHP595.00 |
The salad’s huge prawns went perfectly with the juicy pomelo. The pork cracklings, a combination of succulent brick-oven roasted pork belly and crunchy chicharon was overwhelmingly sinful! The pork rind’s vinegar dip was the bomb. The sticks of satay were beautifully presented over a pit of coal, it was as hot as from a hawker’s pit. The turmeric rice that it came with was also superb.
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| TRIO OF SPRING ROLLS ~ PHP395.00 |
And then it was time to sample the spring rolls. The serving is a mix of spring rolls from the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, I quickly went for the Vietnamese ones and it was as I remembered it from my trips to Saigon and Hanoi!
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| HOMEMADE CHICKEN PORK ADOBO ~ PHP425.00 |
We were almost full as we attacked the main dish. Surprisingly, the star of the show was the adobo. It was just so darn flavorful! The meat, both the chicken and pork, were also very tender—with the vinegar, garlic, black pepper and soy sauce penetrating deep inside every bite.
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| CAFE VOI LA CHICKEN CURRY ~ PHP495.00 |
The curry, a slightly spicy affair with falling-off-the-bone-tender chicken, crunchy string beans and fried tofu, was also quite good, making me almost forget my pad thai! Lol. In between bites, a glass of caphe sua da, iced coffee with sweetened milk, cleansed my palate as I switch between Café Voi La’s dishes.
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| CA PHE SUA DA ~ PHP155.00 |
And as if we weren’t stuffed full, a plate of Thailand’s Black Sticky Rice with Mango (PHP195.00), Salted Caramel Cheesecake (PHP215.00) and a bowl of Malaysia’s Gula Melaka in Coconut Cream and Palm Sugar (PHP165.00), were plunked down our table.
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| CAFE VOI LA DESSERTS |
While everything’s good, the clear winner for this round is the cheesecake. It. Was. Amazing. Everyone agreed that this is the best cheesecake they’d ever had. And even with our belts unfastened, the whole slice disappeared quickly from our table like nothing happened.
Café VoiLa was definitely a surprise. I wasn’t aware that Tagaytay holds a very authentic Asian restaurant within its fringes. It may be way out from the Magallanes area, where most of the popular restaurants are in Tagaytay, but this is definitely worth the visit especially if you want to reminisce your past travels and unique cuisines you’ve once eaten on smoky hawker stalls on alleys and crazy streets around South East Asia.
Cafe Voi La Tagaytay
Address: Tagaytay-Calamba Road, Magallanes,
Maharlika East, Tagaytay City, Cavite
Contact Number: (0905) 331-4457
Email: cafevoilacrosswinds@gmail.com
Open Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 8:00AM to 9:00PM
Menu | Facebook | Instagram
GPS Coordinates Map: 14.136373, 121.010840
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