Laguna Food trip with Tom

My friend Tom studies in UP Los Banos. I visited him to go on a Laguna foodtrip! All the way from Marikina yo!  I really can't pass this up.  We rode on his motorbike and literally hopped from one cool restaurant to another.


Mio Cusina, Los Banos, Laguna

First stop is in Mio Cucina which is a classy small Italian restaurant.  Most of their clientele are professors from UPLB or probably researchers from IRRI.  The interiors are sort of Asian. The whole area used to be a bodega so you can imagine how small the space is.  They did a pretty good job though, maximizing the space.

                                           Tom playing with the flowers while waiting for our meal.

I ordered Pasta with Brocolli. I think Tom ordered Beef Stroganoff.  We also had Pako salad and 2 tall glasses of apple iced tea. Yummy.

We started off with Pako Salad which is extremely fresh. The salad also has sweet turnips and the pako, which are fern shoots, are so soft.  I like how the salad is topped with kesong  puti too. The vinaigrette is also great---not too sweet, not too sour.

 The pasta was great! I loved it. I am a fan of olives and this pasta has generous amounts of it.

After I finished my pasta, I went around the room outside so I can take pictures of it.

                                                                 This is a nice spot for two

                                                      The flowers seem to invite you in.

New Malaya Restaurant (Malaysian Restaurant)

It is extremely hot and we would have liked it if they had airconditioning.  This place serves the best Malaysian authentic cuisine. I really want to try this despite the warm weather. Chilis in summer? Why not. 

We ordered Beef Rendang and Mango and Apple Kerabu. We washed it all down with yummy milk tea.  

 Tom said we had to order something sweet to balance the spicyness of the Beef Rendang. He was right. For every bite of beef rendang, I had about a mouthful of rice and a spoonful of the kerabu. The Kerabu by the way is sort of a salad.

 

 I know this is a poor image by my camera phone but this is the Beef Rendang.

 

 Mango and Apple Kerabu!

 

 Milk tea to wash all the chili down.

Tom said that a woman cooks for this restaurant but I think she was not there when I visited.  I liked the food but I wish we had gone there in the evening.  I was drenched in sweat after we ate due to the weather. Every bite was like throwing another log in the fire! Nice time with my friend though. Thanks tom!

Okay, all in all, my Laguna food trip was really great because I get to sample authentic Asian cuisines. There is one restaurant that we went to, Baan Thai, which is my favorite. However, my camera battery went dead on me so I didnt have pictures of what we ate. I loved the Sotanghon Salad! Great Thai cuisine :) People from Los Banos are really lucky because they have wide selection of cuisines, like you can go for Italian then Asian the next. The price are okay too. But well, my friend treated me so.... hehehe. Anyway, try these restaurants when you're in LB.