The Best I Ever Had: Dining at Antonio's

Local flowers

The best meal I have ever had in my entire life (without breaking the bank TOO badly) was at Antonio's.

Antonio's (Purok 138, Barangay Neogan, Luksuhin-Mangas Road, Alfonso) is a popular restaurant located in a secluded area of Tagaytay. When we went to the Philippines back in January, we made a point of stopping by Antonio's on our way to Taal Vista Lodge (where we typically go for vistas of Taal Volcano).

We started our trek at Eastwood and drove 2 long hours to Tagaytay. We drove past fields of pineapple and carabao before Mang Jimmy turned into a hilly and very provincial-looking compound. After 2 minutes of tailing a car that we presumed contained another diner, we came upon a gate and a security guard.

Such exclusiveness: The only way to get into Antonio's was apparently with a reservation, and thank goodness, my dad made a last-minute one along the way. We drove straight through the gate and were dropped off in front of this beautiful colonial house. We went up the steps to the house and walked through large wooden doors that opened to the reception area.

We actually got there right before opening hours, so the staff needed a few minutes to get the restaurant ready for the day. This gave us some time to look through the tastefully decorated reception and the garden below it.

Fishies!

The grounds were so beautiful that even when our table was ready, we couldn't help but take some time to explore its lush, green gardens and ponds full of fish... And man, were they ferocious! They were also so smart: They knew that whenever they saw humans, it would be feeding time, and they would swim towards us whenever we drew near.

The raclette

We hadn't had our fill of the surroundings yet by the time we had to begrudgingly return to our seats for lunch. We chose the raclette as our starter and the Mayura Tomahawk steak as our main. The beauty of this option was that it was pretty comprehensive: It came with soup, salad, and sides. Later that afternoon, we found out that it came with dessert too.

Yummy

While we waited for things to come in, we ordered fresh dalandan juice; this was served in empty wine glasses with dalandan ice cubes and later filled with the actual juice! A smart and very refreshing idea--one that I will use at some event or other. Hahaha.

Hello, salad

Before

After

Then came the salad and the soup, which was served with such pizazz! I loved it. I experienced the same thing at the CN tower last month, and it wasn't done with as much panache as Antonio's. The soup was light as it was flavourful, so we had enough of an appetite for the rest of the meal. Mind you, we ruined it anyway with all the bread and olive spread on the table! But they were so, so good...

Once we were on the verge of exploding from all the food we had eaten thus far, our steak came:  

The steak on the grill

And it came in a cart, grill and all! We were all pleasantly surprised. The steak was then served in batches according to our personal preferences. People who liked it medium got in first, and those who preferred it well-done got it last.

Voila!

Choose your sauce

It was so amazing. I ate my steak with a side of pommery späetzle, though everybody's sides were superb in their own right.

White chocolate and orange souffle

The dessert sampler

We were all high on life and food after the steak. We were having such a blast, and it was only Brian's and my first full day in the country!

As if it wasn't already a great experience, the server came by and asked what we would like for dessert. We were like, what? There is more? It was awesome. I know it probably said so on the menu, but we didn't pick up on it. That roused laughs 'round our table. It was a sweet ending to an already special and unforgettable meal. ❤