Breakfast at Café by the Ruins (Baguio)
Our next restaurant stop in Baguio is what is probably its most unique. Café by the Ruins‘ distinctive name is matched by a quirky-artistic vibe and a delicious menu featuring locally-grown ingredients.
Setting. Built upon the war ‘ruins’ of a former governor’s house, Café by the Ruins has a rustic and native feel. Wooden furniture, art pieces, and lush greenery adorn the place. Like most restaurants in the city, the dining area is open-air.
Their many-layered, flaky and buttery croissant (P80), served with butter and jam
I really loved the chocolate croissant (P80), oozing with rich chocolatey goodness!
A complimentary fruit cup
Filipino Lon-Si-Log (P245) — Longganisang Hubad (marinated pork cubes), Sinangag (garlic fried rice), and itlog (fried egg).
A loaf of Basil Bread (P80)
Carabao Dairy Breakfast (P245) — fried kesong puti with hot pan de sal and butter and jam
Kamote bread (P80) — incorporating bread flour with Cordillera kamote, milk, and honey
The Whole in One (P245) — buttered whole wheat bread with a fried egg in the middle, served with home-cured bacon and grilled tomatoes. A complete and yummy meal!
Champorado (P155) — rice porridge with pure chocolate tablea, milk, and sugar, served with tinapa flakes. Pure comfort for the traveler’s soul!
The Mushroom Omelet (P230) — sauteed button or shiitake mushrooms in an egg roll — was the winning dish everybody loved. Very appetizing, perfect with rice or just by itself.
The fragrant Ruins Herb Tea (P100) by the pot, served with a lemon slice and wild honey — the perfect ending to an overwhelmingly filling breakfast.
It’s a breakfeast!
Service from the server staff was pretty standard at best, but mostly bland and uninspired. It is quite underwhelming, to say the least, as we’d come to expect a lot more from an establishment like this. That said, we did appreciate the amiable owner chatting us up from behind the cashier while purchasing their take-home goodies. Price is approximately P400-500 per head on a shared bill.
Overall verdict. Café by the Ruins has had its fair share of reviews online. Some swear by it, while some swear never to return. I’m sort of somewhere in the middle. The food we had was great, and I give props to the creative ambiance, but service has to be outstanding for me to consider a restaurant to be outstanding — and in my opinion this is where they lag behind the other Baguio places we’ve tried. Nonetheless, I’m sure it’d still come up as one of the places I’d name when asked about Baguio restaurants.
Café by the Ruins
23 Chuntug St.
Baguio City, Benguet
Tel. #: +63 74 442-4010
Official website and Facebook page
<<We were fortunate enough to have been able to experience the best of Baguio City right before the recent typhoon onslaughts. I hope this series of Baguio restaurant reviews somehow help the city’s economy and tourism recover faster.
Café by the Ruins served as a relief center for the victims of typhoon Pepeng in Baguio and its surrounding areas.>>
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Wohoo! Definitely a sumptuous breakfeast like tomorrow will never come!
And they make really, really yummy strawberry jams!
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