Monday, December 19, 2016

The Dining Room, Gourmet Farms

Another fun food adventure - this time, it was down south!



Here's a look back to the time when Zomato invited some foodies to visit The Dining Room at Gourmet Farms in Tagaytay!
Gourmet Farms
It's been a while since I've last been to Tagaytay, so the idea of a road trip with fellow food lovers was just something I couldn't pass up!
Gourmet Farms
Gourmet Farms was born in 1988 (hey, same as me!) and is the first organic farm in the country. They actually started out as a coffee company - they're not only the first company to export Philippine coffee beans, but they also import the best quality single origin blends from all over the world and make them accessible to local consumers.
Gourmet Farms
Today, Gourmet Farms is a restaurant, a cafe, a bakery, and a store.

The Dining Room is our restaurant and events place where we showcase our finest dishes using the freshest ingredients from our farm. Gourmet’s CafĂ© is a venue where our guests come to have coffee, snacks, and all-day breakfast. The Country Store offers our Gourmet products, pasalubong, and other novelty items for our diners and travelers in the area. Fresh baked items are also available from our own bakery. (source)
Gourmet Farms
Our first stop was The Dining Room, where we got to try their best-selling dishes!
Gourmet Farms
The Dining Room is a farm-to-table restaurant, where the items come from THEIR farm! The food they offer are of the freshest ingredients; the dishes are simple and straightforward, nothing fancy.

For starters, they offer a salad bar, where you only pay for what you will consume. You just get what you want and how much you want of it, have it weighed, then pay for it. Easy as that!
Gourmet Farms
For example, when I made my own salad, I only picked out corn, cheese, and some greens. I left out all the others I wasn't planning on eating anyway. Then I poured over the dressing of my choice!
Gourmet Farms
You can pick from Balsamic, Honey Mustard, Thousand Islands, Mango, Fresh Herb, and Garlic - all of which they make in-house. My favorites? Mango and Fresh Herb! ;)

If you can't visit Tagaytay yet, you can opt to purchase these in your local supermarkets and grocery stores! Yes, they have them there! The vegetables won't be as fresh, but at least you get to try the different dressings!
Gourmet Farms
Gourmet Farms actually produces its own organically grown lettuce (romaine, lolla rossa, green ice, and red sails) as well. It also has greenhouses and open fields for growing varieties of herbs like tarragon, basil, coriander, oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. All in all, the Gourmet Farms estate makes up a total of 12-hectares!

Aside from the DIY salad offerings, they also have four salads to choose from (potato, mango, tuna, and macaroni) and my favorite, button mushrooms!
Gourmet Farms
Gourmet Farms
Gourmet Farms
Gourmet Farms
Gourmet Farms
After seeing what the salad bar had to offer, we got to taste their refreshing Signature Lemonade which consists of fresh basil and lemons.
Gourmet FarmsGourmet Farms
We also got to try a salad off of the menu, the Fattoush Salad (P250).
Gourmet Farms
It's a Lebanese salad containing mixed greens, tomato, cucumber, red onions, and pita chips with pomegranate dressing. It's different, especially with the crunchy pita chips, but I'd go for making my own Gourmet Farms salad any day.

Greek Nachos (P250)
Gourmet Farms
If they have pita chips, they also have lettuce chips! Their Greek Nachos features their very own lettuce chips instead of the usual store-bought corn chips, so it's healthier! Then they add in some meat sauce, salsa, olives, and feta cheese to make it an even more unique treat.
Gourmet Farms
Gourmet Pizza (P450)
Gourmet Farms
Their specialty pizza is topped with parma ham, shrimps, and zucchini over white sauce. Seriously, the world needs more pizzas like this. The fact that it was thin crust made it more enjoyable!
Gourmet Farms
Nero D Seppie (P290)
Gourmet Farms
The squid ink pasta was one of the dishes everyone was really excited about, and it did not disappoint! It was really flavorful, though there's a downside - it can get messy. You'll probably end up with black marks on your teeth and lips, so just make sure not to order this on client meetings and stuff. But yes, it's really good and actually quite affordable, in my opinion.
Gourmet Farms
Primavera (P250)
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The other pasta dish we got to try was all about the veggies. Compared to the Nero D Seppie, this was just okay.

Gyro (P320)
Gourmet Farms
Here's another Greek-inspired dish - the Gyro. It's basically a pita wrapped sandwich with chicken or beef (this one had chicken), vegetables, and tzatziki (yogurt) sauce. Served with lettuce chips and ketchup on the side.
Gourmet Farms
Big thanks to Gourmet Farms for the invite!
Read about Gourmet's Cafe and Country Store on my next post :)
Gourmet Farms
The Dining Room is located at Kilometer 52, Aguinaldo Highway, Silang, Cavite, Tagaytay City.
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The Dining Room at Gourmet Farms Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato