CHAYA Restaurant: A Japanese gem in breezy Baguio

During a recent trip to Baguio, Japinoy.com moderator and my pseudo little sister Lara-chan introduced me to other Japinoy.com members living up there. I finally got to meet one of our forum artists LJ, as well as Michi and Juliet. They were nice enough to bring me to this new Japanese place they heard of from their Nihongo teacher.

CHAYA opened in late September and is located on Legarda Road, just near the Europa Condo Villas. Outside, it looks more like a log cabin than a Japanese restaurant. The interior also gives that same comfy home-in-the-mountain ambience, fireplace and all. A special attraction at CHAYA is the myna that speaks in NIHONGO! How cool is that? She can say ‘Ohayou’ and other simple phrases but is quite shy when there are lots of people around.

CHAYA living room. From left: Me, Michi, LJ, Lara, Juliet

We were welcomed by the lovely owner and head chef, Miss Sonoko Taguchi. I don’t know how long she has been living in Baguio, but she speaks English very well and her Filipino skills were great. Taguchi-san was very patient in making suggestions for orders (we were very indecisive because everything in the menu looked good). After much thinking, we settled on having rice and miso soup with the following:

Sashimi platter

Sashimi platter – Can you see how pretty this is?? It’s almost a shame that we had to eat the entire thing. The platter has 6-7 kinds of local fish, all sliced thinly and arranged beautifully. The fish definitely did not have that icky smell or taste that you get with normal raw fish.

Gyoza

Gyoza – Gyoza is almost like a Japanese comfort food for me 😀 CHAYA’s gyoza were steam-fried to crispy perfection, served with sweet-salty dipping sauce on the side.

Beef yakiniku

Beef yakiniku – My favorite!! Tender slices of beef simmered in sweet salty sauce, served with a side salad. This is more juicy than the other yakiniku I have tried before, and I swear I could lick that sauce off the plate. If I could go back to CHAYA, I’m getting this one again.

We also had kakiage tempura, but I didn’t take a picture. I don’t like tempura for some reason 😛

After we’ve finished our food, Taguchi-san served us green tea ice cream — for free! CHAYA’s green tea ice cream has got to be the best I have ever tasted in my entire life. No kidding. After we polished off the ice cream, we ordered…more dessert 😀

Fruits parfait

Everyone ordered this lovely fruits parfait (yes, with an ‘S’ and not ‘fruit’. So Japanese). Everyone except me, and Juliet was nice enough to give me the umbrella on hers because I didn’t have one. Because I ordered this:

Anmitsu cream

Technically, what I had wasn’t anmitsu because they ran out of gulaman (agar agar) that day. What Taguchi-san did was to double my serving of azuki!! Woot, thank God for gulaman shortage and excellent customer service!! I never liked sweet beans for some reason, and I usually take them out of my halo-halo but I am crazy about azuki. This pretty bowl has the heavenly CHAYA green tea ice cream, sweet azuki beans, fresh fruit slices and whipped cream.

いただきます!

For about P300 per person, we had an extremely filling lunch and great dessert in an exquisitely beautiful place served by an excellent host. What more can you ask for? HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

CHAYA Japanese Restaurant
www.chayabaguio.com
72 Legarda Road, Baguio City, Philippines
phone: (074) 424-4726, mobile: 0916 439 4141
email: chaya-baguio@hotmail.co.jp

With Taguchi-san (2nd from right)

PS: Kailangan ko lang i-broadcast ito: Naka-dalawang rice si LARA!!

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3 Comments

  1. @december: Yes, wallet friendly, considering the authentic taste. 🙂
    @eats: Thanks for the visit! 😀

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