MANILA, Philippines - As these rainy days could inspire a heartier appetite, homegrown hospitality brand Discovery Leisure Company unveils its new gourmet selections for two of their landmark restaurants. Not only do they change our dining devotions in these wet and colder climes, but Discovery’s new menus also encourage a novel way of enjoying the comforting tastes and flavors at a time when all we really want to do is laze and linger by the dining table, indulging our heart’s (and tummy’s) content.
With the luxury of choice carefully crafted by its corporate chef Anthony Raymond, Discovery offers a more leisurely dining experience at various times of day that, come rain or high water, we shouldn’t really mind packing on a few pounds to better match this sweater weather.
Languid weekend brunch
As the Tagaytay mist grows heavy in the weekend mornings, all we’d really want to do is curl up in bed longer. Discovery Country Suites took this sentiment to heart when it unveiled its new brunch menu at Restaurant Verbena, encouraging a more relaxing stay with power meals that jumpstart a lethargic day.
“People are usually looking for something to come back for, something that is comforting,” explains Discovery Country Suites new resident manager Rhea Sycip. So, with the help of its resident toque, Celmar Ambida, Restaurant Verbena has quite an assortment for brunch.
“When guests coming from Manila reach Tagaytay, usually at 10:30 or 11 in the morning, they usually crave breakfast. But since our usual operations for breakfast tend to end at 10, we decided to create a menu to accommodate their requests,” chef Celmar reveals. Thankfully, necessity is the mother of invention, because Restaurant Verbena whips up exciting brunch specialties that marry the most important meal of the day with a gourmet lunch.
“Chef Anthony and I decided to incorporate American and Filipino comfort food that uses the main products of Tagaytay like lettuce, edible flowers, micro-greens, and tomatoes,” Celmar adds. “So if you look at the plates, it all embodies these, while maintaining the flavors we are accustomed with to create dishes that are familiar. So, the new brunch menu serves up spins of continental brunch classics with salads that look just as good as they taste.”
The New York-style lox, or smoked salmon on a bed of cream cheese and bagel, turns into a Filipino original, with farm-fresh kesong puti, home-pickled red onions, and Tagaytay cherry tomatoes. The Prosciutto and Soft Eggs, on the other hand, gives the classic ham and egg an element of glamour, with easy-served eggs, basil pesto, and prosciutto shavings adding to the well-studied flavor combination.
But what seems to be generating the most buzz is the Brunch Burger, a delicious hunk of USDA Angus beef patty topped with white cheddar, thick-cut bacon, melted onions, and a sunny-side up egg on an English muffin bun.
“People tend to visit us not only for our food but also for our desserts,” Sycip says about the centerpiece of Restaurant Verbena’s brunch, the dessert buffet. “There’s really not many dessert places here in Tagaytay, that’s why if you look around the dessert spread, these are very classic, comfort desserts.”
“We wanted to maintain the feel of the home, that everything that comes out of the oven are baked fresh,” Sycip adds before talking about the desserts she prepared herself. From the Strawberry Shortcake made from Benguet strawberries to the rustic Apple Pie served in a cast-iron skillet, the crowd favorite Red Velvet, to the lesser known Hello Dolly bars of nuts, chocolate chips and coconut, and the Hummingbird Cake, a mélange of local señorita bananas and Tagaytay pineapple turned into a delectably textured pound cake, the rich selections of Verbena’s dessert bar quickly underline how this quaint dining hub overlooking the Taal Lake is growing to be Tagaytay’s sweetest retreat.
Delightful dinner downtimes
Now, while getting caught between a downpour and the business district is a recipe for disaster during our deadlocked rush hours, Discovery Suites, the pioneering business hotel in the Ortigas area, sees an opportunity to elevate our wining and dining standards. At its crowning culinary hub, 22 Prime, chef Anthony Raymond curates new a la carte dishes that will make our downtimes between dinner and nightcap a more fulfilling experience.
“I am in love with mushrooms, and during these months, here in the Philippines, our mushrooms are phenomenal,” chef Anthony explains. “Going into the rainy season we’re just introducing heartier food, heavier food to complement the weather.”
Working out seasonal menus that greatly depend on our local farmer’s yield, chef Anthony whips up fresh specialties that maximize homegrown ingredients without compromising his Western-cultivated palette.
So, from an amuse bouche of Twice-cooked Suckling Pig with Peach Sauce, sous-vide and baked for its delightfully soft and crunchy texture, the chef led us to an intriguing starter of Baked Oyster with Béchamel Sauce, the soft and sophisticated cream best complementing the oceanic flavor of Roxas shellfish.
Since fat raindrops were virtually covering the Ortigas skyline view outside, he decided to console us with a Black Bean Velouté, a comfortingly chunky soup made sophisticated by crusty pancetta. The Short Rib Ravioli, on the other hand, showcases the chef’s passions for wild mushrooms, serving it nicely roasted on the side, with truffle cream sauce and a delicately sweet squash puree.
At the heart of the satisfying dinner was the traditional chateaubriand, a thick slice of premium tenderloin seared just on the right side of rare, served with 22 Prime’s triple-threat of sauces: Steak Sauce, Béarnaise, and Black Truffle Cream. And, sealing this dinner deal was a classic Pecan Pie Bar, made timelier with crushed sea salt — the perfect sweet and savory ending to a well-crafted meal.
This sophisticated yet soothing take on steak dinners easily made us forget the floods and traffic that waited just outside. Armed with a goblet of 22 Prime’s fine selection of French or Italian wines, the clouds could pour all its might but we remained dry and in high spirits.
So perhaps the best prescription for our rainy-day blues is a generous meal, with new dining discoveries for brunch and dinner ready to comfort us.
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Discovery Country Suites’ Restaurant Verbena is located at 300 Calamba Rd., San Jose, Tagaytay City. For reservations, call 529-8172. 22 Prime is located on the 22nd floor of Discovery Suites, 25 ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. For reservations, call 719-8888.