Sparkling holidays

As the festive season is now in full swing, Anya Resort Tagaytay made sure that the spirit of the holidays is warmly felt in its charming property.

Recently, Anya Resort held an intimate Christmas tree lighting ceremony to usher the holiday season. Seen welcoming guests were general manager Peter D’Souza and Roxaco Land’s Pedro Roxas.

After the ceremony, guests were treated to an exclusive wine dinner hosted by Aboitiz Wine Company (AWC) at Samira Restaurant. Aside from the finest wines, guests also enjoyed an amusing “wine education” by AWC area manager for Asia Pacific Jean Claude Terdjemane.

The following day, guests woke up to a delightful brunch at Anila poolside with Gramona cava wines that complemented a wonderful buffet spread that included salt-crusted salmon and Beef Wellington.

This event is just the first of many wine dinners at Anya. Also, now open is the resort’s Amra Deli, home to at least 150 premium wine labels and tapas.

Christmas season at the resort is more meaningful with its “Wish and Share” campaign for the benefit of the Roxas Foundation. A guest may make a donation by purchasing a star ornament for P200. These ornaments are from the livelihood programs of the foundation. Proceeds from the campaign will be used to build homes for the homeless families adopted by Roxas Foundation.

(Anya Resort Tagaytay is located at Buenavista Hills Road, Brgy. Mag Aswang Ilat, Tagaytay City. For more information, visit anyaresorts.com.)

Festive holiday offerings

Well-loved Bizu traditionally celebrates the Christmas season through its holiday offerings. Recently, the restaurant launched its new bistro menu together with the “Land of Sweets: Bizu Christmas Collection 2017,” inspired by the ballet The Nutcracker.

The restaurant’s new dishes include the delicious lobster roll, with fresh lobster flown from Maine daily; clam vongole, truffle lengua, chicken with lemon and rosemary, and my favorite burrata with berries. And still on its menu are crowd favorites like the 10-hour roast beef, Salmon Pommery and Eggs Benedict.

Bizu also teamed up with designer Medilen Singh for its stores’ colorful Christmas decoration and packaging.

Chef Alexander Tanco said, “The new menu showcases the exceptional range of authentic and international cuisine we offer at Bizu. The highlight of this menu is not only its innovative use of great and fresh flavors, but also the growing trends and demands of our customers.”

The Christmas collection includes cakes, macarons de Paris, roasts, terrines, savory spreads, chocolate truffles, revel bars, cookies, tarts and breads. The limited-edition cakes available only this Christmas are Chocolate Caramel, Strawberry Rose and Lemon Walnut.

The restaurant also offers food for the gods, Pachiza (made with Grand Cru Pachiza 70-percent Peruvian Dark Chocolate), Parmesan ensaymada and, of course, the signature 10-hour roast beef, whole roast turkey and the newest addition, the roast lamb ham. * 

(Orders may be placed through any branch of Bizu Patisserie or visit BizuChristmas.com and Facebook.com/ILoveBizu to view the online catalog.)

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Photos by Pepper Teehankee on a Leica C Digital Camera (Follow me on Instagram @pepperteehankee.)