Healthy Lunch at Eve's Garden

*All photos by Stanley S. Ong

I stumbled upon Eve's Garden while googling for a new restaurant to try in Baguio. Stan and I loved our Sonya's B&B experience and thought that Eve's Garden would be something like Sonya's Secret Garden. To eat at Eve's Garden, reservations must be made by texting +639209476264 or +639175066264. They are also open only for lunch (11:30 am to 2:20 pm). Like Sonya's, Eve's has a set menu and gives you 3 choices for your main course - beef, chicken and fish. However, they had run out of beef for Holy Thursday so our choices were just chicken or fish.

From Baguio City, Eve's is about 20-30 minutes by car through Naguilian Road. Eve's is already in La Trinidad. The restaurant was small, serving only a maximum of 20 people. Aside from the restaurant, there is also a lettuce farm, where they grow about 12 varieties of lettuce and an edible flower (nasturtiums).

The meal started with a refreshing drink that was really cold, fruity and not too sweet. The drink was made of freshly squeezed pineapple with lemon mint and sage, sweetened with Muscovado sugar.

Aside from the fruity drink, there was also some sweet strawberry wine, which costs an extra 300p for a small bottle. Although the drink was good, unlike Sonya's dalandan juice, Eve's was not refillable. You needed to pay extra to have your glass refilled.

Next up was some soup - made with a base of onions and squash with seven herbs garnished with parmesan cheese, croutons and yogurt. Creamy and savory -- no complaints here.

Eve's salad came next - salad platter made of 10-12 lettuce varieties, served with carrots, turnips, walnuts, raisins and a caesar-type dressing made from organic flax oil, olive oil and sunflower oil, prepared with seven fresh garden herbs.
This was the highlight of the meal. The lettuce were crisp and fresh. My mom was amazed and said that the lettuce were very beautiful - she could not see any brown spots or marks on them. The dressing was also delicious. Tangy, creamy - it went well with the salad. We all enjoyed eating the edible flowers and were told that these flowers were part of the watercress family. However - one low point was when Stan asked for some extra walnuts and got an unsure stare from the waiter/gardener. He said he had to ask permission from the kitchen. Happily, permission was granted and Stan got his extra walnuts. However, it seems that once they served the plate, no seconds were allowed. Drink refills had to be paid for and when we had our salads wrapped, they would only pack the dressing which was served. No extra dressing could be given anymore. :(

Main course was a choice of grilled chicken breast with pesto fettucini served with 2 pieces of whole wheat buttered fingers OR Steamed Norwegian Salmon with caper dressing with organic rice, corn and turnips.

I had the chicken, some parts of which were dry. And the main courses were tiny!! Running joke during the meal was that they filled you up with the salad so you won't notice how small the main course was. The pasta that came with my chicken was about 2-3 spoonfuls. My brother-in-law commented that he finished his salmon in 3 bites! The pesto pasta was nothing special. I wasn't able to try the red rice although Stan wasn't impressed. All of us were not satisfied with the main course. We couldn't help but compare it with Sonya's Her main courses were 2 types of pasta plus salmon belly. But the pasta sauces were delicious and plentiful - same with the salmon belly.

To cap the meal, we had a choice of coffee or ginger ginseng with mint tea and a homemade dessert. The "homemade dessert" turned out to be an oatmeal raisin bar. My brother was not happy - I think he assumed he would be served crepes or something similar. The oatmeal bar was pretty good - gooey, chewy and tasty. Then again, I love oatmeal raisin bars! The tea was quite sweet but the coffee was good.

The price? 650p per head. I had also requested for yayas and driver's meal. They served the salad, a sandwich, juice, coffee and dessert at 275pesos!!! I asked my yaya what the sandwich was and she said it might be tuna. It was just 2 pieces of wheat bread and some spread. Definitely not worth 275p.

The verdict?? Even though we liked the soup and salad, we were very disappointed that Eve's Garden was very stringent and refused to give seconds. The main course was not enough to fill you up. We couldn't help but compare this restaurant with Sonya's Garden. Similar to Sonya's, Eve's Garden had a set menu, focusing on the salad. The salad dressings in both restaurants were unique and delicious but in Eve's, they will just give you a cupful of dressing to go with your salad, while at Sonya's a bottle of salad dressing is placed on your table.

Meals at Eve's and Sonya's each cost 650p. However, Sonya's gives you more value for your money. Both restaurants espouse the concept of healthy eating and are premised on the slow food movement.

Eve's Garden is set in La Trinidad, with a wonderful view of the mountains. But apart from a porch/balcony with a view, there is not much to do except take quick photos. Eve's staff told us that we could check out the lettuce garden but the steps going down were steep and there was no pathway towards the lettuce fields. Also, we didn't get to meet Eve but just her daughter. When I asked her daughter if soup and sandwiches were the only meals available to driver/yayas, she told me that was what her mom texted her. Maybe if I texted her earlier, a better meal could be prepared - but I still think that they should not charge 275p for yaya/driver meals.

If you are in Baguio and would like to eat in a private secluded place, with a great mountain view (like Baguio 10 years ago), then check out Eve's Garden. But make sure you feed your driver/yayas first before you go. Our family finds that this restaurant is a novelty that we are willing to try once. But until they improve their food servings, we won't go back and will just opt to visit Sonya's instead.

Contact Eve's Garden at +639209476264 or +639175066264
Directions from Baguio City Hall: Go down naguilian road, pass by St. Vincent Church, Cooyesan Hotel/Plaza, Cemetery, Nagoya Inn, San Miguel Depot, St. Joseph Church, Irisan High School, PNP Station. 500M down is a 10M bridge. Then turn right at the junction. Pass Lamtang Cockpit, Lamtang Elementary School, 2 KM up with parking space and sign "Eve's Garden." (right beside PCM). MAP