Valley Good Eats: The Cabin (Not The Horror Flick, But The Cafe)

As promised, TMW shall be visiting La Trinidad Valley cafes and restaurants as we try to come up with a list of good eats in the area. For this blog, we visited The Cabin.

The Cabin is a quaint, rustic looking cabin that's been tickling the locals' palates for the past two years. It's opened the whole week from 9 in the AM to 8 in the PM. We only found out about it quite recently, and thus decided to check it out.

decisions, decisions, decisions!

1. LOCATION: The Cabin is located on the left side of a side street after Mercury Drug La Trinidad (that is, if you're coming from Baguio). It's about a 2 minute walk upon entering said side street. It's quite near from the main road but hard to spot if there's a big pick up truck parked right in front of it. SCORE: 4/5 

2. MENU: The cafe offers a variety of pastas, burgers, salads and all time favorite comfort food as well as hot and cold beverages that don't include canned juices and soda.THe closest thing you could get to having soda is a wonderful creamy root beer float. Unique items on the menu offer promises of interesting flavors and somehow deliver. Prices were reasonable too. The only ish I had when we visited was that not all items on the menu were available. SCORE: 4/5.Here's a look at the MENU:

3. FOOD: I enjoyed The Cabin's food offerings! Food was made fresh, with fresh ingredients; portions were huge in proportion to the cost; flavors were great (with a little room for improvement, but taste is always a personal preference indeed) and I must say, the kitchen folks at this establishment know how to cook. SCORE: 4/5  Here's what we got - 

a. Chicken and Chips - fresh cut potato fries (you may opt to have sweet potato fries too) and made-from-scratch chicken nuggets, offered a great meal for our MAX. I love their chic ken nuggets! It's crispy on the outside but tender in the inside, juicy and lightly seasoned. The dish came with a ranch dressing dip, but the chicken (and  fries) are good on their own.

b. Jalapeno Burger - Think of a burger patty made with sausage meat and chopped Jalapeno, cooked perfectly that it was still moist and juicy, toppped with coleslaw in a lightly toasted bun with a side of fries. I though that the burger was delish, with a hint of heat pack between bites. Phil felt that the coleslaw took away from the flavors of the burger, that all he could taste was slaw. If you want more of the heat, I suggest that you ask for the coleslaw to be served as a side.

c. Tuyo at Kamatis Pasta - I intitially wanted a Po Boy, but shrimp wasn't available, so I opted to order this dish. Tuyo (or dried herring) is usually salty, so I was expecting the slat component to the dish. Sauce was nice and a little sweet, which would've been perfect had the fish been salty. Instead of tuyo, I tasted flaked sardines. The tomatoes and olives were the perfect  blend and the toasted wheat bread slices were perfect for scooping out the sauce. I just wished I had a little more of the tuyo flavor.

d. Apple-Banana shake - just a great, all natural tasting shake that's sweetened by the flavors of the fruit.

e. Rootbeer Float - made the old-fashioned way, topped with a generous helping of cream. Really good.

f. Choco mint frappe - enhanced by real mint leaves, it's refreshing, not too sweet and just a great accompaniment to any dish.

service water, just help yourself to it

4. SERVICE: the staff of The Cabin is both smart and efficient. They know what they have to offer and take pride in it too. The wait time, for the the great food quality is minimal and yes, I'd trust their judgement of recommendations. Oh, and they also have fast FREE WiFi. SCORE: 5/5

5. AMBIANCE: Decorated to look like a little shack, with kitschy mismatched decors and furniture on the inside, the place would remind you of a weird old uncle's bachelor pad, just much cleaner. Atmosphere is relaxed, not obtrusive back ground music can be heard but the place felt a bit dimly lit. They did a goo job on recreating that "Cabin" feel, so yeah, I'd give them a SCORE: 5/5.

We had a great, laid back lunch experience at The Cabin. The food was great, our tummies were happy and my husband's pocket wasn't weeping when we got back. MAX had no sensory issues with the place and helped himself with the gusto as soon as the food arrived. Our OVERALL SCORE: 4.4.

The Cabin is worth another visit (or more).

From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours!

La Trinidad Good Eats: Half Cup

our latest happy place

In a busy little side street beside Savemore La Trinidad is a quaint little café that offers both sweet and savory treats. A must-visit place that opened just a year ago, I was still amazed at how I have not heard about this foodie gem until recently.

it tastes as good as it looks

Getting resto recommendations in La Trinidad, Benguet from my foodie high school friend, Doc Anna was a godsend.

I did not expect seeing as quaint and cozy as this place, in a side street in La Trinidad

Heading out to the Valley every Friday for MAX’s occupational therapy sessions has been a series of rushed lunches in Baguio or laid back lunches in Seafood Island or Jack’s Restaurant in the area. It was getting quite old. 

not knowing what to expect, MAX was worried that this was going to turn out to be one unsatisfying meal...glad the place proved him wrong

 Yesterday, Phil urged MAX and I to open up our adventurous sides and go on that 2 minute (or less) walk to Half Cup. 

Half Cup is on the left of that bldg with lots of clothes hanging

To get there, you have to go inside the side street on the left side of Savemore , La Trinidad (if you’re facing said building). You’ll pass a fruit stand on the left. Keep on walking until you get a glimpse of a laundry shop / used clothes shop. Look to your left. You should see a driveway that leads to a small 2 storey structure. 

The signage is the color of café au lait, so it’s kinda easy to miss this on a sunny day. However, the Half Cup’s lack of contrast on their signage has been more than made up for by their delicious and affordable food, superb service and wonderful ambiance. 

Here’s a look at their menu:

My boys ad I ended up with this:

Phil's baked ribs with fries and Spanish rice (as the 2 side options that go with all meals). Ribs were tasty and tender!

All meat sandwich on whole wheat bread. Don't let the cup size fool ya in this pic. This sandwich was LOADED with beef balls, bacon, pepperoni and cheese!

MAX got the bacon carbonara (Pasta Alfredo, really), served with freshly baked wheat bread slices.

 Thirsty? Aside from the drinks on the menu (no soda. The closest thing is Canada Dry), they have free brewed coffee, flavored and regular water – you’ll just have to get it yourself though.

 Mango infused water and mineral water - all free

The staff we encountered were all courteous, alert, thoughtful and knowledgeable of Half Cup's products…down to what spices were used!

Your server's name is on the order booklet on your table. Wasn't able to take a pic of our server's booklet though...

to make sure they get your orders correctly, you get to write what you want. Server will collect it soon after

When Phil sat on a seat with a low back, a member of the staff rushed to get him a chair with a higher back. It’s those small things that make this café extra special. Food wait time was also minimal.

The décor is casual, using lightly varnished pinewood for the furnishings and flooring, the lighting perfect and the background music, just right for our son MAX’s sensitive ears.

Overall, we were stuffed with the generous portions of food served. It was perfectly seasoned that we did not have enough space left for dessert after we dug heartily into our huge cups (The Half Cup, remember?). 

Given how delish our lunch was, we knew dessert was going to be good too. We got some fudge cookies and cupcakes to go. The dessert did not disappoint.

we got a classic chocolate cupcake (not too sweet, fudgy and divine), a savory cupcake  - pesto with cream cheese icing (yum yum) and these uber delish fudge cookies that did not skimp on the chocolate pieces

We will definitely go back to Half Cup (as if this blog post wasn’t proof enough!).

These 5 pesos cookies are must eats!! Hoarding when we come back next week :)

You can get in touch with them through these numbers:

 From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours!!