FARM-to-table cuisine is the way to go these days, as diners become more conscious about the food that they eat and chefs respond by offering simple, fresh flavors prepared using the freshest organic produce, fresh catch from the sea, meats grown in organic farms, and artisanal ingredients such as cheeses and other dairy products.
In response to this “movement” to go back to basic and fresh flavors, Taal Vista Hotel recently opened Tāza—Fresh Flavor, a country garden-inspired restaurant that offers innovative international cuisine utilizing the best ingredients meticulously sourced from local suppliers. The hotel’s newest restaurant, it is located at The Ridge, overlooking the scenic Taal Volcano and Lake and therefore features a scenic 180-degree view with glass walls. It takes the place of what used to be the Magnolia Pavilion, which used to serve as a function room for intimate private functions. The name Tāza is derived from the Arabic word Taaza, which means “fresh, newly harvested or freshly cooked.”
More than just the ambiance that it exudes, Tāza is proud of the kind of food it serves. The chefs, led by young and promising Chef Jamie Natividad, take great care in offering food prepared with no shortcuts. This includes dishes made with garden fresh herbs and vegetables, slow-cooked smoked meats, handmade pasta, and made-from-scratch sauces. Driven by the passionate commitment to source local and cook global, Tāza sources 95% of its ingredients from regions where they are produced—vegetables from Baguio and Tagaytay, grown in Taal Vista Hotel’s own gardens and small, family-owned farms that produce the freshest of greens for domestic consumption; seafood fished and farmed in Iloilo in ways that have the least impact on the environment and shipped in fresh every day; hormone- and enhancer-free Wagyu beef from the ranch country of Bukidnon and are just as tender and intensely marbled as its original Japanese counterpart; artisanal cheeses from Malagos Farms in Davao; fresh dairy products, such as fresh milk and kesong puti, from Laguna; high-fiber and antioxidant-rich black rice grown on the rich soil of majestic Mt. Kanlaon in Negros; and local tablea or cacao tablets from the town of Alfonso in Cavite.
The menu of Tāza gives diners a good selection of mezzes (starters served with flat breads), salads, soups, pizza, pasta, entrées, sides and desserts without confusing their focus on healthy food.
Mezzes—Hummus, Tabbouleh, Boquerones, Brandade, Baba Ganoush, Ricotta, Olive Tapenade, Chorizo with Garlic, Sautéed Chicken Liver and Garlic Confit, and Spinach with Bacon Jam—can be ordered on their own for Php200 to Php230 or in sets of four at Php700.
There are four salad choices: Kale Salad (Php325), organic kale, red onion, beets, cherry tomatoes, roasted cashew nuts and Pato queso de bola, drizzled with Tagaytay pineapple-dalandan vinaigrette; Goat Cheese Caesars Salad (Php350), farm-fresh Romaine lettuce wedges with Malagos Pepato goat cheese, homemade pancetta and Caesar Salad dressing; Alugbati Salad (Php290), alugbati or vine spinach with wild arugula, jicama, red onion, cherry tomatoes and Naga pili nuts with salted egg-citrus vinaigrette; and Taza Salad (Php375), quinoa, cherry tomatoes, wild arugula, farm-fresh Romaine, microgreens, Cebu dried mangoes, radish and beets, with tarragon-white wine vinaigrette whipped up a la minute.
Goat Cheese Caesars Salad is one of the most ordered among the salads, and it’s because it has so many fresh flavors melding together for an exquisite dining experience. For its homemade pancetta, for example, the pork used is local, and the bacon is cured for 10 days, with three to four weeks drying time, while the Romaine lettuce is grown or 21 days. The goat cheese comes from Malagos Farms in Davao, and the salad is tossed in the traditional Caesar Salad dressing with a little anchovy added.
For the soup course, it’s a toss-up between Mushroom Soup (Php285), trio of Tagaytay mushrooms–oyster, shiitake and button mushrooms; and Cream of Kale and Spinach Soup (Php250), Tagaytay spinach, kale, leeks, potatoes and crème fraîche.
When it comes to pizza, six delicious flavors are up for grabs, starting from the simplest Margherita Pizza (Php300) to classic Four Cheese Pizza (Php395) and the seafood lovers’ delight Squid, Shrimps and Anchovies Pizza (Php395) to healthy choices such as Grilled Vegetable Pizza (Php380), Salsa Verde with Panchetta (Php380) and Zucchini and Squash Blossoms (Php375).
Tāza uses only homemade fresh pasta for its pasta dishes, and it comes in different shapes, such as pappardelle (flat, wide strips of pasta), lasagna (whole sheets of pasta), matagliati, ravioli (stuffed pasta) and fettuccine (flat, long strands of pasta). Even the sauces are made fresh, so even a dish as simple as Papardelle Caccio e Pepe (Php380), which is a combination of thyme, Parmesan cheese and trio of peppercorns, tastes awesome.
While most of the restaurant’s offerings are limited to help diners focus on healthy choices, the menu carries quite a number of entrées that cover everything from chicken to fish, seafood, pork, beef and lamb. The Grilled Iloilo Prawns (Php1,100), three big prawns served with grilled leeks and Romesco sauce, is a top favorite among early diners. So with Ribeye (Php2,275), which is a big 350-gram slab of Bukidnon Wagyu beef). Tāza also offers two premium entrées—Tomahawk-Bukidnon Wagyu, which is a 1.2-kilogram steak served with Chimichurri sauce, au poivre sauce, Bearnaise sauce and pink sea salt plus two sides; and Leg of Lamb, which is roast grass-raised Iloilo lamb cooked with a mix of special spices and olive oil, and served with Tagaytay baby vegetables, potato wedges, mint gelee and garlic gravy. The latter requires a two-hour cooking time, so it must be ordered in advance.
For dessert, there are four choices: Olive Oil Ice Cream with Glazed Tagaytay Pineapple (Php215), Vanilla Bean Custard with Candied Kumquat (Php225), Molten Chocolate Cake with Alfonso Tablea Chocolate and Pato Queso de Bola Ice Cream (Php225), and Cannoli with Ube Ricotta and Langka Cream (Php275). These selections are out-of-the-ordinarily unique, but Chef Jamie confesses to have been challenged to come up with desserts that are different from the regular items on the menu of most restaurants.
What makes Tāza really special is that even its drinks have been carefully thought of. Its House Blend Iced Tea, for instance, is a mix of ginger, basil and mint leaves, calamansi and pandan; and it took great pains to make sure it sources even its wines locally to be able to offer aperitifs such as Bignay Feast, which is rich in antioxidants and contain anti-cancer properties as much as it is delightful to the palate.
Olive oil and vinegar are probably the only two imported ingredients used at Tāza, the newest hip place to go for farm-to-table dining.
(Taal Vista Hotel is located at Kilometer 60, Aguinaldo Highway, Tagaytay City. For inquiries and reservations, call (02) 917-8225 or (46) 413-1000 or 0917-8091254.)
