The original Cafe By The Ruins in Baguio burned some time ago but they have another branch opened where everyone can enjoy the great food that the place has to offer. And that’s where we decided to have dinner to celebrate my Mom’s birthday.
My Mom’s birthday is on February 14 but I only made it back home on the morning of 16th (thank goodness for holidays). That night, the family – sans my other brother and sister – had dinner to celebrate. It’s rare that I get the opportunity to treat my Mom so I try to grab every opportunity I get. And birthdays are one of them. I also wanted to do it to say thank you for being such a great grandma to the little boy and taking on the task of taking care of him since the nanny left. Well, that’s another story for another day.
Cafe By The Ruins is a nice place to celebrate events or to just spend time with family, friends or your special someone. I haven’t been to Cafe By The Ruins for a long time. The last time I remember would probably be when I took my Mom and Aunt for coffee when I was about 5 months pregnant. And that was to make it officially known to relatives that I was pregnant. LOL! That was a long time ago.
This was also my first time to go to Dua. And while the new place doesn’t have the same ambience as the original one, it definitely has its own charm but the same warm, welcoming feeling.
The food was as great as I remembered. Let me just share the photos before I go on, shall we?
We started everything off with coffee. It was an early dinner affair so while waiting for our order, we enjoyed a big cup of Ruins’ coffee.
My Mom got the 100 Island Sinigang. This could serve 2. Zaine had this too and he totally enjoyed it. We even had to order extra rice for him.
I got the Baguio Bagnet. As always, the pork was really tasty. I’m not a fan of bagoong (fermented fish) of any kind so I just left that out. That’s pork sinigang soup on the side, too. It was good but the 100 Island sinigang soup was a lot better.
My brother, Reis, is now a vegetarian so he went with pasta with grilled shiitake mushrooms. I was not able to taste this but he said it was good. This can be ordered with a grilled chicken breast for Php 280.
And what meal would be complete without dessert, right?
The dessert trio was not on the menu but it was on the table display. These are mini versions of the desserts and it is worth ordering if you do not know which one to pick.
This one is on a separate page on the menu as well which was called Strawberry Festival. It just looked so yummy we had our forks on it within the minute it landed on our table.
The nougat parfait is best paired with coffee. It wasn’t what I was expecting with a parfait but I enjoyed this nonetheless.
The dinner was a relaxed one and one that I truly enjoyed. And while it was meant for my Mom, apparently, the little boy was the star of the evening. I mean, who could resist this little boy’s charm anyway?
I love taking the family out for dinners whenever I can. Back when I was young, we used to have these two-hour dinners at home. Now that we’re all adults and working, I guess it is about time that we try having dinners out not only to celebrate events but just to spend time together.
If you plan on going to Baguio and miss the old Cafe By The Ruins, you definitely must visit Cafe By The Ruins Dua. It may not have the same ambience as the original one but the food is definitely as great.
Cafe By The Ruins Dua
#225 Upper Session Road, Baguio City
Tel: (074) 422 9804
cafebytheruins@gmail.com
