Restaurant Review: Antonio's, Tagaytay

Antonio's is one restaurant that needs no introduction.  Although the name Antonio is very common in the Philippines, there can only be one Antonio's restaurant.  Located far from the hustle and bustle of the metro, dining at Antonio's is an indulgence to senses -- not just the palate.

From the national highway, a nondescript sign points you to the location of one of the best, if not the best, restaurant in the Philippines.  When heading to Antonio's be sure to have a "spotter" that would look for this sign, otherwise, missing it is a very likely possibility.  Upon entering the alley leading to Antonio's you'll pass by a residential area leading up to, almost, the end of that street.  If it's your first time to head to Antonio's fret not that you're already lost, at the end of this narrow street one will find a rather black gate, right outside you'll see cars lined up.  You have arrived.

Because it's a bit hard to drive all the way to Tagaytay we went all out, less the wine, and ordered as much as we can think of.

Since we couldn't have wine we just ordered some juice. We got two - this carafe of strawberry balsamic might have a bad name but it sure tastes like your memory of kool aid -- when you didn't know any better and thought its the best juice in the world. Another carafe we ordered was some pineapple ginger, I had reservations about this flavor since I'm not a big fan of having ginger on my juice, but even I really loved it.  One really nice thing they do at Antonio's is to make ice from the same juice flavor, that way even if they put ice, the juice won't get watered down.

Feast for the Eyes
Arugula with dried cranberries, raspberry vinaigrette and bleu cheese topped with purple cabbage
(oh i get hungry just blogging)

A nice onion soup followed after the refreshing salad.
I'm not a fan of onion soups but this one is really good -- no strong onion taste, and just the right creaminess. 

While waiting for the main course, the server put these nice neat lemons , garlic and gravy (not shown on photo) in preparation for the arrival of our huge-ass T-bone. You'll see i really love how neat this is, this would sure be a nice thing to do at home. 

Side dish # 1: black olive rice and some fresh nicely-cooked-still-crunchy french beans.
I actually ordered the spätzle but it's a bit too strong and creamy for the T-bone so Ferdi and I swapped and I got the rice.

When the T-Bone arrived sizzling hot, pink and medium well our stomach rumbled -- it was silence for the next two minutes..

Ferdi's plate -- the  spätzle I traded and French beans with the nice succulent and pink portion. 

We sat at the al fresco area near the Koi pond and just contemplated life as we muster all appetite to finish the Tbone.

For dessert (yes! we, of course, left some space) I had a panna cotta sampler of vanilla, coffee and dark chocolate with candied toffee on top. The Panna Cotta was perfect -- creamy and consistent in texture and the best part, at least for me, was that it wasn't that sweet. Just enough for a nice sweet closure.

I fell in love with the presentation of these sweet decadence so I just had to take a photo twice. :)

For Ferdi he opted for something light, relatively, and got this nice poached pear on port wine topped with vanilla ice cream.

Dining at Antonio's is an experience in itself.  Always call to make a reservation because the restaurant can be quite busy especially during the weekends.  It was Ferdi's birthday then, and we made sure to book a table days in advance.  We went on a Sunday after diving and true enough it is a very busy day with family's having their get together (extended) brunch.