Taza Joins List of Top Dining Destinations in Tagaytay

By: Margaux Salcedo, Philippie Daily Inquirer

OLIVE oil ice cream and French toast with bacon are popular items on Taza’s menu

How do you make a restaurant stand out when you are in a high density, much sought-after location like Tagaytay?

For Chef Jayme Natividad of Taza Fresh Table, it’s simple. You just have to keep improving the menu.

Natividad drew raves last year when Taza opened with his alugbati salad with the signature dalandan and lemon vinaigrette and salted egg dressing; a papardelle inspired by a 100-year-old recipe shared by one of his mentors; and his medley of sourdough pizzas.

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For the longest time, though, Taza was open only for dinner, serving breakfast only on weekends.

Finally, Taza now serves breakfast starting at 7 a.m. every day.

I’m actually surprised they did not do this earlier, knowing the success of breakfast places in Tagaytay such as Antonio’s Breakfast and Bag of Beans. I surmise it is because the hotel has a breakfast buffet, making breakfast at Taza redundant.

But the standalone gourmet restaurant in the sprawling Taal Vista Hotel has its own charm. I’m just glad it now has its own breakfast menu, too.

Breakfast at Taza

Natividad, who lived in New York for 13 years, is serving his favorite New York brunch dishes: The usual suspects—eggs benedict and salmon —but with the rustic touch that New York brasseries offer.

He did work at Balthazar, after all.

Start your breakfast with four thick slices of French toast served with a pile of perfectly crisp bacon.

The kind of toast you need after a sleepless night due to partying or buddy bonding. Call it the Hangover Special.

Then have a piece of Southern fried chicken.

Just a piece because Taza literally just serves one piece per order, hehe! But it is quite a hefty chunk that is flavorful on the crisp outside and juicy on the inside.

They also have homemade corned beef—slices of lovingly cured Batangas beef. But the best item on the menu is the homemade smoked bacon.

A thick slab of probiotic pork belly marinated for at least 12 days before being smoked for 4 to 6 hours.

When I visited six months ago, this was already one of the best items on the menu. Today, it remains as delicious as I remember it to be.

French toast with bacon

Organic

Health-conscious eaters will be pleased to know that Taza is committed to sourcing locally-produced organic produce. The chicken, for instance, is organic chicken from a farm in Laguna. They also have sole from Quezon, beef from both Batangas and Bukidnon, prawns from Iloilo, and greens from their own garden.

“The biggest challenge is consistency,” Natividad admits, “Whether it be beef, tomatoes, or herbs, it is still difficult to find consistency from suppliers and farmers. That is why I’ve made it a point to develop relationships with our local farmers. With constant communication and feedback on the products we get, we are able to maintain our desired quality consistently.”

In fact, 95 percent of Taza’s menu is sourced from local farmers or suppliers and the vegetables are sourced from within a 15 to 20 kilometer radius.

Like Tagaytay institutions Antonio’s and Sonya’s Garden, Taza at Taal Vista Hotel also has its own garden for a steady supply of greens, herbs and organic vegetables.

This is in fact one of the reasons behind the success of restaurants in Tagaytay: Not only is the weather great, the salads are also superb because of the freshness of the greens on the menu and every dish is given an extra oomph with the fresh herbs from their gardens.

The view

Of course, Taza has the advantage of the unbeatable view of the volcano that only Taal Vista can offer. So make sure to get a window seat facing the volcano when you visit.

Then take a stroll on the grand terrace of the hotel after your meal to get the obligatory “day off” shot, with or without the fog. It is, after all, Tagaytay.

Taza Fresh Table. Taal Vista Hotel, Kilometer 60, Aguinaldo Highway, Tagaytay City. Call +6329178225 for reservations. Wheelchair accessible. Now open daily for breakfast starting at 7 a.m. Major credit cards accepted. Visit taalvistahotel.com or Facebook.com/TaalVistaHotel.

Follow the author @margauxsalcedo on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. Visit margauxsalcedo.com.

The foremost horse in a team

TUE, JULY 12, 2016 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring

Are you a guide, a commander or a conductor? Are you a leader, who knows how to play the first card in the team? Do you know how to direct, to persuade or to precede?

Yes,  change is really coming in the Philippines. Our new leaders seem to be on the right way.

I found a very nice quotation shared by Dr. John C. Maxwell, the leading authority on leadership, who says, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way!” “Nearly all men can withstand adversity. If you truly want to test a man’s character, give him power”, stressed already Abraham Lincoln. Character is what you are doing in the dark. By the way, nowadays, I wouldn’t only mention “men”  alone when it comes to leader-ship. There are innumerable women holding their own.

Remember and look around: in the past and at present one can observe someone at any corner offering us to lead our way. Politicians compete for our vote of confidence. Athletes and entertainers show us their pictures of success. A lot of different religious leaders pledge, promise and bind in flock gathering.

Well, what are some of the traits that a great leader must have or develop character? Is character really enough? How about integrity? Are you, my dear reader, a leader? Is what you are saying AND  DOING, the same? Are your followers wholeheartedly convinced of your integrity?

Albert Einstein, one of my favorite idols had said, “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with the important matters!”

Leaders in politics, leaders in clergy, leaders in business – many have been lacking this specific trait in the past, because, after all, what they said is not what they did.  A leader is some-one with character, integrity, discipline, and the ability to influence others in a positive way.  A leader must be able to motivate his or her people around, rather than manipulate them or run away in times of difficult decisions…!

Albert Einstein claimed that he had no special abilities, only persistence. But that was enough to develop the General Relativity Theory. I learned from my Philippine mentor and book author (German-Philippine Relations), the late Monsignor Professor Dr. Hermogenes E. Bacareza already during the 1980's: “It’s important to become your own best friend. Be your own coach. Take to your inner self  as if  you were talking to another person you care deeply.  And, pray!”

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Comments, sugges-tions, questions? Email me: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me in Facebook or Twitter or visit one of websites  www.germanexpatinthe philippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com.

President Duterte Urged to Study UN Ruling Carefully

By: Christine O. Avendaño, Marlon Ramos, Philippine Daily Inquirer

COURT RULING COUNTDOWN This photo, taken on May 11, 2015, shows land reclamation on Panganiban Reef in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. A landmark ruling on Tuesday on the arbitration case brought by the Philippines that seeks to strike down China’s claim to almost all of the South China Sea will be a test for international law and world powers. AP

CONFIDENT that the Philippines would get a favorable ruling from an international tribunal on its dispute with China over the South China Sea, Sen. Leila de Lima on Sunday said she hoped the Duterte administration would study the decision carefully before deciding what action to take so that Manila’s 20-year effort to resolve the conflict would not go to waste.

The United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague will hand down a ruling at 11 a.m. (5 p.m. in Manila) tomorrow in the increasingly bitter dispute between the Philippines and China, in a closely watched case that risks ratcheting up tensions in Southeast Asia.

Most legal experts expect the ruling to go in favor of the Philippines, but the Duterte administration is not aflutter about that prospect.

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It is up to Solicitor General Jose Calida to decide what the government should do if the ruling comes out in favor of the Philippines, Malacañang said on Sunday.

President Duterte said last week his administration was willing to talk with China about sharing natural resources in the West Philippine Sea—South China Sea waters within the Philippines’ 360-kilometer exclusive economic zone (EEZ)—if the arbitral tribunal found for the Philippines.

Unclos case

Invoking the UN  Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), Manila lodged the suit against Beijing in January 2013, saying after 17 years of negotiations it had exhausted all other political and diplomatic avenues.

Angered by the Philippine move, China refused to participate, saying it would not comply with the ruling by a tribunal with “no jurisdiction” over the dispute.

The Philippines asked the court to void China’s claims to almost all of the South China Sea, including waters within Manila’s EEZ and those close to the shores of other claimants in the strategic waterway—Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Manila also demanded respect for its right to fish and explore resources within its EEZ.

The case does not involve questions of sovereignty, an issue handled only by the International Court of Justice.

Speaking in a radio interview, De Lima said she was confident the Philippines would get a favorable decision from the court.

“We have international law as support for our position and recognition of the rule of international law, which was pointed out by the previous administration,” said De Lima, who served as justice secretary to then President Benigno Aquino III and who supervised the Office of the Solicitor General, which represented the Philippines in the case against China.

Aware of Mr. Duterte’s openness to bilateral talks with China, De Lima said the administration should first wait for the ruling to come down then study it well “before determining its next actions.”

“The ruling will be put to waste if we just surrender what is supposed to be ours,” she said, adding that joint exploration means both the Philippines and China have the same rights to resources in the West Philippine Sea.

National interest

“The primordial consideration should always be national interest,” De Lima said.

Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay on Friday said the administration hoped to quickly begin direct talks with China after tomorrow’s ruling.

The President and Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhou Jinhua met last week in Malacañang and discussed joint exploration.

Malacañang reiterated on Sunday that it would wait for the ruling before making any move toward talks with China.

“Once we have the decision, what we will do is to study [it]. Then that’s the time that we shall explore our next move,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar told public broadcaster dzRB.

Andanar said the government would take all matters pertaining to the dispute with China “legally.”

Legal experts agree that after three years of deliberations, two hearings and nearly 4,000 pages of evidence, the arbitral court is likely to find in Manila’s favor—in a decision with far-reaching ramifications.

“An award from the tribunal that rejects some of China’s more dubious claims would provide support for the mainstream views of other states in the region,” Cecily Rose, assistant law professor of public international law at Leiden University, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“China is bound to comply with the award. But should it refuse to do so, the tribunal has no enforcement mechanism to which it can turn,” Rose said.

Regional tensions

The ruling comes against a backdrop of frequent military brushes between China and its rival claimants, whose EEZs ring the waters believed to hold untapped oil and gas reserves.

The tensions have also drawn in the United States, which has defense treaties with the Philippines and other regional allies.

In a show of strength last week,  the US Navy sent warships to patrol close to some of the artificial islands that China built in the Spratly archipelago to bolster its claims to nearly all of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer South China Sea.

The US destroyers Stethem, Spruance and Momsen have been patrolling near Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal), a rich fishing ground in the West Philippine Sea near the coast of Zambales province, which China seized in 2012 after a two-month standoff, forcing Manila to bring the law of the sea case against Beijing early the following year.

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan is currently patrolling the South China Sea.

Manila and Washington have also concluded an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) that allows greater access by US troops to Philippine military bases, including one near Philippine islands in the Spratlys that China insists are parts of its territory, and to store weapons and equipment in those bases.

Comply with ruling

Washington on Friday urged the Philippines and China “to comply with the ruling” and appealed to “all claimants to avoid provocative actions or statements.”

“Whatever the outcome, the case will not contribute to improved relations between China and other claimants in the South China Sea,” Frans-Paul van der Putten, a senior researcher at the Clingendael think tank, told AFP.

China’s state-run media on Friday said that Beijing would not take “a single step back” if the United States and the Philippines “act on impulse and carry out flagrant provocation.”

Facing international pressure to comply with the arbitral court’s ruling, China, according to the state-run Global Times, will “fight back.”

China, the paper said, could turn Panatag Shoal “into a military outpost” and “tow away or sink” the BRP Sierra Madre, an old and rusting hospital ship that Manila grounded on Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal) in 1999 to mark Philippine territory in the Spratlys, to “resolve the standoff once and for all.”

Beijing insists it has “undisputed sovereignty” over almost all of the South China Sea, basing its arguments on Chinese maps dating back to the 1940s marked with a nine-dash line that encompasses waters within the EEZs of the other claimants.

Expert Joris Larik from The Hague Institute for Global Justice said “China’s position and credibility will be weakened if the arbitral panel finds against it.”

But Chinese President Xi Jinping said China was “not afraid of trouble” and state-run newspaper People’s Daily urged Beijing to prepare for a “military confrontation” in the South China Sea.

China launched military drills in the South China Sea on Friday, with its Navy carrying out combat exercises with live missiles, according to the PLA Daily, the Chinese military’s official newspaper. With a report from AFP

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