Amongst the hustle and bustle of the city, it’s nice to spend a night of relaxation somewhere accessible. Found in Emilio Osmena Street, Cebu City is Ayo Ayo Cafe and Sauna. Ayo Ayo Cafe and Sauna is a wellness center that offers relaxation, hostel stay, and dining services.
As you enter their facility, they have wellness products for sale. These products differ from sustainable utensils, fragrance candles, swimwear, and many more. I find their interior very charming, with lots of paintings and home decor. As it is situated in an old Filipino-Spanish home, it gave me a feeling of “balay ni lola” or “grandma’s house”- that alone is relaxing in itself.
Their services are offered individually or they may come as a package. For our visit in particular, we availed their Valentine’s Package as we visited on the fifteenth of February. The first service in our package is their sauna. Before going to the sauna, a staff gave a brief orientation and tour of their sauna area. The guests are provided with a locker room along with essentials such as towels and slippers to change to. Guests are advised to shower, spend a maximum of twenty minutes in the sauna, shower, dip into their cold pool, then hydrate for a few minutes; this pattern is repeated in cycles until the allotted time which depends on the package availed by the guest. Water and tables are provided for guests to sit in as they hydrate.
The next service provided to us was a massage. Guests are led to a room on the second floor and are given a choice between Thai, Swedish, or Shiatsu massage. The room has two beds with a curtain in between beds for partition and calming music is played throughout the experience. The room had a very soothing ambiance and their masseuses were absolutely incredible and responsive to the preferences of the guests.
After our massage, we headed into the dining area and were led into a room exclusively for couples. Couples can be friends and other loved ones. The room was very intimate, with only three tables and decorated just for Valentine’s Day. We ordered chicken tonkatsu, chicken karaage, and two green mango shakes, which all came with our package. Additionally, we also got a calamari salad.
After finishing our dishes, we were served with a delicious chocolate cake. We were already very full, but the cake was just too good to stop eating. It had a very strong cacao flavor, which made the cake smell good and taste rich. We were then served two glasses of red wine.
It was a really good dining experience. I had the best time because the ambiance of their dining area was very romantic and their food was really good. It felt nice to sit down with our glasses of wine after the great night we had, especially because we felt very relaxed.
Lastly and just when I thought we consumed everything on the package already, I was given a bouquet of dried flowers. It was really beautiful and I felt really special having experienced the night we had.
This was definitely one of the best ways to spend date nights and I can imagine doing this with friends, families, and even alone by myself. Overall, I think everyone deserves the time to be soothed and calmed down physically and mentally regardless of the perceived level of productivity.
Thank you for reading along, hiver! I hope you spent time for yourself today as well, you deserve it!
