Hello Hive!
Disclaimer: I haven't tried all the restaurants in Moalboal, but since @discoveringarni said that Garden Village is one of the bests there, I'm inclined to believe her. After all, she's been in Moalboal for about 2 years already so she knows some stuff around the area.
After how many days (or weeks) of delay, it's finally here. I'm still in a mental mess right now, but it's a little bit manageable now. Many thanks to our meet with @discoveringarni and @millycf1976 last Friday, and our writing session with @glecerioberto and @jsmalila last Saturday, I finally had the opportunity to sit down and continue with my Moalboal series.
This part of the series will be about Garden Village, one of the best places to stay in Moalboal. It's not just a restaurant, it also provides accommodation for your holiday stay. Their apartments are also available for long term rentals. In a sense, it's a tight-knit community. Located in Panagsama Road, it's a few meters away from the main road in Moalboal. Going to Panagsama Beach, it's on the left side of the road with a signage so it's easy to locate.
The Whole Place
The pool area is so lit. I can imagine a lot of tourists basking under the sun if there was no pandemic. Since I was brought there by @discoveringarni and @iamyohann to have dinner, we arrived just a few moments before it got really dark. This was after we watched the sunset at Cebu Dive Center in Panagsama Beach (link below). I got some really cool photos which was totally unexpected. The sky's palette that time complemented well with the colors of the whole place.
I intended to have a review on the restaurant only, but I realized I should provide you with a glimpse of the whole place. Laarni was so gracious in as she became my tour guide as we roam around before the night fully crept in. She told me some of those apartments are occupied by long term renters. Most of them work online and wanted to stay away from city life.
Garden Village is a good location to stay if you want to stay away from the noise of the city. It's closer to the sea and a lot of activities can be done in that part of Moalboal. One thing I like about the location is that it's not too close to Panagsama Beach which can get really crowded during peak seasons.
Laarni said that if they had known about the place before, they would have stayed there. She added that they always frequent there to chill and play billiards. During the start of the lockdown in the whole province, Garden Village became their hang out place.
We stayed outside, roaming around until it got really dark. I took some photos while Laarni was sharing some information about the place. Like we always did, we never ran out of topics to talk about. It was our first time to meet, but we talked a lot as if we have known each other for a long time. I already said that many times in my previous posts, but I felt should say it again.
The Restaurant
As I noted in my post about our first meet up, the place is owned by Yohann and Laarni's friend. He's always present in the restaurant and he's so friendly and approachable. Their staff are also friendly. Check the reviews.
The restaurant is just cozy. The moment I entered, I immediately knew why they frequent there. It's away from the noise so you can really relax and enjoy your meal. If you want to socialize, they have a billiard pool where you can play with your friends. If you're alone, just hang out at the bar area and the bartender will surely talk to you.
As for their menu, it's French with a local twist. I really didn't know what to order so I just let Laarni decide and she said their chicken is a best seller. I forgot the name of that dish because you know, French. 😂
Their servings are generous and very worth the price. Some would consider them to be a little bit pricey, but I'm willing to pay for that premium once in a while. That chicken I ordered was really good. We ordered the same dish with Laarni, but she had her with fries instead of rice. Meanwhile, Yohann ordered carbonara. That night was just amazing. We talked about Hive a lot.
This review might appear to be a little bit biased because I didn't spend a penny while I was there. It was all thanks to Yohann and Laarni. I suggest that you do your own research before booking. I tried to search for reviews about the place and almost all of them are positive ones. That means my experience was not inflated by my own bias. The place is really cool.
I promised in my previous post under this Moalboal series that I would include all the links of all the posts I've made so far, but some of you might have noticed that I didn't include any link at the end of that post. I apologize for that. I really forgot. Anyway, here are the links of the posts I've made about Moalboal:
I guess that's all for this post. Next post will be about our second day in Moalboal when we snorkel with the turtles. I hope to see you in that post and in all my posts in the future. Stay tuned, folks!
Kim Ybañez
Welcome to Kim's small corner in Hive. He is a chemical engineer by profession, but a blogger by passion. He is a wanderlust and an adventure seeker. Join his quests as he visits secluded destinations, climbs mountains, tries new and exotic dishes, and explores his country (The Philippines). He's also a trying hard photographer so stay tuned as he shares his photos and his thought process while creating them.
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