Antonios Restaurant, Tagaytay

The Mrs and I decided to go to Calatagan today to check on a small property that we bought many years ago and to visit the old chapel where we got married 7 years ago. It was a very pleasant day since we drove off early and enjoyed the scenery. I already had in mind eating in Breakfast at Antonios so we left Calatagan at 11 and got to there at around 12:15. It was quite full but we were lucky to get the last available table.

As they were giving us the menu, another pleasant surprise. Apparently ANTONIOS restaurant (the original one) is under renovation so they moved it temporarily to the breakfast place by the main road. So we had the choice wether to have the "real" Antonios menu or the breakfast menu. Of course I went for the main menu and forgot all about the breakfast menu. I saw this as a chance to have my favorite dish (Steak tartare). I had already tried the tartare during our Christmas dinner last year and I remember it being delicious, but as i looked on the menu, horror!!! it was not in the menu anymore....

I decided to tell the waiter to ask the Chef (Tony Escalante) if he could make a special tartare for me since I remember the last time he mentioning to me that he loved making it and loved eating it too...the waiter got back to me and told me that the Chef said that it was possible.

So, for starters, the Mrs had soup and truffle infused oysters and I had the Steak tartare. The Oysters were 6 pcs with truffle infused cream in a bed of angel hair pasta. Some had bacon bits and the others had cheese (gruyere I think). I had forgotten how good the tartare was in Antonios since the last time I tried it was around 8 months ago. It had the right amount of Perrins and Tabasco (not spicy). This is now officially in my favorites list and I do plan to come back  soon to have it again. It was served with their home made bread and butter.


For the main Course the Mrs had the salad with foie gras, blue cheese and candied walnuts. Of course, I had the Duck leg confit(one of my "other" favorite dishes). The duck leg was perfectly cooked and it was served with pigeon peas and a kind of potato gratin...This plus the tartare is my ultimate favorite menu so I decided that this lunch would be my birthday lunch (my birthday is 2 days from now and had originally planned to got to Lolo Dads). So for my birthday we will just probably stay home.

After our meal we did not have any space for dessert so I had my single espresso and we headed back to Manila right after. I really enjoyed this lunch not only because of the food but also the company of my wife (we left the kids home) and hope we can repeat this soon. Antonios will be under renovation til October so  for anybody who wants to eat there you will have to go to the breakfast rest. by the main road.