Herb Republic: Where Healthy Meets Tasty and Tasteful
One gloomy May summer day, a friend and I decided to escape the Metropolis for a day trip and found ourselves in Los Banos (Laguna) instead of Tagaytay where we had originally planned on going. Los Banos and the nearby town of Pansol are both known for hot spring resorts and buko pie. I had not associated it with great restaurants; hence, when my stomach began to grumble to remind me vehemently that it was time for lunch, I panicked. Where, oh, where were we going to have lunch? I texted a friend who is very familiar with LB but received a response an hour after we finished our meal.
Fastfood chains were to be our last resort. So, craving for something really nice and different, I sought inspiration from ever-dependable Google and Trip Advisor. My eyes grew big, my heart pounded vigorously as if I was meeting Viggo Mortensen in person, and my Pavlovian mouth salivated.
Herb Republic: "very tasty dishes seasoned with organically grown herbs," said the title of one review. I found out as I read on and looked at the pictures that this is a nice, quaint restaurant and that it served not just organically seasoned meals but meals of organically grown vegetables and free-range, pro-biotic meat. Without batting an eyelash, my friend and I went in search of the landmark, "Malaking Bato", which was literally etched on a big rock. Though it was not easy to find the place, my intuition told me this was one pearl worth the search. And as soon as I saw the resto from the outside, I knew we were in for a delightful gastronomic experience.
The tasteful interiors as well as the nice artworks by local artists made for a great visual delight. (By the way, the art works are for sale.)
As for the food choices, it was another crisis-of-choice experience for me. There were many food choices, everything seemingly as mouthwatering as the other. For starters, we had basil mushroom soup, Herb Republic salad, and shitake mushroom tempura. We downed all in no time - not just because we were starving but because everything tasted great.
Since their chicken was probiotic and the rosemary roast chicken was unanimously recommended in the reviews as a house specialty, I found another good reason to violate my pescatarian diet. The rosemary seasoning blended perfectly well with the chicken. Unlike regular native chicken, the free-range probiotic chicken they serve is really soft and tasty perhaps because of the herbs fed to the chicken. It went perfectly well with organic brown rice and stir-fried spinach.
Dessert choices were more limited but my sweet tooth decided to indulge big time by ordering all three items in their display fridge, prompting our food server to give us an are-you-kidding look. After assuring her that I wanted to have a taste of everything and that I would bring home what I couldn't finish, she brought our order to the kitchen. Of the three that we had, the walnut cheesecake was what I liked best. The molten chocolate with vanilla ice cream was nice though a bit too rich, while the banana muffin with whipped cream wasn't moist enough for me.
The tarragon iced tea went pretty well with our meal, while the tarragon hot tea was a great match to our dessert and helped to cleanse and relax my digestive system after an indulgent meal.
My Herb Republic experience was a not-so-gentle reminder to never underestimate the power of Google. More importantly, the Spirit somehow whispered to my somewhat biased mind that I should never ever think that Metro Manila and the big cities have a monopoly of great food places and the great minds and souls that can give birth to such places.
Soulful meals take root anywhere there are souls for whom eating a good meal is not just a functional task or social activity but a means to connect to one's spirit by indulging one's senses with food that is healthy, earth-friendly, and great tasting, and where there are creative and passionate dreamers, like the Pantuas who commit themselves to making available good quality but affordable food for all, "from seed to the table."
Fastfood chains were to be our last resort. So, craving for something really nice and different, I sought inspiration from ever-dependable Google and Trip Advisor. My eyes grew big, my heart pounded vigorously as if I was meeting Viggo Mortensen in person, and my Pavlovian mouth salivated.
Herb Republic: "very tasty dishes seasoned with organically grown herbs," said the title of one review. I found out as I read on and looked at the pictures that this is a nice, quaint restaurant and that it served not just organically seasoned meals but meals of organically grown vegetables and free-range, pro-biotic meat. Without batting an eyelash, my friend and I went in search of the landmark, "Malaking Bato", which was literally etched on a big rock. Though it was not easy to find the place, my intuition told me this was one pearl worth the search. And as soon as I saw the resto from the outside, I knew we were in for a delightful gastronomic experience.
The tasteful interiors as well as the nice artworks by local artists made for a great visual delight. (By the way, the art works are for sale.)
As for the food choices, it was another crisis-of-choice experience for me. There were many food choices, everything seemingly as mouthwatering as the other. For starters, we had basil mushroom soup, Herb Republic salad, and shitake mushroom tempura. We downed all in no time - not just because we were starving but because everything tasted great.
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| Stir-fried Spinach |
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| Walnut Cheesecake |
The tarragon iced tea went pretty well with our meal, while the tarragon hot tea was a great match to our dessert and helped to cleanse and relax my digestive system after an indulgent meal.
My Herb Republic experience was a not-so-gentle reminder to never underestimate the power of Google. More importantly, the Spirit somehow whispered to my somewhat biased mind that I should never ever think that Metro Manila and the big cities have a monopoly of great food places and the great minds and souls that can give birth to such places.
Soulful meals take root anywhere there are souls for whom eating a good meal is not just a functional task or social activity but a means to connect to one's spirit by indulging one's senses with food that is healthy, earth-friendly, and great tasting, and where there are creative and passionate dreamers, like the Pantuas who commit themselves to making available good quality but affordable food for all, "from seed to the table."
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