Top Picks from Tagaytay's Marcia Adams's Tuscany

Some meals are magical they are forever etched in your mind: Ka Lui's. My Kitchen. First Colonial Grill. Rafael's Farm and Garden. Here's another: Tagaytay's Marcia Adams's Tuscany. Just being there is an event (I'll post about this later).

It's with a tinge of sadness that I write this. An earthquake and a super-typhoon has just wrecked havoc on the Visayas, and having visited some of them, Leyte in particular (see here, here, and here), I'm not sure if the restaurants I wrote about are still standing after these twin tragedies. As of this writing news is slowly trickling in, and I do hope that the people behind these establishments, as well as the general populace, are safe.

But life must go on, we must soldier on. Tragedies have a way of bringing people closer. For a date or dinner with family and friends, I could not recommend this enough. Below are the highlights of our Tagaytay dinner, which consists of a three course-meal including an appetizer and a dessert. Every dish was cooked by Marica Adams herself. Since we went as a group, we were spoilt for choice. Be prepared to pay more, but with food as good as this, it's money well-spent.

For appetizers, we chose:

Amalfi prawns--crispy prawns marinated in salt, pepper, olive oil, parsley, coated with bread crumbs, and pan-fried. Amalfi is a Italian coastal town and a tourist draw.  I wrote in my notes: "fat, crunchy prawns."

The provone, melon and aragula salad is the bomb. Refreshing, pretty salad. At first I thought the yellow orbs were tomatoes.

Warm cheese-filled salad with walnuts and pistachio.

The Aaegean (vegetarian) salad consisted of grilled pear, mixed greens, grilled Italian ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, and roasted pistachios in herby, tangy dressing.  Very flavorful. You can do no wrong withe either of the two salads.

For mains we had

The Al-funghi--spaghetti with mixed fresh mushrooms, basil, and garlic. This vegetarian pasta disappeared in seconds.

The Italian pork chop--grilled loin chop seasoned with fennel and pepper, accompanied by organic rice made with leeks and chives.

We also had the shish kebabs. These were wonderful  even without the sauce. The lamb was not gamy at all.

For dessert we had

the lovely grilled banana split. Warm thick choco was poured over the bananas.

We also had the delicate panna cota with lemon sauce. Lovely lemon rinds. Don't forget to bite into the mint.


Marcia Adams's Tuscany
JP Rizal Street, Tagaytay City
0917-8011456