Travel: Zamboanga City's La Oliva

Lunch was at La Oliva, a country style family restaurant that serves Spanish dishes. It was far from the hotel, judging from the tricycle fare of 70 pesos. M said we’re almost going up the mountain, and near Pasonanca Park. (by the way, mode of transportation here is via tricycle; there are no taxis, saw a few jeepneys)

The place doesn’t look like a spanish pub or restaurant. It looks more like an American country cottage inn, with its white window shutters, a red door, and a gazebo outside the restaurant.



Love the red door!


The restaurant's eclectic decor has a charm of its own. The red and white plaid tablecloths remind me of Italian cafes with red table wine on each table. We didn't have the wine though.





I love these ornate framed mirrors.



We chose a table by the big window, perfect for food photography.

M ordered Clam soup (not really spanish, more of pinoy but he was craving for that) and callos, a stew of ox tripe, shank, chorizo, chick peas, peppers, tomatoes. I had the bacalao ala vizcaina, a salted cod fish dish with tomatoes and potatoes. We wanted the Paella but it takes an hour to cook, which means it's cooked upon order.


Clam soup


Bacalao ala Vizcaina, one of my favorite Spanish dishes.


M's favorite dish.... callos... this got a thumbs up from me.

Our sweet ending for lunch was home made ice cream, café barako for M and hazelnut for me. I find the barako ice cream too strong. I prefer my coffee steaming hot, not icy cold ;) I love the hazelnut ice cream though.


M's barako coffee ice cream

my hazelnut ice cream

The long stretch of road where La Oliva is situated has a lot of restaurants. M told me Zamboanguenos love to dine out. But I'm glad M chose to take me to La Oliva. Spanish cuisine is one of my most loved European food fare, next to Italian. Reminds me of the time when M and I would go to Johnny Revilla's Las Paellas. This made me miss cooking callos, lengua and paella... hmmm... maybe i'll take out my paellera one of these days. :)