Gayuma ni Maria: A Sweet and Spicy Experience

Heavenly and sinful. Naughty and nice. Sweet and spicy. These seemingly contrasting words describe Gayuma ni Maria, all rolled into one interesting restaurant. In a nondescript street in Quezon City stands a charming house that has been converted into this enchanting restaurant. The street is easy to find but the place is trickier to spot due to its inconspicuous façade.

I’ve read about Gayuma ni Maria in a number of articles and know that they’re famous for their menu’s sexy and clever play on words and their take on comfort food favorites. I know, sexy and comforting in one package, hard to believe. You’ll easily get what I mean once you read what we ordered.

The Way They Lived - Apacible Ancestral House

The house is just a few steps across the street from Galleria Taal. After perusing the vintage camera and old photographs, we walked over to the Apacible house. It was already past its opening hours, but one of the persons-in-charge still welcomed us to look around. There is no entrance fee here, because the Apacible family has donated the house and all its contents to the government.

Galleria Taal: Mecca of Vintage Cameras

This is what really brought us to Taal.

Ever since we read about this extensive collection of rare and vintage cameras from a magazine, T and I had wanted to see it for ourselves. T, being a photography enthusiast, also has a collection of film cameras. A smaller collection, definitely, but I would still call it a collection. After our visit, he was inspired to display his assortment too. Maybe in the future we’ll also have a museum like this one. Right now he’s still enjoying taking photographs with cameras that are already found in this museum.

The Forgotten Heritage Town of Taal

I can vaguely remember my fist visit to Taal back when I was in college. It was a requirement for History class, so I just had to go. This time, I’m really excited to rediscover the place. When we arrived, I realized what my friend exactly meant when she described Taal as a “bedroom town”.

The atmosphere in Taal is laid back, almost sleepy. There are very few cars, people and establishments. When we were walking the streets, I hate to say it, but the place felt deserted.

Planning a Trip to Taal, Batangas

Taal is a place not a lot of people know. We usually associate Taal with the famous volcano viewed from Tagaytay. But the only similarity Taal Town has with Taal Volcano is they’re located in the same province. Taal was once the capital of Batangas, which means the prominent, powerful and rich were the residents of the area. Its grandeur is evident even today, with the magnificent houses, the massive basilica and the prominent individuals who once called Taal, their home.

Before going to Taal, research the places you may want to visit. Google doesn’t have a street map of Taal town, so we just asked around to get to the places we wanted to see. I found this website that has an extensive and informative list of interesting places and they recently added a map: http://taal.com.ph/