Good Taste Cafe and Restaurant in Baguio lives up to its name

27 September 2016

The trick to making the most out of a trip is to make sure that when you leave your hotel, you already have a complete itinerary prepared with some leeway for adjustments and back up plans.  This preparedness actually saved the night for us because in our search for the Star Cafe along Session Road, we ended up eating at a new favorite dining destination - the Good Taste Cafe and Restaurant!







We originally wanted to eat at Star Cafe because when I researched for places to eat in Baguio, it was always on the list.  The sad thing was, nowhere did we see that it was no longer operational and has been since 2014!  We spent a good time walking up and down Session Road looking for it until Patrick decided to search online for it and that's where he found the news article that mentioned it closed down a few years back.

So, anyway, we were parked along Session Road, which they allowed except for the hours on the picture below.  That is how we were able to walk up and down Session Road in peace.  Imagine, if we had taken the car to search for the restaurant, we'd have probably taken longer and wasted more gas in the process.

Since, Star Cafe was no longer in business, I checked the dining options I had in my list.  We wanted to stick to the area around Session Road because we also wanted to visit the night market along Harrison Street which opens at 9PM.

Good Taste restaurant was next on the list and while at Burnham Park, there were street hawkers who were promoting the restaurant, so I figured why not try it?  From the map, There were two Good Taste branches:  one near the Baguio Center Mall along Magsaysay Street and this one, along Carino Street near Burnham Park.  We used Waze to get us to the one along Carino road because it was closer to Harrison Road.  (directions at the end of this post).

There was ample parking space when we got there.  I honestly didn't expect anything but what I saw blew my mind.  The restaurant was huge as in the dining area alone could probably accommodate 200 people easily and that was just the ground floor.  I think there were a few floors to the restaurant, for additional seating and private functions.

From where we sat, we could see the bakery section (with the glass cases) and the take-out section near the far end (the section beside us was actually the waiting area for take-out customers).

On the other side, we saw a bank of food service elevators for the upper floors and these were in motion the whole time we were there.   More seats occupy the bank of those elevators.

The menu speaks for itself.  There was a good variety of dishes to satisfy everyone's palates.  The family style dishes are more than satisfactory.  When they say Good for 4, they mean 4 hungry people with lots of appetite.  That's the kind of serving they have :)

We ordered the Molo Soup (Big), Beef Curry, Halabos na Hipon and Fried Rice (6 pax).  Though we were only four, we assumed (incorrectly!) that the servings would be inadequate.  See for yourself.

 What can I say?  The dishes were affordable!!  They were also delicious!!!  The molo soup was hearty.  The vegetables in it were so fresh and crisp, that's all the flavor you need.  There was also a lot of chicken meat and molo in it.

Molo Soup (Big) - P145

 The Fried Rice was flavorful.  We couldn't finish it. It was big!

Fried Rice (6 pax) - P150

The beef curry didn't disappoint.  Lots of meat, crisp veggies and thick and aromatic sauce.

Beef Curry - P145

The prawns were heavy! This dish was probably worth a kilo of prawns.  There was just a light coating of flour on the shrimp which works well to make it a bit crispy.  The sauce was also the right complement to the prawns.

Halabos na Hipon - P180

 We just couldn't finish everything.  It's too bad that we couldn't take out the left-overs too because there was no way for us to reheat them at the hotel.

If you're in a group or by yourself, you can't go wrong visiting Good Taste Restaurant.  It's totally worth the trip.  Our whole meal only cost us P680! And, they didn't have any service charge!

This Good Taste Cafe and Restaurant is located at the corner of Carino and Otek Streets.

• From Session Road, take a Left on Magsaysay Street.
• From Magsaysay Street, take a Right at the 2nd corner, to head on to Shanum Street.
• After 4 blocks on Shanum Street, take a Right on Carino Street.
• Otek Street is at the first intersection and you'll see Good Taste Cafe and Restaurant to your Left.