Foggy Mountain Cookhouse — Restaurant in Baguio

I went to Foggy Mountain Cookhouse in late April 2024. As an American traveling to the Philippines for the first time it was complicated but well worth the complexity of getting there. For foreigners trying to dine here there are some things you must know. The accessibility of the place is somewhat limited in terms of parking. The day you plan to go I recommend taking a taxi. There are many reputable taxi services in Baguio available on Facebook. Facebook is also how you will make your reservation and order in advance. It is a policy to order in advance to ensure availability. At least the time of year I went. It was not exactly tourist season so my date and I were the only ones in the restaurant. It was really lovely, it was as if I had rented out the whole place to ourselves. We were greeted by our waiter and he showed us to a table outside with a great view of the mountain. As the evening carried on the fog rolled in and soon it was just us. Although the view is less impressive in the fog it is still very beautiful seeing the lights from the adjacent mountain. Some mosquitoes came out and the waiter was very accommodating and put out two cups with about 15 mosquito incense sticks to repel them. We were given a buzzer to ring our waiter to take orders or ask for anything specific. I was at first a little confused but to make a long story short, after our dinner we learned that Chef Babes was on Vacation and his Sous Chef was both our Chef and Waiter. He was absolutely incredible and he cooked everything to perfection. I would love to come again to have some of Chef Babes food, but what we had was hands down the best meal I have had in my life. We had an appetizer of spaghetti, my date got the Steak cooked medium well and I got the Lamb Shank. The Lamb was one of the most tender and succulent pieces of meat that I have ever had. The mix of flavors in the sauce were absolutely incredible too. The Steak was also very good but if I go back I am getting that lamb every time. It was the first time I ever had lamb too so if you are considering it, I encourage you. This was the first time I had Cheese Ice cream in the Philippines, I had no idea about it before coming here and it was really delicious with the bacon, I LOVED it! The Strawberry Icecream is a classic there too. Being Baguio the strawberries are the best in the world. I am a strawberry hater in the U.S. but they are so amazing in Baguio. The pricing is expensive for a dish in the Philippines but this place has food that rivals the best restaurants I’ve been to in America, including Gordon Ramsay restaurants. Taken that into account it’s amazing value for money. This place is truly a Diamond in Baguio and I hope I can return someday....

The place has a great scenery, but unfortunately I was very disappointed after having my birthday lunch at this establishment. There was no sense of privacy our reservation under Mav was met with such contempt after eating as we were greeted via txt message by the owner; accusing us to having qualms with the price with the senior citizen discount price. The circumstance was that our grandmother was asking us about discounts as we were explaining to her that not all 20% discounts are applicable as we have been eating out the past week in the city and talking about the different restaurants not even mentioning this particular establishment. Surprisingly we were called out by the owner ranting about the discount arguing and asking us what kind of discount we were expecting and shockingly accusing us of expecting lower discounts for SC. It was all based on their nosy staff, and their so called “cctv” without a microphone. It was very degrading for being a customer and getting called out without even knowing all sides of the story. Honestly we went in here knowing what to expect with the price, food and customer service so if we were complaining about prices why would for that matter why would we even bothering going here with so many options in this city. We went here because of the reviews on great service and food, but after this predicament I would honestly not consider going back to this place ever again. Even if the service and food sequencing was not at par, the carbonara had curdled egg sauce, as well as the lack of choices on the dessert menu which was said to be available on the fb page, we never really complained because restaurants are a hit or miss. There’s no need to rave on their shortcomings, because it’s a fact that restaurants can be a hit or miss especially when it comes to service just like any other f&b establishment. Would you rather choose to be negative and rant on its shortcomings or just pay and walk away? We already accepted the apology of the owner, but we would never forget about this horrible dinning...

When we were searching for somewhere "posh-ish" to spend dinner for a friend's birthday in Baguio, we chanced upon this recommendation on line. I quickly browsed through the information about it and hav3 not read it carefully. All that caught my eyes were: "Bookings are required."

Immediately i tried to book for that night but we were informed that all tables are booked. We reserved for the following night instead.

From most reviews, they wrote that chef babes were accomodating and that they were at home and the chef even went to their table.

This was not how our experience went. Let me list the down.

Their facebook page is the source of their menu so if you read about their resto somewhere else, you'll be completely lost like what happened to us. We were not aware that you would have to order atleast one day in advance. No reminder was sent to us on our orders the day before. The text message received asking us for our orders were after we texted them first to remind them of our booking and after my friend browsed through their facebook page. The response we received sounded irrirated

We arrived early and were seated at a table located in front of their house's front door. We asked if we could transfer tables but we were advised that tables are based on who reserved first (which was not indicated online)

Not that we were expecting, but no chef greeted us while we were having dinner until the time that we left. If tou'll read other reviews, they kept on bragging how the chef graced them with their presence during dinner. (I think this was also mentioned on a tv segment)

There are no pictures of food on their facebook page and the serving size can be misleading. We ordered 2 main dishes expecting that it was only good for atleast 4, but no... it was good to feed 6-7 people.

In summary, food was okay and since it's pricey, maybe good to experience just once just for the view alone and then never do it again. There are other joints way way way better compared to this

My...