Tambaan Farm Cafe — Restaurant in Hilongos

A quaint little jewel tucked away in a small town in the providence of Hilongos on Leyte island. At first glance you think that you’re paying 20 pesos each to take a tour of their garden, but that’s just the starter. It’s actually an interesting restaurant with a side of garden. The menu is impressive for a small place and even has my favorite BIKOL EXPRESS and my finisher, ICED CARAMEL MACCHIATO. Once you look upward in this open air restaurant you’ll notice that the construction of the entire seating area is made of bamboo, see pictures. An update before I post this, expect at least a 30 minute wait. Looking around we’ve noticed that three other groups are waiting also without food on the table. I ordered the Iced Caramel Macchiato with my BIKOL Express. The BIKOL was great. The right consistency of flavors and heat. However, (here comes the however,) the Macchiato was lacking flavor. The eye candy was there. To start off, the whipped cream (an added bonus in the Philippines) had little to no flavor. Had they added a touch of vanilla flavor and sugar, this would have been a much better drink. The caramel was either old or canned. In either case, that was a negative for me. The actual flavor of coffee was missing. Hopefully they will read this and change the way they make it. But the presentation was very nice. The atmosphere and service was great. I’ll come back for the Bikol. The breaded fish was excellent. The best in the month that...

Totally underwhelming.

I went there for a cup of coffee and expected an amazing view. I got none. Although, the first one was absolutely my fault for visiting on Good Friday, they weren't serving food and drinks aside from bottled fizzy drinks.

The garden area where the sunflowers were planted was just a very small patch of land. I literally walked through it in less than a minute, maybe a few seconds. Visitors like me expected something bigger than it was. The non-sunflower garden was neither appealing.

Maybe I'll give them a second chance but for now, I'm settling for my 2 star rating. 1 star for the location and its open and breezy set up and another star for some interesting furniture pieces and ceiling decoration.

Update:

I visited again. This time the restaurant was serving food.

Food was actually delish. Typical Filipino cuisine. We had tortang talong, a shrimp dish, bam-i and rice. We also ordered nachos but totally not recommended. The total price was Php 800+. We didn't try their drinks.

Staff were friendly but I wish their service could be improved.

My main concern was the entrance fee. I asked them, since we were dining in, if we could get it back. Unfortunately, they won't give it back which was not a customer oriented service at all.

The garden was better looking this time with other flowers now in bloom.

I am upgrading my rating to with 3 stars. Additional 1...

We went here to celebrate nanai birthday. It is a pleasant experience and deep in the countryside near hilongos. The track in there is a bit bumpy and you travel through a settlements. The food was superb and the service was excellent. The place is beautifully laid out with many quirky features. The building is mainly constructed in bamboo with a very high ceiling. Plenty of seating areas are available. There is good parking for cars on one side and motorcycles on the other. I will add as many photos as I feel appropriate. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time here and the food as I said before...