Great Food, Great Shopping, Great Ambiance, Great Culinary Demo!
This one is off the charts! Ok, I might be exaggerating here but all of us in the tour really raves about this place and some does not even want me to blog about this. I think I haven’t seen alot of news about this place and one of the secret hidden treasures in Manila, indeed 🙂 Ugu’s pottery garden makes Sonya’s Garden an ordinary salad and pasta place. The only catch here is that this place is in Tiaong, Quezon which is about 2 hours outside manila, just past Villa Escudero in San Pablo, Laguna. This is the last and final stop of Tina’s culinary tour.
What makes this place special is that all the architecture and the entire place was built by the owner, Ugu himself. They are a family of artists so some of the family members created native products and jewelry sold in a small nice shop. They are of course expensive but they are nice 🙂 Ugu is well known for his pottery and his products are being used by hotels, etc. There is a pottery gallery where we can buy his works. Although I would suggest that you buy during special sale sessions. There are three sale sessions: first, is the pahiyas sale on May 15 (this would be too crowded); second, on his even birthdays August 14 discounted depending on his age (42% this year); and lastly during the first Sunday of October (Oct. 2 this year).
The food is mind blowingly good even just for merienda. We ate suman with moscovado sugar, sweet ginataan, and fresh buko juice. Although Tina said the sago gulaman would have been the best but was not available. Also, you get to use Ugu’s own pottery plates and glasses set on a weave (banig). Even the cracker’s served was really great and its origin remains to be a secret.
The tour culminates with a culinary demo of “Kulawo” which is banana heart. Now, this is a banana heart that tastes like inihaw na baboy but with a texture of tuna. We can’t believe it either that banana heart can taste this good. At least for this, we know what the secret is which is in cooking the coconut shreds with carcoal as shown in the above left photo. You gotta witness it and taste it to believe it. This demo would exceed your expectations. BTW, I have the recipe for those interested, just email me at anton@diaz.ph.
Ok, now maybe I raised your expectation already but that was not my intent. My intent is really to share with you that Philippines is sooo beautiful that you just need to explore it. BTW, if you plan to go here, there are no signs along the national highway because Ugu wants it to be a secret. I made a mental note of landmarks along the national highway in Tiaong which is the Ebreo Castillo Agri Poulty Supply, Lusaca highschool, and old Petron Station.
Here is the contact number:
Ugu Bigyan
Telefax: (042) 545-9144
Mla. #: 250-8416
The secret is out 🙂 Enjoy!!
One can find out SO much about Philippines from Anton’s pics & words, I never thought I would be so interested!
yeah, I’m hoping that my blog serve as inspiration to people to see manila in a different light 🙂
Anton,
I really enjoyed reading your blog about this road trip. The pictures are all great as well.
We are scheduled to visit the Philippines next month for a 2-week stay and I think I’m going to follow the itinerary you guys had.
Thanks for sharing this with the rest of the world and good luck in your future adventures.
Sincerely,
Arnold Armada
Anton,
I really enjoyed reading your blog about this road trip. The pictures are all great as well.
We are scheduled to visit the Philippines next month for a 2-week stay and I think I’m going to follow the itinerary you guys had.
Thanks for sharing this with the rest of the world and good luck in your future adventures.
Sincerely,
Arnold Armada
Arnold,
thanks for appreciating my posts and inspires me to write some more. feel free to ask me information or itinerary about the Philippines.
Enjoy!
Anton
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Hi Anton:
Got alot of good places to go this summer :). Never realized there were interesting places to go in Laguna (hubby is from Los Banos where we spend every weekend).
Thanks and keep on blogging!
Cheers,
Florian
i like to ask the recipe of gulaman if it is ok for you and thanks a lot!
i like to ask the recipe of gulaman if it is ok for you and thanks a lot!
hi anton,
your blog is awesome! been racking my brains thinking where to take my family this weekend for mother’s day. i always want to take them someplace different. someplace they’ve never been to before. btw, does this place ugu bigyan’s serve lunch or dinner? their number doesn’t seem to be working.
thanks,
marishka
Hi! Anton,
I would like to ask if you can share with me the recipe for frozen Mercedez de Brazo???
Thanks,
Donna
thanks a lot sir! i forgot the name of the owner but thanks to your entry, i was able to recall! it was bad of me not to pay close attention to what the tour guide was talking about..
beautiful……a paradise-tranquil looking garden i say it’s well landscaped and it’s color tone coordination is fascinating to look at in particular those areas with lights the lights created a semi new contrast though native in origins….a nice-cool place to spend a night thank you for showing us where to go
hi anton, would you know where i can buy ginataan here in alabang-las pinas area? thanks
Hello Anton, I’m actually writing you about an old post of yours way back in 2005 “Quezon Culinary Series 10: Ugu Bigyan’s Secret Pottery Garden”. What i’m very interested in is TINA’S CULINARY TOURS. How do I join that? Is it a packaged, organized tour? Hope you’d reply also to my email ad: renzecope44@yahoo.com
thanks a lot!
renee
I went here last 2000 as part of the Humanities trip when I was studying at UPLB. So much has changed in the place and now they serve food?! Back then it was just a place to visit. I think this was also the venue for shooting ‘Aawitan Kita’.
I left my heart here.