Gandiva Archery Range & Café: Living with a Fit Mind and Body at @GandivaPH

By Abigail Javellana

The Gandiva Archery Range & Café provides an alternative experience to sports fanatics and hobbyists of different levels. Situated at the heart of the city in Ortigas, archers can find peace of mind and relieve the stresses from hustle and bustle of metro life.

Their complementary Gandiva Café offers a range of flavorful and nutritious vegetarian dishes for a fit mind and body.

Read on to find out more about OAP’s shooting and dining experience at Gandiva…

GANDIVA ARCHERY RANGE & CAFÉ
Unit 703-705 One Corporate Center, Julia Vargas Cor. Meralco Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City Philippines
Telephone Number: +638-8771 / 638-4549
Email: info@gandiva.com.ph
Website: http://www.gandiva.com.ph/
Facebook: Gandiva.ph
Twitter: @GandivaPH
Instagram: @GandivaPH

Gandiva took its name from a Hindu epic called Mahabharata. In it, Arjuna the Hero wields the mythical Gandiva Bow at the battle of Kurukshetra.

Archers are provided with up to a spacious 18 meters of target range.

For first timers, we suggest you use the standard 16-pound, 66-inch bows with wooden Recurve Risers (the part you grip); they’re not too heavy and provide just enough stability when shooting.

Poundage and bow length can be found on the limbs.

Gandiva also offers smaller bows for kids as well as aluminum-riser bows for the more advanced archers.

The metal bows are up to 30 pounds—their weight, however, allows for greater stability and accuracy.

After you’ve chosen your bow, you must wear your arm guard to protect your skin from being grazed by the bowstring.

For right-handed archers, wear the armguard on your left arm. For the left-handed archers, wear it on your right arms.

To complete the getup, the instructors provide the archers with a quiver (a soft case to carry arrows, usually tied around the waist) of 5 arrows.

But wait! It’s not time to shoot yet. To make things less daunting, instructors first brief each archer on the bow and shooting basics.

The basic anatomy of a bow consists of the following: riser (grip), upper and lower limbs (the white, curved parts of the bow attached to the bowstring), sight, nocking point (black part of the bow where we wedge the arrow), and arrow rest.

The sight is adjustable to accommodate the differences in each archer’s line of sight.

The arrow rest eases accurate shooting since archers don’t have to manually hold the arrow in place.

Foot placement and posture is extremely vital to shooting accurately and safely.

Right-handed archers place their left foot forward with one foot in the target range and follow with their right foot parallel to the left.

At Gandiva, it’s standard for all arrows to have fletching (neon fins) with two like colors and one dissimilar color for easier nocking.

The dissimilar fletch color must always face the archer when nocking the arrow—this is to make sure none of the fletching touches the riser while shooting.

When you’ve nocked your arrow, use your index, middle, and ring finger to pull the bowstring to the bottom of your chin.

The chin serves as a threshold for how far the archer should pull.

As a guide, try aligning the first notch of each finger joint to the bowstring when pulling.

Right-handed archers always aim with their right eyes; this is to improve target alignment.

Even when using the sight, some archers will miss their desired target. Worry not! This is because the sight needs to be calibrated to match our eye height.

Make sure to choose your target before drawing and releasing your arrow! Holding the arrow too long generates arm strain if you have weak upper body strength.

The recommended duration for drawing your arrow is 3 seconds. As first time archers, our left arms grew sore and shaky by the third set of shooting.

Shooting and retrieving of arrows is taken very seriously at Gandiva—nobody is allowed to retrieve their arrows until each archer has shot all their arrows.

Likewise, nobody is allowed to shoot when archers are still retrieving their arrows.

Don’t forget to check out the Gandiva Café with their delicious selection of reasonably priced vegetarian dishes.

We liked that they designed their menu to be subtle to the non-vegetarian crowd.

French Onion Soup P185
For starters, we recommend the French Onion Soup. Very deep savory flavors with tender caramelized white onion soup topped with Melba toast and mozzarella.

Gandiva Sisig P145
Their best-seller is the Gandiva Sisig available only from 11 am – 2 pm. Smoked tofu marinated in ala “Sisig” style, served in a sizzling plate with rice. A savory dish and a super healthy alternative to the usual sinful Sisig.

Margarita Pizza P295
Basic crunchy thin crust pizza topped with Pomodoro tomato, spinach pesto, basil and mozzarella, and Parmesan.

Don’t forget to ask for their tangy homemade hot sauce.

Kamote-Mansi Iced Tea P70
We loved the Kamote-Mansi Iced Tea , with a hint of boiled Kamote leaf complimented with Kalamansi (Philippine lemon).

At Gandiva, we learned a thing or two about focus and patience. Target practice was invigorating and relaxing, however sore our arms became!

At the end of the day, it was rewarding because there was nothing more satisfying than landing that first bulls eye after so many missed arrows 🙂 If you’re looking for some relaxation and fun, why not give Gandiva Archery Range & Café a shot?

Live an Awesome Life,

Abi & Sheila of Team Our Awesome Planet

Disclosure: We were invited to experience Gandiva Archery Range & Café courtesy of @GandivaPH. We this article with my biases, opinions, and insights. Read Our Awesome Planet Complete Disclosure Policy here.

P.S. We suggest you enter the Gandiva Café with an open mind! The veggie dishes are very tasty and will surprise you!

GANDIVA ARCHERY RANGE & CAFÉ SERVICES