Bawai's: Great Expectations

The thing with expectations is that if you set it too low, you tend to expect the worst. Set it too high and you might get disappointed. Well, definitely I had high expectations for Bawai's Vietnamese Kitchen touted as one of the best restaurants in Tagaytay.

Dining hall is located above their garage with large open windows to let the breeze in.
There's limited parking spaces in the garage so be prepared to park on the street.

Bawai's is only open during the weekend (Friday - Sunday) for lunch (11am- 2pm) and dinner (5pm - 9pm). I highly recommend making reservations beforehand. Once they confirm the reservation,  they will text you their menu and suggest you pre-order the food at least 6 hours before coming. The text will include the name of dishes, description and price.

We made our reservation the day before and luckily we were told that they can accommodate us for late lunch at 1:30 pm.

had to ring the bell a couple of times before being let in

The place is simple but very elegant. The servers wore a more casual version of the Ao Dai, the dining room was very clean with good quality tables and chairs, the thin, white, muslim cloth used as a window treatment added a romantic touch. The place is small and could probably only accommodate about 30 people.

Tamarind Juice P 95, Pandan Ice Tea P65

Once we were seated, the server confirmed our pre-order food dishes before taking our drink orders. My friend had their Tamarind Juice. We know there was real tamarind in it because there were a lot of cooked, sweet tamarind bits at the bottom. Oddly, they served this hot. Maybe if they serve it cold, the tamarind mixture won't mix properly? I chose Pandan Ice Tea. It was a bit bland even if I stirred in the sugar syrup.

Cha Gio - buttered chicken, pork, herb fried roll 5 pcs P180

Next the appetizers. The Cha Gio were nicely fried (not too oily), neatly rolled but were small - just a bit longer than the length of my thumb. Unfortunately, I could not taste the buttered chicken. Everything was mixed up so I don't really taste the difference. It was a nice lumpia (fried spring roll) but not that spectacular.

Goi Cuon - glazed pork and shrimp with veggies fresh roll 3 pcs P195

The Goi Cuon looked really really nice and perfectly wrapped. The big fat shrimp is positioned just so that you can see it through the thin rice paper. The taste was clean, veggie fresh and the shrimp was big. Each roll had some sliced pork but I didn't taste any glaze. They served this with a thick peanut sauce with real peanut bits. The sauce could have used a bit more flavor. Nevertheless, it complimented the Goi Cuon.

Bo Kho - 12 spice slow cooked beef stew w/ steamed noodle P325

We ordered 2 main dishes.  The first, Bo Kho, was served in this shallow bowl so it looked like the serving was not that much. However, when we put aside the vegetables, we were pleasantly surprised that the meat could easily be shared by 2-3 persons. The beef was very very tender and tasted good with the right amount of fat. Although the broth had good flavor, I don't taste much of the 12 spice.

Tom Rang Me - spicy tamarind prawns with chives and
steamed rice 300 grams  P395

Now the Tom Rang Me was different and a very pleasant surprise. Based on the description I was envisioning this as more of Sinigang with Shrimp dish. What we got instead is about 6 decent size prawns with an amazing spicy-salt-sour sauce combination. I thought: this is more like it! It was so good that even when there were no more prawns, I still use the sauce to finish of the rice. I would definitely go back to Bawai for this.

sarap!

View from the second floor

Location, Location, Location

Bawai is located on Lagusan Drive. They are fairly isolated and not easily accessible by public transportation. If you're coming from Tagaytay Rotonda, drive towards People's Park. Just before reaching the intersection for Sta Rosa Exit, you will see a big green sign indicating "to Manila" and "Dominican House of Prayer". Turn left then just go straight. Follow the signs for Chateau Hestia, another restaurant. Once you see the final sign for Chateau Hestia, stop. Bawai is just a lot or two before it.

The Verdict? 

The location is a problem because it's a little bit inaccessible. The setting was very nice and elegant perfect for a romantic lunch/dinner. The food was simple, tasted fresh and clean, well executed but aside from Tong Rang Me, lacked that final oomph. Definitely better than the food I have tasted in Vietnam but I feel they could have pushed the taste a bit further. Saying that, I am still intrigued and won't mind going back again to try their other dishes.

Bawai's Vietnamese Kitchen
Hernandez St.
Purok 5
Bucal, Silang
Cavite

Tel 0920 972 2924