Backpacking Philippines: An Exotic Restaurant in Laguna

An Exotic Restaurant in Laguna

A nice restaurant in a garden setting nestled on the slopes of the Sierra Madre mountain range whose real name is Exotik Garden Restaurant, it has quaint Filipiniana-themed huts made from indigenous materials and wooden decorations reminiscent of Paete town, from where the owner is former mayor.

Actually located in Kalayaan town and not in Paete, like most people associate the place with, Exotik's resident python, Samantha, welcomes visitors to the place though it's sort of a turn-off to some who can't stand the sight of snakes and constrictors.

The menu is a combination of native Filipino dishes. The exotic fare, trimmed down to conform to laws on the protection of endangered and protected animals, used to include: bayawak (monitor lizard), baboy damo (wild boar), sawa (python), usa (deer), pating (sharks) and ostriches. Now, only ostrich and non-endangered animals appear on it similar to what used-to-be exotic Balaw-balaw Restaurant in Angono, Rizal once served. Price is mostly mid-range under P200 per dish.

the man-made waterfalls in the manicured garden

When Tutubi went there again, he ordered ginataang kuhol at pako (golden snails/escargot with coconut milk and fern), calamares (fried squid) washed down with SanMig Light.

There are huts located quite high up the slope that offers a fascinating view of Laguna de Bay (laguna lake) facing west so the sunset is another sight to behold. Function rooms can be ideal venues for weddings, baptisms and other events.

A souvenir shop sells various items and products of Laguna and Quezon province e.g. buco pie, various sweets, tsinelas from Liliw, woodcarvings from Paete, coin purses made of snake skin and dried toads et al.

Exotik Restaurant is open up to 9pm everyday and located on the national highway near the northern tip of barrio Longos of Kalayaan, Laguna. There used to be branch near Caliraya Lake but it seems to have been closed down.

How to go there:

Commute: HM Transit Bus (Cubao near Victory Liner or Taft avenu near corner Buendia terminal)bound for Sta. Cruz. In Pagsawitan (where most people alight) take a jeepney bound for Siniloan or Paete then alight in front of the restaurant (tell the driver "Exotic")

by car: drive to Laguna up to Pagsanjan then left turn on approach of Pagsanjan church. The restaurant is a few meters from the 100 kilometer post so it's not easy to miss.

Labels: Calabarzon, Kalayaan, Laguna, Laguna Restaurants, Restaurants, Southern Tagalog

posted by GingGoy @ 9:13 PM,

23 Comments:

At Nov 9, 2007, 5:01:00 AM, Photo Cache said...: u should get ad fees for this post. looks like a good place to eat.
At Nov 9, 2007, 6:23:00 AM, carlotta1924 said...: you sure you're not a copywriter? hehe j/k ;)

we pass that place many times on the way to laguna but never tried eating there. ambience looks nice =)
At Nov 9, 2007, 11:30:00 AM, Anonymous said...: photo cache, nif ever i see the owner, the former mayor of paete, i'll remind him for the payment :)

carlotta, oh no. do i really start to sound like one? ambience is nice nice indeed but the food needs to be improved if they intend to make it really big.
At Nov 9, 2007, 12:26:00 PM, Rochelle said...: Cool place. And I agree with photo cache... you should get paid for your posts!
At Nov 9, 2007, 1:56:00 PM, Ruy said...: It looks very interesting. It looks like a beautiful temple. I love the quaint nature setting. Do people go to laguna back and forth for this or should we plan for an overnight thing?
At Nov 9, 2007, 3:18:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Where's the 'how to eat suso' post? Is it coming out next? =)
At Nov 9, 2007, 3:30:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Looks like a nice and relaxing place for a laid-back, enjoyable meal. :)
At Nov 9, 2007, 3:54:00 PM, Anonymous said...: A pretty decent place to dine!

(:
At Nov 9, 2007, 6:46:00 PM, Anonymous said...: rochelle, as you wish, if ever i cross paths with the owner i'd demand for it :)

ruy, depends on you. there's a resort across the highway from Exotik Restaurant where you can stay. Laguna can't be explored in a day. I toured my friends twice and we can't cover it all in two days even with the past pace we did it. Laguna, however, is a nice daytrip destination outside Manila.

catchlyts, probably next time :P

rey, nice hangout greenery is soothing to the eyes and tired senses

kyels, quite rural setting actually. there's a bar there. San Miguel Beer is just P25, IIRC
At Nov 10, 2007, 10:49:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Looks truly exotic indeed... thanks for the tip :)
At Nov 11, 2007, 3:00:00 PM, Sidney said...: I know that place. Quite impressive. Those (ex-)mayors know how to invest their money... ;-)
At Nov 12, 2007, 9:45:00 AM, dodong flores 도동 플로오리스 said...: I've heard of this Exotic before but never been yet. Your post is keen on the details how to get to the place. I might visit this place one of these days...
At Nov 12, 2007, 9:51:00 AM, Anonymous said...: bw, do by there as well as my homwtown paete, laguna is just a short jeepney ride or 3 kilometers away :)

sidney, i know you passed by there many times. hope to see you again in paete

dodong, yes, as much as i can i want to provide information on going to places I've visited. that's one detail most travel blogs and DOT websites don't offer
At Apr 15, 2009, 8:02:00 AM, Anonymous said...: hmm....looks likes a nice resto to eat in. and how is the food?.im a pinoy but im working outside the country as a chef here in spain. but what catches my attention most is "samantha" the burmese python in the resto(ive seen a video of the python on youtube). by the way im a chef and a reptile collector at the same time.ill be having my vacation this september2009 and for sure ill visit this exotic resto, for the food to taste and to see samatha personally. got lots of question about this beautiful creature. and im sure she got a caretaker to ask with.have a good day po!!!
At Apr 15, 2009, 9:41:00 PM, GingGoy said...: anonymous, the garden setting is nice for the restaurant but the food is not something to die for. much more for you being a chef. nothing to rave about the food...but things may have changed now since i was there
At Apr 29, 2009, 12:55:00 AM, dodong flores said...: As for my standard, I'm sure the foods should do well for me...
At May 1, 2009, 7:30:00 PM, Anonymous said...: we've been there.. a really nice place.. it was closed though coz it was "Good Friday"
At Jun 18, 2009, 7:01:00 PM, s said...: i ve been there with some of my relatives. Really a beautiful place to eat, and yes good food too. well, i enjoy our celebration there. i would stil go back there hopefully. the price is high but considering the food and the serenity and ambiance of the place. what more can you ask for. this is 5 over 5 for me
At Nov 9, 2009, 10:32:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Recently, we traveled roughly 3 hours from Makati to Kalayaan, Laguna to visit this popular restaurant. Bedecked in native furnishings and adorned by a few caged pythons and other species that are strategically situated, this place, at first glance, is true to its theme. Although a few dishes are foreign to most palates, the pricey menu is dominated by typical native and non-exotic dishes. What’s the point? After navigating through the menu, we ordered snake and frog dishes, but they didn’t have those in stock, which completely defeats their vision. Again, what’s the point? So we ended up ordering crocodile meat in gata, tanigue ceviche, lechon kawali, steamed veges and ho to tay soup, but we were disappointed when our orders came in. The portions were small and full of extenders! Tanigue, for example, was full of red onions and only a few pieces of fish. It was like ordering Onions with Tanigue! The crocodile dish was acceptable taste-wise, but there were only 5-6 small sized pieces of meat! The rest was hot pepper and some kind of vegetable. The soup was very salty and dominated by the taste and smell of fish sauce. We asked them to replace it, which they did. Lechon kawali was dry and the steamed veges were not properly done. The only good thing about this experience was their service.

Bottomline, like most people, we do not mind paying the listed price, but everything must be commensurate. Now, if you want to see exotic animals, go to the zoo. If you want to taste them, cook them yourselves. This place is basically a TOURIST TRAP. As we say in New York City, fuggetaboutit!
At May 29, 2010, 7:30:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I miss that place! hmm. I went there way back 6yrs ago. haha and until now, it's still a beautiful place and it got even more beautiful. I would love to go back there with my relatives here at US. :-)
At Mar 16, 2011, 7:20:00 PM, paulo g. madrigal said...: what is the history of your restaurant?
At Oct 16, 2011, 1:28:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Been there yesterday and I must say, the food we ordered really tasted great (except for the very salty beef steak). Only thing is, the only "exotic" food available in the menu is shark meat. Everything else is pretty normal. I am a probinsyano so I consider kuhol and suso as normal food. Hehe. The waiters said that there used to be many other exotic dishes but they were reprimanded by environmentalists for serving endangered animal meat. They were even sued! So they had to cut the menu in half (not literallt ofcourse). As for the foreign dishes, they said that most customers come there just for the ambience and really not to eat exotic dishes, as many of them could not even bear the thought of eating shark for example, so they added more "mainstream" dishes. There is now a swimming pool and a couples of rooms to stay in for overnight trips.
At May 6, 2012, 7:11:00 PM, bea said...: still open?

An Exotic Restaurant in Laguna

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