Tagaytay Mahogany Beef Market and Bulalohan

When I told friends we planned to go to Tagaytay, Eunice and Rexy both told me to go check out the Mahogany market and try their Bulalo. Us three girls just ate Bulalo for the lunch the previous day (at LZM Restaurant), but before traveling home, we decided to eat lunch here and check what the rave is about.


Going there is easy, as there are a lot of jeepneys. If you don't know the directions, you can always ask around or ask the jeepney drivers. You don't have to worry about getting lost because people are very friendly and they will tell you when you reached your destination.


If you come here to eat, the food court style eatery is located at the second floor of the market. During high noon (and dinnertime for sure), be prepared to wait for your turn, because so many tourists come here to eat; it was already past 1PM when we arrived and we had a difficult time looking for a vacant table.

The long stretch of the floor is home to different concessionaires, but they do offer similar dishes, so if this is your first time here, or if you are a part of a very big group and one eatery cannot accommodate you all, it is just fine to try any of the eateries and still eat "the same" food.

For this food trip, we ate at Nanay Deling Special Bulalo and Gotohan, and we ate:


Crispy Tawilis
Tawilis is a kind of fish that is exclusive to Taal Lake. It is for this reason that we wanted to try it out. I am not sure if this and the fish used in making Tuyo (dried fish) are the same, but this Crispy Tawilis is simply delicious! Very crispy, but it didn't taste burned or overcooked. It goes well with vinegar dip, and could be eaten as is or with rice.

PS - Can someone teach me how to make this dish? I know it is "only" fried, but I truly am wondering how they made the fish crispy and dry (no soft meat) without overcooking.


Crispy Crablets
Another crispy dish to go well with our bulalo soup. Nothing really exceptional... but munching on it is quite addicting! Next time we will try the Crispy Shrimps.


Bulalo
My friend Rexy told me the Bulalo here might be a little expensive, but the thing is, this Bulalo was actually cheaper than the one we ate the previous day. It was a little sad that we weren't given the bone with massive amount of marrow, but it was okay, we were given a big chunk of beef meat that made it truly worth it.

Tagaytay is a windy/chilly place, and it was very easy for Bulalo dishes to get cold and for the oil and fat to harden. What I loved about this place is that they served their Bulalo in a food warmer (same to the chaffing dish used in catering), so the Bulalo stays hot while you eat. I also loved that this had a lot of vegetables.

This serving of Bulalo was more than enough for us three to eat, so in the end we decided to just eat the Bulalo and after a few nibbles of Crispy Tawilis and Crispy Crablets, we asked the staff to pack it for us to take home.


Best thing about dining here? Free bananas! Tagaytay is also known for the Senyorita bananas, and every table has this pile of bananas for diners to eat for free. Of course, you can only eat as much as you can while you're there, so even if it's free, it's a common courtesy not to take them home.

If you plan to eat here, others dishes you can try are Crispy Pata, Beef Caldereta, Kare-Kare, Dinuguan, Chopseuy, Chicharong Bulaklak, Pinakbet, Laing, and Sisig. Make it part of your Tagaytay experience and you will not regret it.