Bello, bella and Lema

Had a chance to laze for a weekend recently in Cebu, well before the city burst to the seams for its annual Pit Senyor! rites. A rewarding experience was staying at Montebello Villa Hotel, one of the oldest, and most revered, hotels in the city. 

It was more than pleasant, with early-morning coffee enjoyed al fresco, overlooking the large lapping pool and a lovely garden that featured a Bridge of Love arching in alabaster over a verdant lotus pond.

There’s something to be said about villa-type lodging places, where one doesn’t have to take a lift down for breakfast, rather simply saunter along from one’s room down airy walkways towards the light-suffused lobby and one’s choice among the Poolside Restaurant and Bar, La Terraza Restaurant or Cafe Bougainvillea.

Along the walk one glimpses a classic tartanilla displayed on a lawn, perfect for the romantic photo op. Framing that green sward found between rows of garden suites is a trellis with a wondrous flowering vine. 

Indeed, it feels as if one has been invited to some rich uncle’s villa, where one can just loll about at poolside and enjoy the sun streaming all over. Some trees and other flora have identifying tags; birdhouses are also perched on these. Another, smaller pool is tucked in between bungalows by a pocket garden with a water fountain.

Montebello’s location in Banilad belies its quiet, cul de sac setting and relaxing ambience. Towering across a street are residential condominiums, and close by, the Gaisano Country Mall — which means it’s a brief walk from one’s room for any groceries or souvenir shopping, or for a Chinese or Japanese meal in one of the restaurants around.  

Montebello is also particularly favored for wedding banquets, parties, conventions, and conferences, as it has multi-purpose halls and a separate entryway for function guests.

148 guest rooms with free WiFi, from Standard, Superior and Deluxe to Executive Suite and Apartelle

The same Borromeo-Alvarez family that developed and continues to run Montebello Villa Hotel also has a stake in a partner resort hotel in Mactan — an equation that bodes well for city guests who may also wish to partake of sea and sandy beach. And who wouldn’t, when in Cebu?

The Costabella Tropical Beach Hotel is exactly that, swathed in lush tropical finery, with a wide, white-sand beach fronting it, right by a row of Beachfront Suites in the East Wing, four of these   Seaview and another four as Sunrise Corner suites.

Developed in 1981 with only 16 rooms, it has now expanded to all of 156 guest rooms with a wide variety of accommodation. The West Wing was renovated in 2007, with its seven floors now towering over the garden setting with a large freeform pool. It has six Seafront Suites and 60 Premier Deluxe Suites, all elegantly designed — of luxurious space and first-class amenities — and Internet-ready.

Costabella has several restaurants, but the special one is Brisa, a pavilion-type structure at poolside that offers distinctive pan-Asian cuisine. We had a chance to meet Mariles Alvarez Nable, formerly the hotel’s F&B manager, but who now runs a children’s school with her husband.

Her influence on Costabella evidently remains, however, judging by how she manifested expertise as a foodie, especially when we exchanged invaluable factoids on the best chorizos found in the South as well as Manila.

Brisa’s young chef, a fellow named Adonis who had previous experience at a Japanese resto in another hotel, can certainly come up with singular fusion efforts, at least enough to marvel at as we coursed through a veritable buffet of excellent samplings: lemongrass cioppino with Thai basil pesto, a hearty soup with shrimp, fish and mussels; green mango with smoked fish; coconut-crusted prawns deep-fried and served with a stellar curry sauce; pork ribs glazed with sweet guava and sour tamarind ... Oh, everything to die for, bitaw!  

Such a filling repast can only prepare one for another kind of pampering, at the Lema Filipino Spa, which features Maranao-inspired architecture and design elements. “Lema” is in fact Maranao for “feel good” — and that’s exactly what I kept muttering to the spa attendant, or myself, while receiving 75 minutes of a Sultan’s Massage. 

After having selected from the nine specially scented oils, including ylang-ylang and sampaguita, presented in a wooden tray, I might have notched a first in Lema’s history upon lying prone on the massage bed that allowed one’s face to settle on a padded hole for the sight and smell of red and white frangipani flowers in a water bowl. That’s because someone from home kept texting. Mercifully, I had placed my cellphone on the wooden pallet under the bed, beside the water bowl. So I found a new use for that face hole, by thrusting an arm down to pick up the disruptive gadget — more than once.

The massage had been preceded by at least an hour’s gambol on the beach. Then too a rock-based jetty that thrust out a hundred meters into the sea led to a roofed viewpoint, from where one can swim in the protected waters back to shore. Another option is to be ferried briefly by banca to a rubber pontoon, square-shaped and with a hole in its center, where one can lave around and bathe fully in the sun, or dive into the depths. 

The weekend visit was enhanced by a quick get-together with a couple of old buddies: prizewinning fictionist Carlos Cortes and prizewinning essayist and poet Larry Ypil, whose lovely home in Banilad also provided another sumptuous lunch as well as a walk and talk through his dad’s enviable garden. Dr. Ypil was generous with his know-how regarding flora, and seeds from his various trees and lowering shrubs.

Together with the seeds I plucked from that handsome vine bearing large white flowers at Montebello, the ones from the Ypil garden are now sprouting in my own improvised seedbeds. Never mind the eventual problem of identification apart from those of the familiar Bachelor’s Buttons. It’s enough to know for the nonce that joining my small garden are specimens from hosts and friends in Cebu.

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For reservations at Montebello Villa Hotel, call or fax (632) 890-3192 or e-mail salesmla@montebellovillahotel.com. For Costabella Tropical Beach Hotel, contact (6332) 231-4344 and 231-2787.