Bella storia

Life is a story, or rather, a series of stories, and often, it’s in the re-telling of these stories that they come alive, sometimes taking on a life unexpected. Memories are funny, they play tricks on us; what one remembers about a person or thing or event may be quite different from what another person recalls. Same-same, but not same, as they say.

I recently took part in two walks down memory lane, each a beautiful story, and did so with a raucous, rambunctious group of friends who turn any and every get together into an all-out near riot. My title comes from a wine – surprising for one who doesn’t drink – the Bella Storia Merlot, an organic Italian red that drew unanimous raves and was the highlight of a special anniversary dinner the gang attended.

We spent a wonderful chilly weekend at the Taal Vista Hotel to celebrate the lighting of its towering Christmas tree of capiz parols crafted by the artisans of Pampanga, as well as its 85th anniversary, which featured a dinner of amazing surprises that chef Jayme Natividad conjured up. Think chocolate ravioli, Caesar’s salad as an aspic jelly, chicken pot pie as a soup, paella as tutong and a chocolate volcano, complete with smoke, for dessert. 

All of us being seniors, we remember it as Taal Vista Lodge, where you can have halo-halo in a half coconut shell while looking out onto the volcano crater and lake, pulling your sweater close because then as now, the breeze was to us city folks downright cold.

It was Commonwealth president Manuel Quezon who thought of developing Tagaytay as a tourism draw. The original lodge, designed by Andres Luna, the son of Juan Luna, was inaugurated in 1939. Through volcano eruptions (33 major and minor ones since the first was recorded in 1572), wars (during WW2 it served as R&R for American servicemen, then officers’ quarters for the Japanese) and the pandemic (a quarantine hotel for returning OFWs), the lodge/hotel survived, a respite for harried city folks, a place to bring guests from abroad (balikbayans particularly, to relive fond memories).

The story of Taal Vista Hotel as part of SM Hotels (one of 10 properties they have in the NCR, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod, Pampanga and Batangas) started back in the 1950s, with a young man sitting on the grass by the ridge overlooking the volcano. That young man – Henry Sy – would, about three decades later, buy the run-down 49-year-old hotel, and task his youngest daughter Elizabeth to oversee the revival of the property and bring it back to its glory days. The hotel now has the Mountain Wing and the Lake Wing (which, I am told, will be renovated starting May next year) flanking the renovated iconic main lobby, with a total of 264 guest rooms, all with that priceless view of Taal.

Through 85 years the hotel has seen and been part of its share of history. Tagaytay became a chartered city in 1938; the next year, the first wave of migrant farmers from nearby Talisay, Batangas settled into the district, increasing its population to 1,657. Tagaytay Ridge was the site of the first parachute landing in the country by the 11th Airborne Division of the US Army on Feb. 3, 1945. The First Ladies of the US, Vietnam, Thailand and Australia were hosted at the lodge by Imelda Marcos on Oct. 24, 1966.

These and a lot more historical data are on display at the History Walk, a comprehensive telling of the story of the hotel and the city, made more meaningful as leading us through the walk was Raffy Vigal, born and bred in Tagaytay who’s been with the hotel for over 20 years. For him, this is not storytelling, it’s living the story.

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A week later, back in Metro Manila, nostalgia was thick in the air at Café Adriatico, the iconic hangout of artists, designers, journalists (the Kapihan sa Manila Bay of my colleague Marichu Villanueva is held here every Wednesday) and assorted bohemians. Late night arroz caldo after shows at the CCP; the kilig of first dates and the pain of loves lost; closing major deals with clients, production meetings, clandestine scheming…oh if those mismatched and salvaged tables and chairs could talk!

Started by journalist, gourmand and man-about-town Larry Cruz – the man who could not cook – Café Adriatico made Malate THE place to be. Across Remedios Circle is Bistro Remedios, a later icon, two holdouts as the area morphs into a Korea-town. Both are part of the LJC Group, now run by a triumvirate of formidable – an understatement, as all those who have encountered them will attest – women: Lorna Cruz-Ambas, Merle dela Peña and the indefatigable Eugene “Virginia” Billiones.

Over roast turkey and callos – plus copious amounts of wine and gin and water (for me) – we gathered around tables (still mismatched) on the second floor (the ground floor was jampacked), listening to a lecture by “prof” Claude Tayag on why callos is actually menudo (did I get it right?), Mexican rather than Spanish influences on our cuisine and – a treat! – how the iconic dessert Claude’s Dream came to be, with of course servings but for us only, specially requested from the kitchen.

There were hugs all around as friends reconnected after years, no matter that the hair is now white or there’s a lot less of it, the girth a lot more substantial, the eyesight not what it used to be. Juicy bits of chismis were whispered, but loud enough for others to hear, and then the laughter – oh the laughter, rip-roaring, hearty, shaking the rafters of the old house. Memories are definitely sweeter when relived with old friends. 

Bella storia – the beautiful story of life is to be lived to its fullest, and remembered like a fine red wine.