Food Review: Bulalo from Tagaytay - Tower Ground

We did a day trip to Tagaytay last weekend and along the way we decided to have lunch. There were a few of these "Bulalohan" restaurants by the side of the road. Bulalo is a flavorful beef stew made from beef shank and is the specialty of the area.

We pulled up into a parking space and tried to choose between several restaurants. Our choice was already made however, because you are only allowed to park in a space unless you eat at their restaurant. Not wanting to get back in the car and move to a different space, we decided to go ahead and try this little open air restaurant called Tower Ground.

This was an alfresco restaurant with a nice view of Taal. It only had about 5 or 6 tables, 2 of which were already taken. We quickly placed our order and waited for the food to be served. It took a while for them to serve the food, maybe around 10 to 12 minutes. 

Here is what we ordered - 

My hubby and mother in law had Fresh Buko as seen above, served in an actual coconut. The juice was nice and sweet.  My sister in law ordered a ripe mango shake but it wasn't available so she settled on the same thing I had which was the green mango shake. It was super sour and we actually had to ask for extra sugar.

For our main course, we ordered Bulalo, ofcourse.

We definitely enjoyed this dish. It was good for 4 (medium appetites). The veggies still had a nice crunch and perfectly cooked. Since I am a veggie lover, I would have preferred to see a bit more in the soup. It had a big chunk of shank and a few other pieces of meat which were nice and tender except for the ligament parts which are actually expected to be a bit chewy. The broth was heavenly. Perfect temperature and excellent flavor. There wasn't enough soup in the ceramic bowl but, you can actually ask for more and they will give you as much as you want, no extra charge. I could've kept drinking the soup. Delicious! 

On a scale of 1 to 10 hearts, (10 being the highest rating) 

I give this Bulalo 8 hearts! 

We also ordered a few side orders. One was their Chopsuey - 

This chopsuey was fair. Good for 2 people (as side dish only, but as a main entry maybe just for one person). The veggies were crunchy. The flavor was acceptable and I liked that it had a bit of sauce. 

6.5 hearts for this one.

Then we had the grilled squid which I actually liked. Two pieces of squid per order so, good for 3-4 people as a side dish, 2 people for main meal. The meat of the squid was tender but not too flavorful. We had about 1/4 of the squid left and had it packed up in a brown bag.

7 hearts for the squid. 

I'm not sure how much the total bill was since my sister-in-law was the one who covered it. I would definitely go back here again. But, I still would be willing to give the other restaurants in the area a chance too.

OVERALL FOOD REVIEW

NAME OF RESTAURANT - Tower Ground

LOCATION - Tagaytay

SPECIALTY - Bulalo

NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN PARTY - 4

TOTAL BILL (INLCUDING TIP) - ???

OVERALL EATING EXPERIENCE - 8/10

OVERALL AVERAGE FOOD RATING - 7.4/10

OVERALL FOOD TO COST RATING - ???

SERVING SIZE - 8/10

SPEEDINESS OF SERVICE - 5/10

AMBIENCE - 7/10

CLEANLINESS - 7/10

LIKELINESS TO RETURN TO THE RESTO - 8/10