Lemon And Olives: Baguio’s First Authentic Greek Restaurant

Since last year, I already developed my love for Baguio. I first went to the City of Pines in 2008. I was so young to understand tourism and everything. I went back for the second time last 2018 to accompany my mom and her amigas. I wasn’t able to appreciate Baguio that time because we spent our time buying goodies. We went to the market, cactus store and every titas’ store you could think of. In short, I experienced the inferior and crowded side of Baguio. Because of this, I even argued to my friends that Tagaytay is better than Baguio and that Baguio is overrated. Last year, my boyfriend invited me for a Baguio trip making it my third visit. And since the itinerary is on our hands, we planned to go to the bests of Baguio and nearby towns. I’m talking about Camp John Hay, BenCab Museum, Strawberry Farm, Northern Blossom Flower Farm and such. These are totally the millennials’ picks. I fell in love with the Summer Capital of the Philippines easily that I went back four months later, which is today. For a perfect relaxation, we opted for the best restaurants, too. And so far, I discovered in Baguio my top favorite restaurant in Luzon based on ambiance, interior and food.

Lemon and Olives is a Greek restaurant that offers dishes, which are cooked by a chef from Athens, Greece and are made of ingredients imported from the mainland. It’s totally rare to find restaurants with authentic Greek dishes in the country that’s why Lemon and Olives is exceptional. In this restaurant, you will experience food that are out of this world.

http___www.bigleaguekickball.com_about_ Order Soma No Prior Script Overnight Zucchini Chips

The Zucchini Chips is one-of-a-kind. Well, every dish in Lemon and Olives is one-of-a-kind. But you just can’t compare this one to potato chips or cassava chips because it has its own style. I love that these chips were thin, crispy and light in the mouth. You could easily taste the well-seasoned zucchini in here. Some chips were soggy because the dish is kinda oily but I don’t mind. It’s delectable and that’s the important thing.

http___www.bigleaguekickball.com_category_press_ soma cod Grilled Octopus

I definitely agree that Lemon and Olives serves the best of the best. Again, they just gave us the finest appetizer I’ve taste. The Grilled Octopus is just a simple dish if you’ll look at it. But once you munch a slice, you’ll realize that it’s beyond perfection. The octopus slices were chewy and soft at the same time. I was loving the burnt areas as they flavorful. It’s so fresh that I could still sense the sea in it. This is one proof that octopus is better than squid.

Souvlaka Plate

For our Souvlaka Plate, we chose the mixed meat of beef, chicken and lamb. Aside from these meats that represent the Greek street food, the plate also has pita bread, fries and three dips. There’s quite a lot on this plate so it was worth the price. I could taste the charred flavors of the meat and their juices at the same time. I couldn’t distinguish the meats visually but their difference were surprisingly recognizable once eaten.

Porterhouse Grilled Steak

We were informed beforehand that they’ll be using a local meat since the imported Greek meat wasn’t available during the time of our visit so it’s understandable that the steak we received wasn’t their best. After all, they were still able to make the porterhouse steak juicy and savory despite of the chewy meat. The accompanying sauce wasn’t gravy. I hate it at first but I found it suiting for the steak afterwards.

Moussaka

I could see Lasagne. But I tasted more than that. I discovered that Moussaka is a Greek dish which consists of potato, eggplant, meat and bechamel sauce layers. It’s a healthy, unique and delish take on Lasagne making it totally amazing. The thick Bechamel Sauce was the bomb as it connects the flavors of the rest of the ingredients well. Actually, the whole thing was thick. It was just a small slice but it was a heavy meal.

Pastitsio

If we’re going to look on the appearance, Pastitsio has big resemblance to Moussaka but amazingly, they are different. Pastitsio uses penne pasta as base while Moussaka is also a baked dish but has no pasta at all. This pasta has rich and even meat flavors. My companions said that it was the creamy stuff on top that made it stand out. They didn’t know it was the Bechamel Sauce, the very same sauce used in Moussaka.

Blueberry Cheesecake and Chocolate Praline

In the two desserts we tried in Lemon and Olives, I realized that they are great in balancing flavors. Let’s take this Blueberry Cheesecake for example. The cream cheese layer is more on cheese than cream so the middle layer was salty while the bluebbery toppings is sour and the crust below is sweet. For the Chocolate Praline, I appreciate that they used dark chocolate coat since the mousse is sweet. The cornflake was a surprise.

Hot Caramel Macchiato and Iced White Chocolate Mocha

The Hot Caramel Macchiato is what you’ll wish to have in this Baguio weather. It has balanced taste of caramel, coffee and milk or cream. But despite of this season, I still ordered an Iced White Chocolate Mocha. It’s so good that I can’t stop sipping. I was sipping like it’s not a coffee. The gradience of white and brown makes it instagrammable. But make sure to mix so you won’t get the coffee and milk separately.