Arca’s Yard: A Museum And Library Cafe In The Mountains Of Baguio

Imagine you are in the balcony of a classy rustic house with good coffee or tea in one hand and good food in the other while feeling the refreshing breeze and seeing the alluring sight of Baguio. You are surrounded with books arranged in a mini library. The walls are designed with artifacts that portrays Cordillera culture. Sounds relaxing, right? Well, you can do all that in Arca’s Yard, one of Baguio’s must-visit cafe.

Arca’s Yard is a cafe near Mines View Park that also houses mini museum and mini library. Aside from hot drinks, pastries and desserts, Arca’s Yard offers wide array of food choices like pastas, salads, rice meals, meat dishes and seafood dishes.

Arca’s Basil Pesto Pasta with Tuna

There’s a lot of things going on in here. There’s pasta, tuna, tomatoes, capers, olives and basil pesto. And because these give various flavors, the savor of the whole thing became complicated. I like that the pasta is generous in olive oil, noodles and tuna. Perhaps, this explains why the saltiness is dominating out of all flavors. On the other hand, the accompanying bread toast is quite tough to chew.

Oriental Salad

The colors of this salad are inviting. Even though I’m not fond of salads, this combination of fresh fruits in a bed of lettuce pulls me to try it. I discovered that when you are in Baguio, all the fruits in salads you will encounter are fresh from the field. It’s so amazing that I can feel the freshness in every bite. Among all these fruits, I think the mango and strawberry really stood out. This salad is a proof that Benguet gives the best strawberries in the country.

Lamb Chops

Lamb Chops was heaven! I don’t how to explain how incredible the dish was. It has weird flavors but remarkable. They gave justice to the lamb! It has all sorts of flavors like sweet, meaty and sour. The mint is an amazing addition as it gives cooling effect to the flavor. The mashed potato, which is the side dish, wasn’t finely mashed but I like that it’s buttery and flavorful. The gravy tastes like fast food gravy but I think they’re homemade.

Kani Tempura

Food presentation was awesome. I appreciate that they left a small part of crab sticks uncovered so they would kinda look like shrimps. Although the nori was placed only at the tip, it gave twist to the flavor of the kani. Well, the tempura actually has full of flavor. Even the crunchy breadings were tasty. The sticks have thin flour coating which is good and not tricking. I also have positive rating for their mixed veggies tempura and vermucilli.

Dinengdeng with Ambuklao Tilapia

I like that they were able to make this soup visually beautiful. Honestly, I’m not familiar with Dinengdeng because it’s originated in the Ilocos Region. But upon tasting it, it resembled the Tagalog’s Bulanglang. The vegetables were quite soggy but managed to be fresh. It’s so good to see different kinds of greens into this bowl, which makes the soup tastes like natural vegetables. The Ambuklao Tilapia made it more special as its saltiness complement well with the soup.

Oyster Mushroom Soup

As you can see, the amount of mushroom in this soup is no joke. With that, I think the broth got its natural saltiness from the oyster. The soup is simple but its simplicity makes it great. We also ordered pumpkin soup, which is naturally sweet. The texture is thick and you will already see that it’s rich in pumpkin. I’m surprised to know that it uses coconut water as its base. Personally, I like the pumpkin soup more than the Oyster Mushroom Soup. But both are luscious.

Kamote Ice Cream

While we all agree that the strawberry ice cream in Baguio is indeed a delight, this Arca’s Yard’s Kamote Ice Cream is something fresh and yummy. Yep! The sweet potato just went sweeter! I admire the idea of transforming sweet potato into ice cream. When it comes to texture, it’s more like a sorbet than ice cream. I can prove that this is made from natural swert potato because I can still feel the starch of sweet potato.

Benguet Coffee

It’s sad they only have one coffee available at the time we dined in Arca’s Yard. But maybe I should be happy because I got the chance to discover how the coffee of Benguet tastes like. The Benguet Coffee without milk is really strong. The Benguet Coffee with milk is still bitter. But with the right blend of coffee, milk and sugar, it was comforting. Anyway, the pie at the back is the Docto Pie Ala Mode. It’s one of their best sellers and one of a kind.