Villa Escudero: Dining by a Waterfall in Tiaong

March 07, 2022

I have very fond memories of Villa Escudero. In the early 1990s, my grandparents celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary and that occasion gave their large brood of 12 children (with spouses) and their 24 grandchildren reason to get together. Half of the family had re-settled in Canada, and half remained in the Philippines, and the two halves were together for that brief period. It was a time of outings and parties and Villa Escudero was one of the places our big family went to. The lunch buffet at their waterfalls restaurant was memorable to me. Table upon table of aunts and uncles, and cousins, and beloved grandparents, Lolo Maning and Lola Ilit. I hadn't gone back since - not in 30 years! So when my husband and I took our kids there, I wondered - will it be as I remembered?

I figured some things wouldn't have changed, like the waterfall itself, which is part of the Arsenio Escudero mini hydroelectric power plant. The concept of the restaurant is of an outdoor dining area situated right on the water! Diners wade in ankle deep water and sit on picnic tables and benches surrounded by lush greenery. Food is served buffet style, with no utensils, on woven plates lined with banana leaves, and diners eat with bare hands. The feel of bare feet on stone and water, combined with the feel of food on one's hands, with the sounds of water gushing - whether from the waterfall or the gurgling stream - makes this a sensory experience outside the usual.

The food is typical fare, perhaps because it's a way of showing foreign tourists our everyday local cuisine, or it's a way of letting balikbayans feast on the things they miss from their home country. The standard menu included tinola, inihaw na baboy, pinakbet, kaldereta, litsong manok, pansit... each category was represented chicken, pork, beef, fish, noodle, and my favorite: vegetables and fruits! Though the line-up may not seem extraordinary - and seem like the common, usual, familiar food we get to eat at home, there's something about the way they are served that made me feel the "extra" in the "ordinary".

The simple ensalada station for instance, composed of everyday vegetables served in clay pots and bowls arranged on a mat of banana leaves decorated with flowers and leaves plucked from the garden - was visually appealing to me, even in its simplicity. It captures the abundance of food and blessedness of a country like ours which has plenty of sun, soil, and rain. The atsara, supposedly just a side or garnish, became a highlight in itself, and we came back for more. And for dessert, the watermelon and banana cue, served without any twists, but just exactly as they are, brought all the comforts that come with consuming something familiar, a daily favorite! Trapped at home during the pandemic I realized how much I missed my daily banana fix (turon, banana cue, or maruya) from the university cafeteria! I can only imagine how a relative who hasn't been home for years would feel reconnected to home in a place like this. The food is ordinary, usual, common, standard, simple - and for those very reasons, they are special.

Too young for nostalgia, my kids did not really pay attention to the food at all. And foodies expecting something extraordinary may not be impressed with the buffet spread. I enjoyed my meal but had only one serving, just a regular satisfying meal. The appeal of the experience lay elsewhere: the environment. It's amazing how a place frequented by people can still attract so much wildlife. The birds! It was amazing to see a colorful kingfisher poised on a branch just above the water, too far for my phone camera to catch a snapshot of, but near enough to appreciate with the naked eye, it was a thrill spotting it! There were colorful dragonflies in iridiscent shades - they sparkled! The people of Villa Escudero said one can spot fireflies at night! (just the thought of it excited me). The vegetation's so lush, the foliage so thick, that I fancied myself immersing in the benefits of forest bathing (even if we were not in an actual forest), the very act of breathing felt like something restorative was going on - like something was being righted inside us. We were relaxed in ways that do not really happen in the concrete box we call home.

Before we left, we took the time to enjoy the restaurant's defining feature: the waterfall! We took photos of our kids - it was a dizzying experience, the movement of water played tricks on the eyes, making one feel off-balance - it felt like a visual adventure. The energy from the falls is harnessed by the mini hydro power plant - and standing near it, one immerses in all that energy! It makes for such an invigorating lunch! I don't know why it took this long for me to return to Villa Escudero! I should plan a family outing so my kids can come here and make memories with their cousins. I am also imagining one day 30 years from now, I could be like my own grandparents, joining a big family party with kids and grandkids. Let's hope Villa Escudero keeps its doors open to the public for decades and centuries to come, for many generations of Filipino families to have a way to experience the joys of feasting by the falls.