Basilica of St. Martin de Tours is identified as the largest Catholic church in Asia it stands 96 meters tall and 45 meters wide on a plateau in the heart of the town called Taal.

It looks like the pictures of  Roman church in Rome. The Basilica of St. Martin de Tours is decreed as a Historical Landmark. Any renovations or changes done should go by the National Historical Institute.

It was built in 1975 by Father Diego Espina what is now known as San Nicolas. In 1974 it was destroyed when the volcano erupted and it was rebuilt again in 1755 at the present site, but was destroyed in 1849 by an earthquake. The construction of the present church was started in 1856 according to the plans of the architect Lucina Oliver and it took a century to achieve the church present form. Its tabernacle is made of silver, the only one of its kind in the Philippines.

Caleruega Church is one of the most sought after wedding churches for weddings at the south of Luzon. It can be found at Nasugbu, Batangas.

Caleruega Church is always booked and occupied by soon to be couples so its wise to book your wedding 1 year before your wedding date. The most busiest schedule for this church is during the wedding peak season like summer and from November to December.

The Caleruega Church is somewhat still considered a part of Tagaytay City. The panoramic view on the way into this place is just fantastic that it’s also the favorite location by most professional wedding photographers.

The maximum numbers of ceremony that can be held on the place is just 2 ceremonies — one in the morning and one in the afternoon. They do have this minimum management charges for the use of the venue which does not include the donation to the parish priest for officiating the rites.

Photo: Smartshot Studio

This is how the Caleruega Church is being described at Dominicans.Ph

The Transfiguration Chapel

Rising tall and majestic in the highest point of Caleruega is the Transfiguration Chapel. From here one can behold the expanse of Caleruega and witness the glorious opus of radiant nature – a symphony of sky, trees, and the distant hills of Batulao. Like St. Peter during Jesus’ transfiguration, anyone who experiences such splendor of nature’s poetry will declare: Lord, it is good for us to be here… (Mt.17:4).

The chapel itself is replete with symbolism. Its façade is a reproduction of the original chapel in Caleruega, Spain. Its hut-shaped roof is in remembrance of the temporary sheds that the apostles wanted to build for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah during the transfiguration (Mt 17:1-8). The seal of the Dominican Province of the Philippines is depicted in stained glass in the upper portion of the chapel’s façade. The seven grapevines entwined in the steel doors of the chapel not only portray Jesus as the vine and we as branches (John 15:5), but also symbolize the seven sacraments.

The main altar is a carved tree trunk representing the “stem of Jesse,” mentioned in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah: then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit (Is 11:1). The tabernacle is a gentle reminder of the burning bush through which God revealed Himself to Moses in Mt. Sinai (Ex 3:2). The birds carved on the communion table are representations of God’s providence in Matthew 6:26: Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap…and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. The stained glass depicts the Transfiguration of Jesus witnessed by Peter, John, and Luke. With Jesus are Moses and Elijah, two significant instruments of God in the Old Testament (Mat 17:3).

Closest And Possible Reception Venues:

Caleruega Roofdeck
Caleruega Reception Hall
Chateau Royale
Hacienda Isabella
Josephine’s Tagaytay
Sonya’s Garden Tagaytay
Splendido Tagaytay
Ville Sommet

Tucked in the verdant greens rich in bounty and replete with history and culture, both Tagaytay and Batangas hold promise of retreat and rest in the maddening pace of urban living. Blessed with swaying palms, striking view of majestic mountain ranges and dramatic glimpses of sunrise and sunsets, the provinces’ charm captures the fancy of one in search for a haven and highlights the desire to commune with nature.

Yellow Coco in Tagaytay allows a jaded soul to commune with nature. Surrounded by flora, it is a wonder how the place bursts of energy yet contains a zen-like aura; recharging the weary. Amidst the crisp and fresh Tagaytay air, worries are let adrift as cares are cast to the wind. It is easy to reconnect with the self in Yellow Coco Tagaytay – its pocket gardens always in full bloom, its cozy ambiance and relaxing splashes of color in the sea of green lends a vibe that calms, pacifies and relaxes.

Yellow Coco Resort in Batangas, on the other hand, holds promise of a unique getaway. The relaxing feel of the province rubs off amongst its visitors as they lounge in hammocks shaded by lush Molave trees. On summer days, clean and serene waters greet eager swimmers for hours of wading in the lake. The resort lures people to quiet, serene time spent alone or in the company of family and good friends. If, on the other hand, adventure is what is in mind, one can summon the courage to trek the famed Taal Volcano.

Two distinct getaway destinations just a short drive from the Metropolis marks the idea of fun and relaxation. Whether one is an adventure seeker ready to take on a trekking challenge or a bookworm flipping through the pages of the newest bestseller, Yellow Coco in Tagaytay or Batangas is sure to set the mood for a memorable and enriching stay.

Infused with a homey feel, both destinations were conceptualized with the family in mind. Initially a retreat haven for the owner’s family, both places soon accommodated the public to share in the coziness, warmth and splendor of the place.

About Club Balai Isabel, it is a haven from the city without being too far away. More than a lakeside residential resort, it is also a community where you can relax, connect, be with nature, and have an active lifestyle with all the comforts of city living.

This event is definitely worth watching and attending for. For more information or details about the event, you can email sales@weddinginthesky.com, call (046)-4376055 | (046)-4323289 and call or text (0918)9281296 | (0922) 8652685 .

Talisay Batangas Corporate Event Venue

Club Balai Isabel offers refreshing settings that make for well-organized and memorable experiences so clients get the most out of their business meeting or conference.

Housed within the spacious layouts of the club hotel and country club buildings are function rooms and outdoor venues that cater to intimate gatherings or large groups.

A function hall that can sit more than 300 guests opens to an expansive balcony with a panoramic view of the lush fairways and the distant Taal Volcano lake range with its jagged peaks.

Talisay Batangas Corporate Event Venue

The Mediterranean Pavilion can sit as much as 500 guests for medium-scale weddings, social events, conferences, product launches and other corporate assemblies or exclusive get-togethers.
The subtly elegant charms of the Club Terraza restaurant and coffee shop for a relaxing dinning experience by the lake.

Al fresco functions turn more elegant and posh at Club Balai Isabel outdoor venues. These attractive settings feature well-manicured greenery, pocket gardens, and charming water features. The water garden patio and gazebo, the poolside and lawn areas are picture-perfect choices for large outdoor events and after-six convention socials.

Talisay Batangas Corporate Event Venue

Apart from the award-winning architecture and the scenic surroundings, the function rooms and other venues of Club Balai Isabel enjoy distinct advantages — cool climate, the privacy of an exclusive resort community, and the club’s culinary offerings and service.

Club Balai Isabel is located in Talisay, Batangas. For inquiries, call (0918) 928-12-96 / (0922) 865-26-85 or (046) 432-32-89

Balai Isabel, Talisay, Batangas

Balai Isabel is the best resort around Taal Lake. You can enjoy kayaking on the lake, swimming in the infinity pool with a level view of the Taal crater, or you can dip inside the Taal Lake via the floating Mobideep pool. They can arrange a hike up to the Taal summit through a private, shaded and cleaner path. A good massage after the hike will definitely put you into a deep slumber. They offer various types of accommodation to suit your budget. Makati Skyline caters the food at Balai Isabel. The resort is conveniently located 9km away from Tagaytay, where you can enjoy Tagaytay’s little foodie secrets.

Club Balai Isabel Resort Talisay Batangas

Balai Indang, Indang, Cavite

It is a secluded retreat house, similar to Sonya’s Secret Garden, located in Indang, Cavite. The only distinguishing mark is a number 88 sign along the road. You can indulge in Marge’s innovative and improved home-cooking all day long. In between meals, you can dip into the pool or just laze around and enjoy the fresh air. Kids are more than welcome to play around the garden. You could ask Marge about Yoki’s collection of treasures and perhaps she could even give you a tour of the place. Balai Indang is 30-minute drive from the Mendez intersection in Tagaytay.

Pool of Balay Indang

Playa Calatagan, Calatagan, Batangas

The young and fun beach community resort created by Landco is coming to life in Calatagan. It has a cool blue river and infinity pool that kids will love. They serve the best food in the Calatagan area, using Manila standards in quality of food and presentation. Nice cabanas are setup to take advantage of the cool Calatagan winds during summer. You can also drive to the Calatagan lighthouse nearby. The best asset of the place is watching Calatagan’s golden sunset while chilling out on the beach with family and friends. You need to be a lot owner or accompanied by one to enjoy this Calatagan hideaway.

Playa Calatagan Calatagan Batangas

Bamboo Beach, Nasugbu, Batangas

Bamboo Beach is the best beach in the Nasugbu, Batangas area. Its 650-meter beach cove is exclusive and 80 percent privately owned by Kawayan Cove Seaside Estates. A small part (20 percent) of the beach is for public use, but it can only be accessed via boat. The beach cove is simply perfect—clean water, calm waves, gradual sloping beach, beige colored fine sand and awesome sunset. The beach is abundant with small fishes, which you can feed with small slices of squid. The resort serves simple grilled Filipino food. This could have been the Boracay of Nasugbu if it were open to the public. While in Kawayan Cove, don’t forget to explore the giant cross and rosary at Meditation Point. This is where a lot of memorable weddings are held, with a cliff side view of Nasugbu bay.

Bamboo Beach Nasugbu Batangas

Cali Rana, Lake Caliraya, Cavinti, Laguna

Cali Rana is a private resort hidden inside the forest of the man-made Caliraya Lake in Cavinti, Laguna. The relaxing 30-minute Caliraya Lake ride to the resort is an experience in itself. The resort offers basic accommodations and swimming pool amenities where power is supplied by generators at night. This resort is best for families or barkadas that would like to bring and cook their own food. You can introduce your kids to the cement sculptures of old Filipino folklore characters like Malakas and Maganda, Maria Makiling and others. Most of the structures are cemented to protect them from decay, which gives the resort a cute oldie appeal. I would recommend that you take the speedboat tour of the entire Caliraya Lake in the morning.

Cali Rana Lake Caliraya Cavinti Laguna

Wonder Island, Calamba, Laguna

It is the only resort located on an island in the middle of Laguna de Bay. You have to drive all the way to the busy city of Calamba and take a boat going to the island. The accommodations and swimming pool facilities are clean, simple and surprisingly maintained well over time. It is best to lower your expectations going to this simple Laguna de Bay escape. The best assets of the resort are the therapeutic natural spring water of the swimming pool and a boat tour of Laguna de Bay during breakfast. On your way back to Manila, make sure to pass by Jose Rizal’s Shrine in Calamba City.

Wonder Island Calamba Laguna

88 Spa and Resort, Pansol, Laguna
Paradise Resort, Pagsanjan, Laguna

The best resort in Pansol, Laguna is the Chinese/Korean-owned 88 Spa and Resort. You pay for exclusivity to avoid the typical large crowds during the summer season. You’ll love the kiddie pool with Mt. Makiling as a background. Most of their multinational clients avail of the day tour package. This consists of the transportation to/from Manila, lunch/dinner in the resort’s Korean restaurant and the two-hour Pagsanjan falls tour. The resort has a special partnership with Paradise Resort in Pagsanjan, Laguna which handles their hassle-free tour of Pagsanjan falls. Summer is the safest time to go to Pagsanjan and experience the free full body massage of Pagsanjan falls. Don’t forget to take home some buko pies from your favorite store: Letty’s, D’ Original, El Mare or Collette’s.

Hidden Valley, Alaminos, Laguna

Hidden Valley is an all-time favorite. It is a secluded private resort with a natural botanical garden, natural thermal pools, and a hidden waterfall. This nature escape in Alaminos, Laguna serves Filipino buffet lunch and merienda for day-trippers. You’ll spend the day swimming pool-hopping around its hot and cold natural pools, and hiking into the virgin forest, through century-old trees and giant ferns, to find the hidden waterfalls. From Hidden Valley, you can decide to drive a little further to explore the Viaje del Sol foodie destinations in San Pablo, Laguna and Tiaong, Quezon.

Hidden Valley Alaminos Laguna

La Luz/ Palm Beach/ Virgin Beach, San Juan, Batangas

The San Juan Batangas beach resorts are a popular destination because of their clean, calm waters and because it’s the best beach area closest to Manila. La Luz resort continues to be the most popular because of its value-for-money overnight packages, commitment to maintain its natural habitat, and the marine sanctuary directly in front of the resort. For a more secluded high-end escape, the Palm Beach resort is recommended. This is the farthest resort and enjoys a quiet isolation from the main stretch of San Juan Batangas beach. The Virgin Beach is also recommended because of its wide white beach area, its nice restaurant, and its limited room capacity to avoid that crowded feeling.

Palm Beach Resort La Frondosa

Subic, Olongapo City

When the four-lane Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTex) opens this summer, it would cut the travel time from Manila to Subic to less than two hours. This would make Subic accessible and the most favorite beach destination in the North. It would now be easy to organize beach outings to Club Morocco, Anvaya Cove, Lighthouse Subic or White Rock Resort. While in Subic, the kids will love the tigers in Zoobic, and the Dolphin and Sea Lion shows in Ocean Adventure. Don’t forget to eat at the Meat Plus café (best restaurant in Subic) and shop for imported goods and chocolates at the Duty free outlets. Also, you can drive to the Pawikan Conservation Center in Morong, Bataan to release young sea turtles into the sea.

Subic Olongapo City

Club Balai Isabel Resort Talisay Batangas

Now on its ninth year, the annual two-day regatta will see Filipino and foreign Hobie Cat teams encircling the picturesque Taal Volcano Island and promises to be another action-packed adventure tourism event, TLYC Commodore Peter Capoposto said in yesteday’s PSA forum at the Shakey’s UN Avenue branch in Manila.

Also joining the race is the growing fleet of home-built boats, optimists, streakers, dinghies and toppers from all ages, added Capoposto in the session sponsored by Aspen Spa, Brickyard Gym, Accel and Med Central Diagnostics Clinics

The regatta will also feature a 34-kilometer kayak marathon and a 10-kilometer novice run organized by the Philippine Kayaking Association on Saturday.

According to Techno-Asia Construction and Development Corp. president Nelson Terrible, developer of Club Balai Isabel, the unique twin events will highlight Taal Lake as a water sports haven.

Pinoy, Aussies Rule Balai Isabel Regatta

FILIPINO hobie cat sailors Norman Jaravata and Jenny Franke topped the Governor’s Cup of the Club Balai Isabel Round Taal Volcano regatta recently at the Taal Lake Yacht Club in Talisay, Batangas.

The Governor’s Cup, a 35-kilometer circumnavigation of the picturesque volcano, is the annual international sporting event’s main attraction.

Now on its ninth edition, the two-day regatta saw Filipino and foreign teams of home-built boats, optimists, streakers, and dinghies competing for honors. Aside from the Philippines, the event also drew entries from the United States, Portugal, France, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Italy and Germany.

The Australian father-and-son team of Andrew and Brandon Locke of Team Papua New Guinea bagged the grand prize in the inshore racing legs around Taal Lake while the tandem of Ernie Sarmiento and Zaldy Dela Cruz of Team HIETA topped the 35-kilometer kayak marathon division organized by the Philippine Kayaking Association.

The team is based in Alaminos City, Pangasinan and was supported by DOT Region I office. According to Club Balai Isabel president Nelson Terrible, the twin events highlighted the potential of Taal Lake as a water sports and ecotourism haven.

Club Balai Isabel and TLYC are among the stakeholders in the forefront to preserve Taal Lake, whose fragile ecosystem is besieged with pollution and siltation due to the proliferation of chemical-rich fish cages.

We left Manila early in the morning, got tied up in South Luzon Expressway (Slex) traffic. We took the Santa Rosa Exit, drove along the Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Road, turned left along Aguinaldo Highway and drove down Ligaya Drive. We still managed to get to the resort in time for a Filipino breakfast at its full-service restaurant within the clubhouse, with its magnificent view of Taal Lake and Taal Volcano. It also has a business center and a novelty shop.

We were welcomed by resort owner and Talisay native Nelson Terrible and his wife Cecille. After breakfast, I still had time to explore the resort’s accommodations and facilities, which include residential houses and two boutique-style clusters: the Sampaguita Manor, with its six hotel-type rooms with minirefs, hot and cold shower and balcony, all nestled on a garden of different trees and ornamental plants; and the Ylang-Ylang Villa, which offers six two-story, kitchen-furnished studio units, all ideal for families.

Club Balai Isabel Talisay Batangas

Since the long lake shoreline is not recommended for swimming (because of the murky and deep water), the resort has put up, aside from its free-form swimming pool, the Mobideep, an inflatable swimming pool with separate pools of different depths. Its deepest pool, measuring 21 feet, is even used for scuba-diving training. The challenging Balikatan Course, consisting of five different obstacles, is mostly used for company team-building. Apart from its swimming pools, the resort also has tennis, badminton and basketball courts, and guests can also rent a kayak to go around the lake.

Then, it was time to go. Aside from the other resort guests, we were with distinguished company, as joining our trek to the volcano were the three Filipino women who conquered Mount Everest just a year ago. This was to be my third visit to the volcano and my second to the viewpoint (the other was a trek to the crater lake itself). To get to Volcano Island, we used a number of the resort’s 32 accredited motorized bancas.

After a 30-minute trip that took us around the island, past the 311-meter high (the island’s highest point) Mount Binintiang Malaki (seemingly featured on most Taal Volcano postcards like an island but actually connected to the real Volcano Island), we arrived at the Welcome Center. From there, it was all 45 minutes of hiking, first along the beach, then into a shady forest and, on our last leg, up a steep, dusty and treeless trail up to the viewpoint. The viewpoint was a cool welcome relief for its shade and its magnificent bird’s-eye view of the beautifully azure and seemingly peaceful crater lake with its small island. The trek back to the Welcome Center and our boats was faster but very slippery.

Once back at the resort, we all proceeded to Kasay-Kasay Hall, one of the resort’s two function rooms (the other is Kasili Hall) for a buffet lunch. After lunch, a press conference was held centering on the three Pinay Mount Everest Team members—Janet Belarmino-Serdenia, Carina Dayondon and Noelle Wenceslao—who narrated their trials and tribulations before and during their conquest of Mount Everest. During the presscon, Mr. Terrible also expressed his concerns regarding the environment. To encourage environment protection and conservation from the community, the resort has started a Solid-Waste Management project wherein Talisay residents can avail themselves of support from the resort in the form of loans or financial backing for community projects on the condition that they turn in a certain amount of recyclable waste materials to the resort. According to Terrible, this concerted effort will make people realize that nature and Taal Lake should be protected to be able to retain their livelihood, especially fishing and tourism. The resort, on the other hand, also addresses the water shortage problem (one of the biggest environmental problems that the country has to face in the coming years) by using filtered lake water for the swimming pool as well as for Mobideep. They also make sure that they are using low energy-consumption equipment in the resort.

Club Balai Isabel Resort Talisay Batangas

In the near future, Club Balai Isabel will be adding more facilities, including a recreation center equipped with videoke, a movie room, billiard tables, Wi-Fi and Playstation 3 rooms, an Internet shop, a tea lounge and a library. Wi-Fi will also be made available in the public areas. The resort will also be building facilities for skim and wake boarding. A wellness center, offering medical spa and traditional medical facility as well as noninvasive therapies and executive checkups for tourists and guests, will also be opened. Terrible is particularly excited about the opening of the Spa Suites, eight roomy huts which will have a queen-sized bed, private bathroom and a private Jacuzzi in a lush garden setting. Club Balai Isabel will soon offer the Taal Lake Cruise using their 20-person Cancun that is equipped with washroom and minibar.

To also get to the resort from the Slex, you can also take the Greenfield/Asia Brewery exit and head toward Tagaytay City. Turn left at Calamba Road, then turn right at Ligaya Drive and head toward Talisay. Turn left at the junction of Talisay National Road and look for the entrance of Club Balai Isabel, which will be at the right side of the road.

The path traversing the area had coconut palm trees planted over a hundred years ago. Wild grass had grown; there were plants and vegetation all over, and monitor lizards (bayawak) and snakes slithered around.

It was this unprepossessing property that a big-time real-estate developer from Talisay with an unlikely name, Nelson M. Terrible, and his wife Cecille Arenas, purchased in 2005 and turned into a high-end resort.

They named it Club Balai Isabel, after their daughter Kristine Isabel.
It was a fortunate move. The area, facing the ecological wonder that is Taal Volcano, was fast becoming an eco-tourist zone. The resort is also near the poblacion of Talisay, known for its fruit-bearing trees and a major supplier of ornamental plants to Luzon and even to the Visayas.

Getting to Talisay is no problem. Through Santa Rosa, Laguna and Carmona, Cavite, the trip takes only an hour and 15 minutes if traffic is light.

At the Tagaytay Rotonda, you turn left and then (after 6 km) turn right to Ligaya Drive, a well-paved zigzag with subdivisions and communities along the way, but still laden with trees and vegetation.
The 9-km road leads right to the town proper and the lakeshore.

Club Balai Isabel Resort Talisay Batangas

Indigenous and Modern
The architecture at Club Balai Isabel is both indigenous and modern. Air-conditioned rooms can accommodate 143 persons (250 by year’s end). Amenities include clubhouse and infinity pool, sports and leisure club, convention and training center, and commercial shops.
Since “team building” is now a buzzword among corporations, the resort has a group dynamics outdoor facility that includes mazes and obstacles, hurdles, tunnels and wall climbs, and a rope-swing challenge.

The resort has accredited boatmen who will take you on a cruise around the lake, whose waters are silvery from a distance (when you are looking down from Tagaytay ridge), but aquamarine up close.
There are also tour packages for trekking to the volcano, the world’s smallest but, like Mayon, active and dangerous, throwing tantrums from time to time through the centuries.

Fishes like tawilis and maliputo still abound in the lake, whose waters are good for swimming although there are weeds during the rainy season. Fishing, kayaking, snorkeling, cruising, windsurfing and even water-skiing are some of the activities offered by resorts around the area.

Fish pens and siltation are a problem in Lake Taal. “We have to do something about that,” says Terrible. A Bantay Dagat (Baywatch) team has been formed with the Knights of Columbus, local government of Talisay, and barangay officials. A zero-waste program is being implemented.

Superb View
The resort’s clubhouse and infinity pool face the lake, with the volcano in the background. It is a superb view in the mornings, as the sun shines brightly, with pennants waving along the shore, mountains and islets in the background and outrigger boats gliding by.
During our visit, we watched in the afternoon the rainshowers, a light-gray mass, falling over certain portions of the lake, gaining momentum until the contours of far-off mountains of Batangas disappeared, and only Taal Volcano and nearby peaks were visible.
The wind grew stronger, but the rains did not reach the resort. In contrast to the coolness of Tagaytay, it is normally warm and humid along the shore.

Club Balai Isabel Resort Talisay Batangas

In the evenings, you hear the chirping of birds and the croaking of frogs. It was an overcast sky the night we were there, and there were only a few stars visible. The low drone of a lone airplane pierced the stillness.

As the plane headed for Manila, its lights reminded me of a shooting star. “Go and catch a falling star/Get with child a mandrake root,: as the English poet put it, suggesting we attempt the impossible.

An alternative way to Club Balai Isabel is through Tanauan along the way of which the Virgin of Manaoag Church awaits devotees.
Most travelers usually glimpse the Taal Volcano from the Tagaytay Ridge, so the Talisay route provides altogether different perspectives going down the mountain slope on the way to the lakeshore. As our Speedwagon made its fast descent, I got panoramic glimpses of the world’s smallest volcano. It was not, however, that minute and, for once, I noticed the cluster of smaller eruptors around it. But a big surprise hit me upon reaching the resort’s country club: I saw Taal Volcano at eye level and it lost its distinction from other seashore mountains.

Club Balai Isabel Resort Balisay Batangas

This ordinariness and the exception of Balai Isabel is a perfect combination. This provides its magic. The sulphur-rich environment charges the body’s energy. Endemic fishes like tawilis, biya and maliputo are abundant in the freshwater lake, delivered by local fishermen to the resort before the sun rises. It used to be a salt water formation where sharks used to roam freely hundreds of years ago. But when the volcano had a major eruption, it turned into fresh water, losing the sharks forever. Other fishes adapted. Its proximity allows one to reach the volcano island in less than an hour by mechanized boats from the resort. And there’s a secret way to the volcano’s crater that cuts the three-hour walk or horse ride to less than one hour.

Kundiman Cooking
Stomachs grumbling from the early morning trip without a stop at an SLEX food-and-comfort stopovers, we were served breakfast at Café Balai Isabel, the Club Balai Isabel. This hub point offers a panoramic view of the volcano island, an eternity pool and a fenced off area of the lake where the more adventurous types can go kayaking and pedal boating. We were served fried tawilis and fried daing na biya with achara, corned beef and longanisa with freshly brewed barako coffee.

The uniqueness of Café Balai Isabel is the absence of Continental or other ethnic cuisine. Although it gets its fair share of visitors of other nationalities, only the food prepared by the Café’s kitchen is served. The Pampangan chef has concocted a unique fusion of south-of-the-metro dishes, giving extraordinary character based on traditional food, with a few concessions. There are American all-time favorites like French toast, corned beef, sandwiches, soups, spaghetti, chicken wings and ice cream. For pizza or taco, resort-goers will either have to bring it or get them somewhere else.

We had a feast at lunch. ensaladang Manga is coarsely chopped raw mango that tastes tangy without the sourness. Binagoongang rice with topping is a finer version of the Thai specialty. Sizzling bangus is sisig made of freshly caught milkfish. pinalipad na tilapia is the fish with the meat sliced until the head, dipped in batter and deep-fried so that the slices curl up resembling wings. Bulalo, Tagaytay City’s much-loved bone marrow soup, has been turned into kalderetang bulalo. Pinakbet with lechon kawali is the boiled veggie galore flavored by bagoong topped by chunks of deep-fried porkloin. And for drink, there’s santol juice, which is an excellent thirst quencher without a hint of asim.

These are what I call kundiman dishes and drinks.
Kundiman cooking is the imaginative combination of two or more native dishes, a folk variation of fusion cooking. Kundiman, as you know, comes from the old Tagalog song form of the same name, which usually starts with “‘Kung di man…” For me kundiman cooking is made up of dishes without a real identity. As in the case of kalderetang bulalo, it’s neither kaldereta nor bulalo, but a combination of both. Just imagine the taste and flavor prospects. It’s not exactly limitless, but great enough to offer new possibilities.

Serene surroundings
Club Balai Isabel (named after the Malayan word for “house” and combined with the name of the owners’ only daughter) is a 7,000-square-meter residential resort by the Lake Taal with a 400-meter shoreline. It was developed by Techno-Asia Construction and Development, Inc. The simple, laidback life in Club Balai Isabel is reflected in the structures around the resort lighted by Mediterranean-style lamps. The indoors and outdoors blend into each other, creating a feeling of being close to nature even while inside the buildings.

A selection of property investments or room accommodations awaits: elegant hotel units, functional and cozy studio units with kitchen nooks, or spacious one-bedroom units with lofts. The open-plan reception area houses the resort’s office, business center, two meeting rooms, a lounge and the front desk. The clubhouse’s ground floor consists of a café, a gift shop and the function rooms Kasay-Kasay and Kasili Halls. The Batangueno Hall can accommodate 100 people and another 100 on its sprawling garden. Each function room is fitted with a white board and state-of-the-art communication system such as LCD projectors, 32-inch plasma television and wireless sound system. It has an obstacle course for team-building exercises and a chapel for the resort goers’ spiritual needs.

Club Balai Isabel Resort Talisay Batangas

Its Mobideep, being used as a diving and training facility in countries like Thailand and Singapore, is the country’s first floating swimming facility features five safe and secure swimming pool options. It allows one to swim in the Lake without being in the it’s water, making one feel like being in a yacht.

Future developments are a helipad, which will facilitate chartered helicopters from any destination in the country to Club Balai Isabel. A medi-spa complex will also be installed to develop the resort for medical tourism. A fishing area is currently under construction. As development continues, Club Balai Isabel will remain environment-friendly through the use of “green” Genset system, waste segregation and recycling, and the use of windmills and solar cells.