A buffet blast—and more B words

A couple of months back, my quiz night team, The (S)trippers, got invited to a trivia event in Cebu for their first anniversary. Jim, one of my teammates, brought up the idea of going straight to Bohol (his family has a beach house in Panglao) the day after so we could all make a long weekend trip out of it.

So, the morning after our not-so-crushing defeat (more on that here) at the Manila-Cebu, we made our way to Bohol via the Weesam Line. It was my first time in Bohol and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience though I didn't get to see some of the more tourist-y places (Chocolate Hills and, well, Chocolate Hills...) because our afternoons got rained out. 

One of the highlights of the trip for me (especially where this blog is concerned) was dinner on our last night. We were deciding between the Loboc River Cruise or the Bohol Bee Farm, both cost about the same. Most of us aren't into cruises, so we finally opted for the latter despite its rather sorry-looking mascot-logo (he needs to pluck). 

The Buffet is Pescetarian-friendly—really good salads and fish dishes like the Grilled Blue Marlin.

We stopped by after lunch to reserve a table for the night. The place was filled with locals, most of whom congregated around the Ice Cream shop just outside of the lobby. It offered unusual flavors such as Malunggay and Spicy Ginger (our friend Phil strongly advised us against that one particularly) and less interesting ones like Chocolate and Avocado. I had the Durian. (It had the consistency and taste of dirty ice cream, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.)

And so we went around where we could around the island—a tarsier center, Baclayon church (I KNOW) and the Hinagdanan Cave (where we met the most photo-savvy manong in the history of forever)—and found ourselves headed back to the Bee Farm for an early dinner. Given the relentless downpour, it was a good thing that we decided to go here instead of the cruise.

The place has a very laidback feel to it and great for groups of people.

One of my favorites from the buffer was this Seafood Lasagna dish.

After settling down to our places, I scanned through the menu. Since I'm a pescetarian, I went straight to the seafood section and decided on the Blue Marlin. But Kaia pointed out the buffet option to me. For about P600 (give or take, it goes down depending on the amount of people in your group), you get several dishes (salad, soup, grilled pork, chicken, Blue Marlin cutlets) plus unlimited drinks (if you opt for lemongrass) and a round of ice cream. 

The food came soon after we ordered (maybe the buffet option is so popular that they just cook in bulk?) and we happily stuffed ourselves. I love that this buffet is so pesce-friendly, what with the fish (cooked excellently BTW), seafood lasagna and a whole lot of vegetables. That is what I find sorely lacking in many places in Manila.

All in all, it was a pretty sweet meal. I'll be happy to come back to Bohol just to enjoy this gastronomic experience again.