In Leyte, just a short drive from downtown Tacloban, guests are welcomed to the Rafael farms and garden in a vine-covered station. An open-air walk leads to the restaurant, a structure that reminds some visitors of the upscale resort huts in Bali, Indonesia. All around, the landscaped place is green with grass and plants.

 

Rafael's Farm is both a restaurant and a park. Located in Babatngon, about 30-minutes' drive from Tacloban City, it has become one of the most popular places in the area. Families spend their Sundays there, taking a boat ride on the lake, playing in the tree house, or just relaxing. Rafael's Farm is a cozy, romantic place away from the noise and pollution of the city.

The walls in the dining area are colored in a fashionable red with touches of green. Two sides are opened. In the one that looks out to a garden and a pond, you can find conversation areas with sofas and interesting coffee tables.

 

 

All the dining tables are covered with crocheted tablecloths. Some chairs have backs of woven abaca and seats covered with banig.

The menu showes local dishes that one can say is Filipino, but not necessarily Leyteño, cooking. We had fish sinigang, a salad of the vegetables that they said was grown in the farm and turon. In the pastry display case, the mini cakes were what you could get from any urbanized towns in the country.

 

 

 

The owner is Rene Tampi. He started with a restaurant in Tacloban called “Join Us” and a produce shop that sold meat, ready-to-cook food and vegetables. Tampi is a young entrepreneur who decided to stay and do business in his home province.