Monday, May 26, 2008

andanita taj: experience india in tagaytay

susie and i were to attend a wedding in tagaytay during the weekend, and since it was going to end late, we thought it would be safer to just stay the night instead of driving back down to manila.

after checking out various accommodation options in tagaytay, we ended up reserving a room in andanita taj, a newly-opened themed bed and breakfast in tagaytay. aside from themed rooms, it has its own indian-mediterranean restaurant that's open 24 hours.

reserving a room wasn't too hard. i called the place up, and luckily, they still had a room for us. they sent us the bank details, so we could deposit 50% of the room rate to secure our reservation. we were asked to bring a copy of the deposit slip and present it upon check-in.

taj isn't hard to find--from the rotonda, drive past residence inn on the highway, and you'll see andanita taj on the left side of the road. there just isn't enough parking, only 3 slots are available.

check-in was a breeze. while they were processing our transaction, they led us to a table and gave us complimentary drinks. there were plenty of cozy nooks in the restaurant where friends can easily hang out and have a few drinks. taj also offers really good mediterranean cuisine!

every room stay in andanita taj comes with free breakfast and spa treatments. upon check-in, we were asked what our breakfast and spa treatment preferences were. i opted for a fatless tocino breakfast with indian tea, and susie chose the american breakfast with coffee. for our spa pampering, we both decided to go for their 45-minute foot spa, scheduled after our breakfast the next day.

we were then escorted to our room, the casablanca deluxe, by a really helpful and kind member of the staff. he really insisted on carrying everything for us, and was so courteous! service in andanita taj is worth noting, really. everyone was kind, courteous, and friendly.

casablance deluxe is the moroccan-inspired room, and was clean and well-designed. from the site's pictures, though, i kind of expected it to be a little bigger. i guess it just looked crowded because of the furniture.

pogi points for the room for having ample closet space! at least, even though the room was a bit small, we had a place to keep our things in. we also had a TV and a DVD player in our room. the TV didn't have cable, but at least they were thoughtful enough to include some DVDs for us to watch.

the bathroom was clean, too, with a lot of candles. bathroom essentials, such as soap, toothbrush, shampoo, and even a tube of moisturizing body lotion, were provided. towels came in a set of 3--a bath towel, a hand towel, and a face towel.

i give a negative point for the bug encounters we had. we understand that it's hard to keep bugs out in a place such as tagaytay, but some cleanliness checks can be done. all the bugs we found were all DOA (dead on our arrival).

now, for more plus points: the breakfast came in good-sized portions! and true to their promise, their tocino was indeed fatless! i wish more breakfast joints would offer that. susie also seemed to enjoy his bacon, bread, and jam, because i hardly had any time to steal any of his breakfast! the indian tea that came with my meal was yummy!

after breakfast, we retreated back to casablanca to wait for our foot spa. the foot massage part was bit painful for me, and the therapist told me to check on my uric acid levels. my feet felt relieved after the treatment, though. it had been feeling tired for a while. susie also enjoyed his foot spa, and that means i can now drag him to more spas!

all in all, the andanita taj experience was great. we will definitely be back to see more of their themed rooms.

see more photos of andanita taj.

contact information:
andanita taj
address: 5059 aguinaldo highway, laurel, metro-tagaytay
tel. no.: (046) 686-1520
mobile nos.: +63 919 8216931; +63 922 8205506
email: tayjoftagaytay@yahoo.com.ph
website: http://tajoftagaytay.blogs.friendster.com/masala_dreams

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm excited to try the other dishes!
Don't you have another wedding to go to up there? Hint! Hint!

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