Te Quiero Tapas Bar & Restaurant is a quaint restaurant in Baguio City offering Spanish dishes, tapas, beers and wines. The restaurant affords a cozy interior ideal for romantic dates and family gatherings. Live acoustic music adds an extra charm to the dining experience. It is located beside Microtel Baguio and Victory Liner bus terminal in Engineers Hill, Baguio City.
Every Friday and Saturday night, guests can enjoy the restaurant's Tapas Night offering (P350.00 net/person), a buffet featuring a variety of vegetable, chicken, pork, beef and seafood dishes. Here's what we had for dinner at Te Quiero.
Arroz ala Valenciana - This regional dish from Valencia, Spain is perhaps the most famous Spanish dish in the world. For Filipinos, this is already a complete meal as it has both the kanin (rice) and ulam (viand) components. Te Quiero serves the mixed meat and seafood variant. It has tahong (Asian green mussels), chicken, and chirozo (Spanish pork sausage). The flavors are very well balanced, not too flat and not too flavorful. Being part of a buffet, the arroz ala valenciana is best not to be very flavorful since it will still be paired with other flavorful dishes.
Sauteed Seafoods - If you love seafoods, then this is dish is for you. It is a combination of fish fillet, tahong (Asian green Mussels) and halaan (clams) sauteed and cooked with tomatoes and scallions. I paired this with the arroz ala valenciana. Although Baguio City is located 5,200 feet above sea level, many seafood products are available in the city. It will take about 1.5 hours to transport seafood products from Pangasinan or La Union to Baguio so you can be assured of their freshness.
Bruschetta - Typically served as a first course in a formal Italian meal (yes this is not Spanish). Bruschette (plural) are characterized as grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with olive oil, salt and pepper plus a variety of toppings such as fresh vegetables, cured meat or cheese. Te Quiero included this in their buffet as an appetizer. Their version is topped with lettuce and mushrooms. I would prefer bruschette with tomatoes or ham.
Beef Short Ribs in Au Jus - This is definitely the star of the buffet. Beef short ribs are an expensive cut of meat to start with. Te Quiero's slab of short ribs is about three inches thick. It was perfectly roasted with the skin golden brown and the meat very juicy and tender. It is so special that it has its own corner table with a carving board. The chef will make the perfect cut of roast beef for you so you can enjoy every bite of it.
Pork Back Ribs - This classic American barbecue ribs are welcome addition to the buffet table. Prime cuts of meaty pork ribs are dressed in flavorful barbecue sauce. This goes well with plain rice or mashed potato. Beer drinkers will surely love this as well.
Chili Cheese Sticks - These are strips of cheese wrapped with lumpia wrappers and fried until crispy. The crunchy shell is filled with molten cheese which makes it a fun snack to munch on with a company of good friends and ice cold beer.
For vegetarians, there's Baguio Beans Salad and Potato Salad as well. Potatoes and Baguio beans are some of the top agri-products of Baguio so these are just fitting additions to the buffet table.
The assortment of dishes change from time to time, but everything that Te Quiero include in its buffet selection are carefully selected and are made with high quality.
Te Quiero is definitely one of the must-dine places in Baguio. If you happen to be in Baguio during weekend, we highly recommend that you try their Tapas Night buffet. It's great value for your money. If you are looking for great accommodation, Microtel by Wyndham Baguio is one of our top choices. Checked-in guests enjoy their complimentary breakfast at Te Quiero, the in-house restaurant of the hotel.
Te Quiero Tapas Bar & Restaurant is a partner restaurant of the Baguio Food Tour 2013 (BFT2013) blogger event aimed at promoting the City of Pines as a food trip destination.
Victory Liner serves 24/7 hourly trips to Baguio City from Cubao and Pasay. Travel time is 6-7 hours (for regular aircon buses) or 4-5 hours (for first class buses). For inquiries, follow them on Twitter @victorylinerinc. Victory Liner is the official transport sponsor of Baguio Food Tour 2013.