BAHAY Buffet kicks off at MoCa Farm

For those who love to prepare food, host gatherings or simply are passionate about food, then this new concept in dining is for you—BAHAY Buffet. BAHAY Buffet, which stands for Buffet At Home is Always Yummy, was launched last July 18, 2015 by the same team behind BAGA Manila.

According to BAHAY Buffet’s Ms. Dawn Bolus Mawis, the idea is there will be a host who will prepare the buffet in the host’s venue of choice, with a certain number of guests. Guests who are interested will have to prepay for it. There will be various schedules with different hosts. It’s like hosting a gathering for friends, but getting paid for it at the same time. It is also a great opportunity to network with like-minded individuals who shares the same interests.

And as opening salvo, BAHAY Buffet had Gigi Morris, of MoCa Family Farm, as host and select bloggers as guests. Ka Gigi, as she is fondly called, shares the same passion in food and hosting get-togethers.

Upon arriving in their farm in Barangay Castillo, Padre Garcia, Batangas, we were served merienda consisting of Tamales, which can be partnered with Liberica Coffee (kapeng barako), Santol Juice or Bignay Cider. The Sweet Tamales is their own local version of steamed/boiled rice wrapped in banana leaves with coconut filling and served with Santan Syrup (coconut milk with panutsa). It was my first time to try Santol Juice and Bignay Cider. The Santol Juice was sweet and the Bignay Cider tasted like cranberry juice.

Truly a gracious host, Ka Gigi toured us in their small family farm. They have various plants--santol, bignay, atis, bataw, mango, duhat, and orchid. They also have farm animals such as rabbits and native pigs.

Finally, lunch was served. MoCa Farm is espousing small family farm agri-culinary tourism and farm-to-table concept.  They don’t have a preset menu as they prepare food based on seasonal availability. We had Creamy Kalabasa Soup with Malunggay Flakes, Garden Salad, Zesty Santol with Pork in Coconut Milk, Native Pig Lechon, Pinaputukang Tilapia wrapped in Galangal Leaves and Sapin-sapin Rice.

The Kalabasa Soup was really creamy while the Santol with Pork was quite spicy. I love the roasted pineapples in the Garden Salad. I pigged out on the pig (hey, it’s native swine so it has lesser fat!). The Sapin-sapin Rice is not your usual delicacy, but it is actually multi-colored steamed rice wherein they use natural coloring, such as turmeric (for the yellow color). And to cap of the lunch, we had Hubad na Lumpiang Saging.

I enjoyed this farm-to-table buffet because the menu was interesting (not the usual you see in restaurants) and I liked the “natural” setting. I also liked the BAHAY Buffet concept because it’s like having your “own private gathering.”

For future BAHAY Buffext events, check out their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/bahaybuffet

To know more about MoCa Family farm, visit: https://www.facebook.com/pages/MoCa-Farm/144927215529014?sk=timeline