Honeymoon: The Peacock Garden!!!

Valentine's day finally came - the day we set our honeymoon! It wasn't meant to be that cheesy, originally (I swear!), as we came up with the date just because of the plane fare promos back in November. But the date turned out to be really perfect, for so many reasons! 1) it's valentines day, of course. 2) later on we realized, it was also our engagement day anniversary! and 3) One month (plusplus) was what I needed to recover from my back problems. If we set the honeymoon right after the wedding, we could have spent more for postponing!

We were on "bahala na" planning after we got our plane tickets, until -- also sometime November -- our friend, Dang found the Deal Grocer promo: 3D/2N at The Peacock Garden for only Php11k!!! (thanks, Dang!)

I LOVE THE PEACOCK GARDEN, its ambiance was perfect for a honeymoon! Take note: it wasn't a "honeymoon" package to begin with, but they welcomed us with those "happy honeymoon" petals after they learned that it was a honeymoon trip! See, we're just at the first few minutes of our staycation, and we were already getting the impression that we'll be getting excellent service for the next 2 days!!!

 

DAY 1: Lou and I dozed off easily, almost skipping their 2pm cut-off for lunch! So when I woke up, I immediately ordered from their menu, and asked if they could serve our orders in our room since we just woke up and are still tired from the trip. And they did! They served our yummy greek salad and pork tenderloin in our room, still in fine dining setup!

At this point -- after spending a whopping P900 just for that first meal, Lou and I started planning our meals for the whole honeymoon (where to dine in Tagbilaran, when to eat just inside the resort, etc) ...and we came up with a unanimous decision. Screw that meal planning. It's a honeymoon, it's not a time to go out from a staycation just to find cheap food! We will eat what we desire, no matter how much it costs. HAHA!

So, after another nap (haha!) we made reservations at their restaurant, Old Heidelberg, for our dinner. It turns out that dinner buffet is another option when there are special occasions like Valentine's day! So we booked for that and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around, exploring amenities, and watching the sunset!

When we got back to the the patio, we were surprised to see dinner tables setup romantically. Oo nga naman, it's Valentine's day! haha! And we didn't realize that until we found ourselves a bit under dressed for the occasion. Dolled up ladies with their loved ones (and also families, both resort guests and non-guests) were everywhere! ...But who cares!? We were after the fooood! haha!

The buffet was superb! They had just soup, assorted breads, lettuce salad station, about 6 entrees, and 4 types of desserts, but each one was really really really good (and I'm not exaggerating!). It was P1500 per head but it was all worth it! They valued QUALITY over quantity. But hey, when I say they don't have much quantity, that just meant they didn't have a super long table (unlike Manila buffets) for the hundreds of dishes, BUT each dish is bottomless. I think I had 4 plates all in all from appetizers to desserts! And I think I had a 5th one for my meats and olives just so I can finish the free glass of red wine!

 

Our favorite was the sauteed prawns (you should see our huge plate filled with prawn shells!) and the lobster soup, which had the taste of real lobster and deadly aligue. haha! Meanwhile my red wine (Cabernet Merlot) was paired perfectly with their super tender roast beef, lechon and chicken topped with Mozzarella cheese! All the desserts were so good, especially the apple pie topped with vanilla ice cream!!!

For the rest of the night, a live band serenaded us with good bossa and R&B music. Good music + good food + the loving husband beside me = best valentine's date ever!!! Oh, and our giddiness didn't end there. When we got back to the room, it was already tidied up (gone are the honeymoon petals HUHU) and our bed had 2 packs of peanut kisses...what a literal sweet way to end the night!

DAY 2: It was about 8:30 am when we woke up and realized that we just have a few more hours left to grab the buffet breakfast. So, just when we have recovered from the previous night's food coma (haha!) we found ourselves filling our plates once again with bottomless yummy breakfast delights!

Though sorry for my look below - the "wa goli wa mumog" look,  or the "bilis, kelangan sulitin ang buffet!" look. hahaha! (note: yes at the latter part of our breakfast we opted to have our tea at our room's terrace, because the view of sea is pretty! And, the krinkles below aren't part of the buffet... it's my Valentine's gift for Lou who loves krinkles. We had them actually for our 2nd breakfast, or breakfast after the after-breakfast nap. watda...?!)

It was drizzly and cloudy almost the whole day, so it was a day for just sleeping and eating. But I made sure I had a feel of their infinity pool and jacuzzi, even for just a few minutes! (Thanks to the unli Twinings tea of the resort, they kept us warm time to time. YES. TWININGS. UNLIMITED. ANY FLAVOR!)

At night we decided to skip the dinner buffet (because we there we realized our tummies can't handle 3 buffets consecutively. haha), but we still can't have empty tummies so we ordered Ala Carte instead. Too bad I wasn't able to take a pic of the best meal I had - Grilled Salmon! But at least we used the waiting time to capture Old Heidelberg at night. It's really western, and pretty!

 

I was starting to have a slight separation anxiety, knowing that it's already our last dinner of our honeymoon (aww) when, good thing we still had to get the free 30-minute massage included in the deal! I LOVE THEIR SPA, which had an romantic-roman feel (redundant ata yun!? hahaha!). The massage was so goooood! It was a good finale of our day!

 

DAY 3: There's actually no day 3 as it was also our travel day, and our flight was at 10:10 am! But, we made sure we savored every bit of our stay in the resort - so we woke up early and walked around their gardens. First thing we did was to go back at the front of the spa just to have this pic taken. Sorry, been wanting to do this the previous night! haha!

 

HAHAHAHAHA!

Then we went their terrace situated right behind the rooms. I've been wanting to hang out here - it has a forest-y feel as it's surrounded by mahoganies! At night, this area is oddly cooler, waaaay cooler than the front side of the rooms, which is just a few steps away (as in parang Baguio lamig!). I guess those mahoganies magically pull the temperature down, and it's really amazing!

Then it was time for our breakfast... our very last meal in the resort! =(  Couldn't let sadness eat me though, so I gobbled my favorite cold cuts, cream cheese and unli yogurt! haha!

I will really miss the breakfasts here because -- apart from having Lou who enjoys toasting bread for me (HAHA!) -- the selection is really really good. It's not so much, but again, there's so much quality in every spread, bread, cereal topping they're offering. And aside from that, there's actually an order-all-you-can freshly cooked entrees on the menu which are fully customizable. Like for example, my 1st breakfast's main dish was chicken nuggets, bacon and sunny side up. My 2nd was bacon, hash browns, grilled tomato and chickpeas! gaaah! I wish I can have this kind of breakfast everyday!

That's it!!! We were so happy that we experienced a 3-day luxury boutique living for our honeymoon. The Peacock Garden offered everything we wanted in a honeymoon - no itineraries, just pure romance, relaxation and really good dining experience!

The only sad part was that the honeymoon I've been looking forward to, came to an end. But that's okay, Lou promised me that he'll make each valentine's day an annual honeymoon, and each one will be BETTER than the last. (With all the luxury we had in The Peacock Garden, I actually have no idea how he'll be able to do that next year! hahaha!)

Click here for The Peacock Garden's website!