Lemon and Olives Baguio: My Mouthwatering Mediterranean Journey

Although it’s difficult to travel nowadays, it’s nice to feel like you’re out of your hometown for a while. Dipping your toes in the white sand, or enjoying the fresh air of the Greek island, and that’s exactly how it feels to walk into Lemon and Olives Baguio. Just imagine yourself going through a boardwalk and then you enter the terrace where it overlooks Baguio right from the terrace. It’s like you’re in two different places at once!

Lemon and Olives Baguio

The restaurant is very spacious and has an open concept which gives it a welcoming vibe, with the servers greeting you right when you walk in. The aura of the indoor dine-in feels like you’re in a Mamma Mia movie, with the white wooden walls, wooden tables, and chairs far apart from one another, lights circling around the rustic wooden ledges, and vases carried by woven tassels hanging from the ceiling. Although we did not sit indoors, we got the best seats on the terrace which has a breathtaking view of the mountains and pine trees.

It’s a good thing we came in for an early lunch because many customers began arriving by the time we ordered our food. The music was something that caught my attention right when we sat down. They played modern music that had a classical twist to it, which made our stay very relaxing and calm. Also, the fact that we had an hourglass bottle of water, table napkins, and a case of utensils on the side came in handy so that we wouldn’t have to keep asking the servers for extra napkins and such. This is something you can’t really find in other restaurants, maybe because they’re trying to “tipid”, especially when it comes to the table napkins.

Lemon and Olives Greek Taverna

Anyways, let’s get on to the best part, the food! First of all, some of their dishes on the menu had an option for the amount of food to serve either for a solo person or to share, both had separate pricing. Also, with the number of dishes we ordered, it did not feel like we waited long for it to get to us.

L&O Appetizers

As starters, we got the zucchini chips as well as the grilled octopus which to my surprise, was made perfectly since it’s usually hard to grill due to the tough connective tissues that would need to dissolve into gelatin in order to make it chewy. It was indeed very chewy but not to the point where it was hard to swallow afterward. The zucchini chips on the other hand were very crunchy. And the fact that it’s baked, made it a unique healthier alternative.

The next appetizer we had was the Greek Salad which is something that I’ve been meaning to try whenever I hear about it and thank goodness I finally did at this place because it was hands down the best salad I have ever had! It consisted of fresh, crunchy vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, cucumbers, kalamata olives as well as feta cheese sprinkled on top. The salad came with olive oil and balsamic vinegar separately, so we drizzled it in and mixed it. I tried to get each vegetable onto my fork to get a taste of everything and it tasted so good that I wondered why all this time, I’ve been missing out on this very well-known dish in particular.

Souvlaki Plate

One of the main dishes that we got is a popular Greek street food called Souvlaki Plate. It’s a sliced-up pita bread with a mix of lamb, chicken, and beef bits on top. It came with fries on the side as well as onions and tomatoes on the plate. The pita bread itself was chewy and kind of crunchy at the same time. The crunchiness, however, died down after a while because of the cold weather I’m guessing, the pita bread was meant to keep warm. The beef was very chewy, to the point that it would not be bitten apart, no matter how hard I tried, so I had to swallow each one as a whole.

But the rest of the bits on top were delicious. The sauces that came with it were garlic, chili, and tzatziki dip. I thought the chili sauce was tomato paste so when I tried it confidently, it started getting hot in my mouth. It wasn’t that bad though because the spiciness died down after a while. It went pretty well with the dish, after all. The garlic sauce on the other hand was very intense, almost tastes like you’re eating actual garlic, which is a taste I guess I have to get used to. Lastly, the tzatziki dip was the perfect sauce for the dish. It was refreshing and gave it much more taste. This dip in particular complimented the other dish we had such as the zucchini chips.

Mediterranean Pasta

Finally, the last meal that we had was the Mediterranean pasta which was also one of my favorites from this place. It’s olive oil-based and is mixed with garlic, basil, a bunch of black olives, prawns, squid, parmesan cheese as well as garlic bread on the side. Having pasta with just oil along with the simple sauce in it, you would think it wouldn’t taste like anything but this one, in particular, was unexpectedly flavorful! The natural and simple ingredients make you realize that you really don’t need to put many ingredients in your food to make it taste out of this world and that goes for any type of dish out there.

I had a great time at Lemon and Olives Baguio overall. Although it seemed they may have been understaffed at the time, the service was great! Our food came in on time and the servers were very welcoming and friendly. Talks with my friends were very enjoyable while overlooking our spectacular view of the mountains on the terrace. Our experience here is something I will never forget and will forever keep close in my heart. This is certainly the perfect place to get a taste of Greece.

Lemon and Olives Greek Taverna

Lemon and Olives is located at #26 Outlook Drive, Baguio City.

Contact Number: 0917 890 6573

Operating Hours:

• Monday to Thursday
  • 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM
  • Last call is at 7:00 PM
• Friday to Sunday
  • 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM
  • Last call is at 8:00 PM