This Garden Café in Davao Is Home to Tranquil Views + Hearty Plates

Verdeli 
Purok 3-B Barangay Malagos, Baguio District, Davao City
Contact: (082) 221-4254
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Verdeli.dvo
Open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Tuesday to Friday), 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Saturday and Sunday)

(SPOT.ph) There's something to be said about how folks everywhere find themselves longing to reconnect with nature time and time again. Add great food to the mix—as they do at Verdeli in Davao City—and you've got yourself one leisurely spot where you can rekindle your inner human, at least for the duration of a meal.

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Take a look at Verdeli in Davao City:

You'll find Verdeli near the Task Force Davao Checkpoint in Barangay Malagos, rather hidden from the more urban parts of the city. Past its main sign, you'll immediately see their spacious garden—where sunlit trees, grasslands, a kubo-like central dome, and the fresh breeze of Barangay Calinan all congregate. We'd spend the rest of our days here, if we could.

The restaurant-café is helmed by siblings Sarah Claudio, Paolo Claudio, and Vanessa Claudio-Pascua, partly to pay tribute to their mom Nelia Claudio. While Verdeli isn't a literal house, the siblings also consider it to be an extension of sorts of their home. "For us family members, it feels like an extension since all the features and activities in Verdeli can be found in our house," Sarah shares in an exchange with SPOT.ph. "Our house is the place for family gatherings and reunions, [and] we have a big garden and playground, flower and vegetable garden. So it's also inspired by our childhood and all our interests as a family."

You'd especially see—and feel—the sense of hominess in the main dining area, located in two-storey unit within the lot. Bordered by translucent windows that let just enough amount of natural light in, and decked with wooden tables and chairs, this space flaunts a rustic look that's charming in its own right—not to mention date-friendly.

Around the dining tables you'll find shelves stocked with all sorts of goods from small local purveyors—jarred seafood, herbal teas, mushroom and kale chips, packaged nuts, and so on—and fresh produce, care of sibling brand Echostore. "Verdeli... is conceptualized as a sister cafe [of Echostore] as it adopts the same sustainability principles of eating healthy, supporting local and loving the environment," Sarah explains. "Verdeli has a function space called the sala and all diners in the cafe and sala are free to enjoy the spacious garden and its activities [with] no entrance fee."

Espouding a farm-to-table philosophy for their menu, Verdeli makes use of ingredients from their own farm garden—itself a project of the Claudio family's Panata Namin Foundation, Inc. "We are utilizing natural farming practices for vegetables and herbs, oyster mushroom, tilapia, and broiler and layer chickens," says Sarah. "We do our own composting too. We also offer pick and pay vegetables and planting activities."

You'll find a number of Echostore signatures here, as well as exclusive dishes. The Warm Mushroom Arugula salad (P215) makes for a warming start to a meal, what with its combo of peppery arugula, sauteed mushrooms (shiitake, during our visit), and a savory-sweet guava balsamic dressing. Dining with friends or the fam? You'll want to order and pass around the Tostones (P175) that pairs twice-fried saba banana with creamy aioli, and/or the Croquettas with a marinara sauce for dipping into.

For the breakfast-for-lunch (slash dinner) crowd, they've got plates like the Homemade Tapa (P225) and French Omelette (P210) available all day long (within their opening hours, anyway). Pasta, anyone? The Truffle Mushroom (P250) is a creamy treat with a generous amount of shiitake slivers to counter the richness of the sauce. And if you're looking for a belly-warmer on colder days, you'll also want to ask them about their Stew of the Day (P245); it was Korean beef stew on our visit, one with tender-AF meat, a deeply savory sauce, and sides of rice and kimchi.

Sarah admits Verdeli is still a work in progress, on its "initial phase." "We are preparing the property to be an agritourism destination and a learning site for sustainable practices."

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