Green Thumb Al Fresco
Green Thumb Farm, Purok 4, Sambog, Corella, Bohol
Contact: 0917-543-9700
Facebook: www.facebook.com/greenthumbfarmbohol
Open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Monday to Sunday)
(SPOT.ph) Bohol is a place where hidden gastronomic delights are longing to be noticed. There’s a good reason for that—local favorites differ from family to family, with each generation passing on secret formulas to the next, so there’s little demand for restaurants.
But that’s starting to change. Capitalizing on their rich natural resources and passion for healthy living, some family businesses have managed to survive and even thrive in the pandemic. One of them is the Green Thumb Al Fresco restaurant and mushroom farm, owned by Rona Denque and her family, which serves among the best farm-to-table cuisine in Bohol.
We took a tour through Green Thumb Al Fresco to try their mushroom-based eats and learn more about their journey getting to where they are today. Here’s the story of the farm, as well as our recommendations.
Also read: Asin Tibuok, Siakoy + More: Must-Try Bohol Eats and Where to Get Them
When in Bohol, drop by Green Thumb Al Fresco for one-of-a-kind mushroom dishes and stunning garden views:
A spacious and luscious green garden awaits you as you enter the vicinity. Butterflies flutter above colorful and fragrant native flowers, and a stone path leads you to the restaurant area. You will pass by the huts where mushrooms are stored, cultivated, and grown.
The restaurant itself is entirely al fresco, with a high ceiling and no walls. The evenly-spaced tables are completely surrounded by fresh air and the tranquil sounds of nature. Real plants decorate the venue. Similar sights await you in the other dining areas outside the main one. Such areas dot the expanse of the farm, so that each group is afforded ample solitude and a completely relaxing ambience. Here, the tables are low and customers sit on mats and large pillows. There are also tables under roofed pavilions which ensure a sheltered, yet just as rejuvenating dining experience on rainy days.
Indeed, it’s easy to forget about work and other problems when you’re at Green Thumb Alfresco. You’d begin to wonder if there is any other way of living life. Certainly, that was the case in my short time there. I was able to relax and have a few moments of self-reflection. I began thinking, “Did it all go wrong when we decided to stray from nature?”
Green Thumb Al Fresco’s philosophy as a business seems to be just that—a way of reconnecting people to their true selves, to nature, and to nature itself. Their binding material? Food. Mushrooms, to be specific.
Later, we learned that it was not an easy journey from farm to al fresco restaurant. The owner, Rona Denque, under whose “green thumb” the idea for it flourished, explains her story in our interview with her—and it's a story as inspiring and resilient as nature itself.
Plants and Passion: The Denque Family’s Business Story
Mushrooms have a special place in Denque’s heart.
Her passion came from a place of pain. Her mother died of breast cancer, and her father died of colon cancer. “So my thinking was nandito na 'yong cancer cells sa genes ko,” she said. An acquaintance introduced her to the health benefits of mushrooms, and she was able to put two and two together.
Even before her parents died, Rona was known in the family for her “green thumb.” Whatever she planted blossomed and thrived. She seemed to have a sixth sense when it comes to nature. But when she delved into mushroom cultivation, the process wasn’t as neat as expected. “I started to study,” she says. “I started with YouTube lang pero I failed until nakapag-hands on training din ako.” Eventually, she got into the hang of growing different kinds of mushrooms—particularly oyster mushrooms, which she later incorporated into different bestselling dishes. But getting there was no walk in the park.
“On the first years, losses talaga siya. Kasi pag sinasabing ‘mushroom’ mahirap siya i-market dito sa Bohol,” she recalls. During those years, they had no choice but to feed their abundant supply of mushrooms to the chickens. Eventually, they found their target market in hotel chains within Bohol and in nearby Cebu, becoming a top supplier in those areas.
Then the pandemic struck. Plantitos and Plantitas flocked the farm, looking for mushroom-growing kits and other agricultural products, as well as somewhere to eat. That was when Rona Denque got the idea of setting up an al fresco restaurant, the safest option given the pandemic situation and the most suitable one given the theme and philosophy of the business. Rona and her husband then came up with the idea of a mushroom-based menu where no part of the mushroom is wasted, where mushrooms can be incorporated into every course of the meal. “From the soup to the main course to the salad to the dessert,” she emphasized.
True enough, Green Thumb Alfresco’s bestsellers are Mushroom Bulaklak (P210), Mushroom Sisig (P205), and Mushroom Dinakdakan (P255). Other must-tries on their menu are the Mushroom Carbonara (P250), Quinn's Mushroom Tocino Pizza (P295), Mushroom Siomai (P95), and burgers like the Mushroom Queen Burger (P260). Aside from their mushroom-based meals, they offer refreshments and desserts such as Bluepea Pineapple Lemon Juice (P95), Coconut Sprout Watermelon Smoothie (P155), and their standout Ube Smoothie (P170), made with native Corella ube.
Filled Plates and Fertile Hearts
The farm-to-table restaurant is Denque’s way of giving back to her community.
If you might remember, Typhoon Odette struck the Visayas region in December 2021. Destruction tore through Green Thumb Alfresco, cutting off their electricity supply and uprooting almost everything in the storm’s path. It took months for the Denque family and their staff to clean everything up, fix the place, and get it ready for new customers, who began to come in droves as the pandemic situation eased. When we visited the restaurant in May 2022, it was as tranquil and as peaceful as if it had never been touched. The staff were as proud of the place as the Denques, and served us amicably, with utmost professionalism.
“Ito ang naging daan to educate people na hindi alam ang health benefits ng mushroom,” Denque tells us. But she stressed that this passion project was also their way of uplifting other people. “When Odette hit us, naging inspiration namin workers namin, people who are dependent on us,” she explains. “We have mute and deaf employees, [as well as] people from the community.”
To make a long story short, Green Thumb Al Fresco was a labor of love, a product of community. A story of resilience, as well as a memorable dining journey. Its existence is proof that one can make the most out of the ground underneath them.
Photos by Miguel Mabanta, Carmel Ilustrisimo, and the Green Thumb Farm Facebook page.
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