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Who says you have to make the 8-hour journey to Baguio to experience authentic Cordillera hot chocolate? If you’re craving for Filipino hot chocolate, all you need to do is head over to this cozy little restaurant called Choco-late de Batirol in Serendra, Fort Bonifacio. There, you can satisfy your chocolate fix by ordering a cup of their hot chocolate prepared the good old fashioned Pinoy way.

Choco-late de Batirol is probably the first restaurant to make hot chocolate using a brass pot and a batirol, a traditional wooden spoon used to crush cacao beans. (Hence the name of the restaurant.) Preparing the chocolate this way gives the drink a more thick and complex flavor that’s uniquely Filipino. The steaming hot chocolate is served in tiny clay mugs, just like the way natives of the Cordillera and North Luzon do. And if you want a drink that will cool you down instead, you can opt to have your chocolate served to you in iced form.

Besides the delicious hot chocolate, what I love about Choco-late de Batirol is that they really go out of their way to preserve the culture of the peoples in the Mountain Province and make it known to us city dwellers. You can feel that old world charm in the interior of the place and the flavors of the food.

Choco-late de Batirol is located in the ground floor of Serendra, Fort Bonifacio.