Downtown Banaue is just roughly around 15 minutes away from the Banaue Welcome Arch. For some reasons, the welcome arch does give off a sense of welcome, making travelers want to push in further into the mountain town. Travelers would then usually target the Banaue Rice Terraces next as it is the convenient next stop, as we attempted to do.

It was a little past 10:00 AM when we left the Banaue Welcome Arch. From there, we went on our way to the Banaue Rice Terraces. We saw the terraces from downtown Banaue, but for some reasons, we cannot find the view deck. We have been going in circles through the narrow streets of the town center, taking multiple U-turns just trying to find the deck. The online map was not so much of a help either, telling us that we were already at the site despite being apparently not yet.

The search for the deck had to stop at some point, and instead of looking for it, we went on to look for a place to eat instead. It was almost 11:00 AM already anyway, and we were yet to travel quite a distance more before we finally get to our Ifugao accommodation. Thankfully, we would no longer need to visit the view deck as the place where to eat that we found provided us exactly that.

The restaurant that we found where we would have our early lunch was 7th Heaven’s Cafe located just at the outskirts of downtown Banaue. It is a cafe and restaurant that was thematically designed to feature the Ifugao culture and tradition. We turned out satisfied despite us being unable to find the view deck of the Banaue Rice Terraces, as one feature of the restaurant was an al fresco balcony that overlooks the terraces—something at par, if not better, that being on the elusive view deck.

Banaue Rice Terraces from the balcony of 7th Heaven’s Cafe.

The view of the terraces from the restaurant, and from anywhere else for that matter, is not unobstructed. In fact, that is exactly the reason why that despite its popularity, Banaue Rice Terraces is not included among the Cordillera terraces that have been bestowed with the World Heritage Site designation. The presence of modern structures such as houses and commercial establishments within the immediate vicinity of the terraces was cited as the major reason for its exclusion. It was such a pity, but in no way is the ancient ingenuity that inspired the construction of the world wonder diminished by the more recent constructions.

They can still be seen anyway. Just look beyond the buildings and the electric posts and wires.

Our drinks of various fruit juices were then brought to us in the balcony. We had refreshing glasses of dalandan, mango and avocado to soothe us while sightseeing.

It did not take long until our orders were ready. We asked the accommodating servers to have the food served inside so we may also enjoy the homey ambience that the place has to offer. Since we have already eaten when we were in the provincial capitol, our meal was intended to be a light one, but it turned out to be a complete meal in itself anyway.

The freshness of the ingredients and the technique by which they were prepared and cooked made the meal so memorably sumptuous for us that we would turn out to be talking about it even after we have left the restaurant. We also bought some food items in their counter shelf for our pasalubong. 7th Heaven Cafe did not only provide us with the perfect view deck that we tried to search for but failed. It provided us with a foretaste of the Ifugao ingenuity with food, reminding us of the basic principle that even the simplest of ingredients can become the heroes of local cuisine.

Filled and satisfied, we carried on the last stretch of our road journey. It would be the last stretch, but it would definitely not be the least of all. The real adventure had been saved for last.