Design your own fun day at Vieux Chalet

Now you've had an "appetizer" for the unique dining experience you can have at Vieux Chalet. That's just a nibble of what you may enjoy at Vieux Chalet. Anytime you feel like it's time to create a day to remember, come to Vieux Chalet.

One thing nice about us is we don't tell you what to do. we can make suggestions but it's you who ultimately design your fun time with us. Our place is spacious enough for many kinds of gatherings. To name a few:

Children's parties: People have come to us wanting to stage very special children's parties. Just give us your budget and we'll work within it, creating a menu of kids' delights. (Believe it or not, they don't want fancy stuff. No matter how really special we want the menu to be, all kids want is spaghetti and fried chicken!) We can have balloons, games, pabitin and hatawan ng palayok, the works. You may bring your own clowns, or if that's way beyond your budget (clowns these days charge as much as DIs--Dance Instructors), we can cajole our Master Chef, my daughter Florence, into playing the part. Flo loves to give kids a good time. We can accommodate about 50-70 guests including mommies, daddies and yayas.

Wellness sessions: Groups of women friends have come around to have a quiet day or two pampering themselves in the sauna, having a bit of exercise in the pool, meditating, doing yoga or tai chi in the spacious loft, or just for plain old girl talk. We can call in our suki beautician for you, too, for manicure and pedicure, foot spa, hair trim, facial, etc. And if you feel like it, you can also have a body massage of your choice--shiatsu, Swedish, reflexology --especially if you're spending the weekend here. Of course, to complete this rejuvenating experience, we have designed a special menu to help you make the most of your health break.

Intimate wedding receptions: We've had one wedding held here--from the ceremony to the reception--but we have hosted many more receptions for couples wanting to have just a small group of family and friends. We love to stage these intimate affairs; couples-to-be first come here to inquire, usually about the cost, the food, etc. Then they choose the menu, discuss the decor, consult about the music and even the entertainment, and before our meeting is over we end up planning their wedding reception as though it were our own!

Seminars, meetings and similar gatherings: We can comfortably accommodate up to 30 participants--just the right number for your department perhaps--in the two-storey 'family room' we have beside the pool. Because You'll have to bring your own paraphernalia, though--projectors, flip charts, etc.; we do not bother to have such equipment around as we have no intention of becoming the conference capital (!) of Antipolo. Our advantage is we're so "away from it all" that the quiet becomes conducive to productive work. Our working day menu should energize you for such special activities.

Recollections and retreats: Now and then, people would ask to have a few days of silence at Vieux Chalet, thus we started to open our doors to recollections and retreats. These would be more fruitful with a smaller group--say, a maximum of 12, although we've also had individual retreatants who prefer solitude in our St. Moritz cottage. Such spiritual pursuits do not really pose great challenge to our restaurant since retreatants usually fast or abstain at such times, but we welcome them wholeheartedly because in our quiet surroundings we are able to "feed" their souls instead.

Family reunions: We seem to be a favorite for simple family reunions. Maybe it's because we offer primarily good food, privacy and a little swimming pool, their reunions do not become complicated events for them. Since our place is not that big, it's easier to keep an eye on the kids, and because we have enough space, people don't get on each other's nerves. While the kids are splashing about in the pool, the teens update one another in the loft; the young adults tinker with the piano in the main dining hall, and the 30-somethings play scrabble or mahjongg down at the family cottage. Sometimes they would bring along their karaoke kit and sing to their hearts' content while posing for photographs. Fun, fun, fun!