Sonya's Garden

Two weeks after my birthday and the celebration continues..

It has been years since the last time I'd been to Sonya's. It was in the early '00s when my family first heard about this quaint place that serves fantastic salad. I remember liking it so much on our first time there that I was already full even before the main course was served. I also remember meeting Sonya herself, going around and greeting her guests. And how could I forget the spacious bathrooms decorated with shells and lace! None of us were vegetarians yet at the time, but even so, I think we all fell in love with the place.

Nearly a decade later, I re-visited Sonya's with friends to relive my teenage memories about this quirky little place where the veggies we were served were grown in the same place where we ate. I was surprised to discover a Sonya's Garden that has been expanded and renovated that the term "organized chaos" used to describe the place on its website doesn't really seem applicable anymore.

We had our three-hour lunch in the spacious dining area then later on hanged out at this cozy, living room-ish spot.

New additions include this salmon belly in the main course and chocolate cake for dessert. The tea was as fragrant as I remembered it to be. At the beginning of lunch, I had a memory card crisis which was thankfully solved right away as one of us brought along a laptop (with a memory card reader)! It would have been sad if I couldn't take lots of pictures.

Accessories that day include my gigantic H&M earrings. It has been a while since I've worn chandelier earrings, and my ears were tired from having these hang there the whole day! Denim tote from Marc by Marc Jacobs. This was originally a gift for my mom (from me using a gift card from Queen J) who loves denim, but it's been sitting in her closet unused for almost a year now, which I think is such a waste! Neon pink Island Girl nail polish and Sam Edelman bling-bling sandals.

Girl in the mirror. The dining area was surrounded with mirrors so I took a few self-portraits. The Beatles tank top was a birthday gift from Pin. She bought it from her friend, Eds, who recently opened her online shop CHIC Essentials.

It was unbearably hot during lunch, I almost regret not wearing my reliable denim shorts. But I was really inspired by the resort wear of Japanese tourists in Guam so I took out my very old Rampage long boho skirt and wore that instead. Mom was rather pleased with this chill outfit, she's not very supportive of us wearing high heels and grown-up outfits.