Kanin Club

I had dinner with my cousins in Kanin Club in Ayala Triangle Gardens back when I had my vacation in Manila. It was my first time to enter Kanin Club after I've heard so much about it from my friends. They served ordinary Filipino food fare (some of our choices were aligue rice, kare-kare, binuklod na tilapia and pork chops) but I wanted to bring attention to the new dish that I had that evening.

Crispy Tadyang - crunchy and lightly seasoned beef spare ribs served with three dipping sauces for PHP 179. Tasted like very much dried beef. It really helped that the soy sauce that accompanied it was yummy.

Kanin Club

Ayala Triangle Garden

Makati, Philippines

Cafe Romulo in Tomas Morato

By this time I've figured out that my favourite food is Filipino food, and the top of head response will be kare kare please, if I weren't given a menu to help me chart through my decision properly.

I traveled with my best friends in Tomas Morato, on a busy Friday evening, to get a taste of this new Filipino restaurant that a lot of foodies are raving about.

We called earlier at 6 for a reservation, and they said that they couldn't let us in because the house is full for the evening. Anyway, we took our chances and arrived at around 9:20, but they let us in and had us dine one of their function rooms. The place was PACKED when we arrived, a lot more were starting to stream in.

Romulo Cafe was actually founded by the granddaughter of Carlos P. Romulo. Mr Romulo was the founder of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, and served as President of the UNGA, as well as the chairman of the UNSC. His most significant contribution (in my life, at least) is his riveting piece entitled I am a Filipino. It gave me so much goosebumps as a child that I delivered it for my 6th grade declamation contest - in my white shirt, red bandana, folded jeans, no less. For added heart strings, the speech is posted on the main wall of Romulo Cafe (and I still memorize the first and last parts!)

Cool as Cucumber - fresh lime, fresh cucumber, mint leaves for Php 95

Sunshine Lemonade - fresh lemonade, strawberry syrup for Php 85

Chick Flick - strawberry syrup, white cream de cacao, fresh milk for Php 75

Baked Lemon grass chicken - Chicken marinated with fresh lemon grass stalks for Php 225

Tito Greg's Kare-kare for Php 350

The make or break aspect of kare-kare is the sauce. The most efficient way to get myself to eat veggies is if they are drowned in kare-kare sauce. I tasted the paste of the crushed peanuts on this one. I loved this! It had around 3-4 pieces of beef, the rest was tripe. I lump tripe with fat so I didn't get to eat much. But I was extremely satisfied with the sauce.

Bagoong rice for Php 120

Sisig rice for Php 120

Romulo Cafe

32 Scout Tuason corner Dr. Lazcano
Tomas Morato, Quezon City

Philippines
Tel: 632 332 7275

Cafe Ysabel in San Juan, Greenhills

I've been thinking of about dining in Cafe Ysabel ever since I got the whiff of news that Anthony Bourdain dined there for an episode of No Reservtions. The cafe gets featured in the newspapers, mostly for its evolving menu (every year they replace 50% of the menu items) with pictures of its beautifully styled food and fancy plating. Later, I found out that the cafe is on a 1927 ancestral home and furnished with period pieces. I am a sucker for period design so I finally bit into the sales pitch.

Most of the diners were older (my cousin and I observed that we were the youngest persons in the entire cafe), the food took a while to arrive to our table, and they could have done with brighter lights. Still, Cafe Ysabel did not disappoint. Below are some photos that we took

Grilled white cheese on grape olive and anchovy salad in crisp parmesan frico for Php 278

Halibut Amandine - crusted with finely slvered almonds and leek sauce for Php 448

Prawns Thermidor - stuffed with young mushrooms, vegetables, cheese and baked to perfection for Php 518

Chocolate Souffle

Cafe Ysabel

455 P. Guevarra Street

San Juan, Metro Manila

Philippines

Tel: 632 725 5089

Everybody's Cafe in San Fernando, Pampanga

I've been craving for a road trip to the culinary capital of the Philippines. Thank god one of my best friends agreed to put her life on the line, by spending this lazy Sunday on the passenger seat while I conquered my first long drive out of Manila.

Our first stop was Everybody's Cafe, heralded as the bastion of Kapampangan cuisine. We were welcomed by an English-fluent waiter who explained to us the specialties of the place

Me: Sir, alam mo ba dinayo pa namin ito! (We have travelled far for this)

Waiter: (imagine American twang) I understand Ma'am. That's why we'll have to make the most of it.

Now that's customer service.

Everybody's maintained its turo-turo set up, what you see is what you get style, which allows the diners to be realistic with their expectations. If you'd like to try one of each dish, you may request that they give you smaller servings.

Aside from the food I shall feature below, Everybody's also serves regular Filipino food chicharon bulaklak, kare-kare, sizzling sisig, lumpiang sariwa, pancit luglog and sweet sago and gulaman.

Bulalo soup came for free

Paku salad for Php 75

Kalabaw tapa for Php 150 - I love how they prepared the carabao meat. It seemed that the meat had thinner yet stronger strands. Otherwise it is no different from beef tapa.

Fried frog for Php 140. They also had stuffed frogs available.

Kapampangan sisig for Php 130. Much like regular sisig only it is steamed and it doesn't sizzle. It is only now that I discovered that this version exists.

Beef morcon for Php 150. My favourite! Very tasty. Worth the 45 minute drive =)

Fear factor challenge: Camaru (roasted crickets) for Php 150

The only piece of cricket that I ate. It was pretty much like anything squishy, I just wasn't strong enough to stomach the image of a cricket digesting in my intestines.

On the contrary, my friend loved the cricket dish. Different strokes for different folks!

Everybody's Cafe

Mac Arthur Highway, Del Pilar

San Fernando, Pampanga

Tel: 6345 860 1121

(advice: Google maps' directions are outdated, so when you get to Mac Arthur Highway, it is best to ask tricycle drivers for directions)

Adarna Food and Culture in Kalayaan Avenue Quezon City

It is... interesting.. how Filipino themed restaurants readily take potent symbols of a culture that is past. I guess that is the service that themed places do for us - they imagine a likelihood of its existence, so diners can recreate scenarios in their minds. What results as an almost caricature of how people lived in the 1900s. And these reimaginings give us a semblance of an identity.

Yet, I enjoy these reimaginings. It carries me into a different world, even if only for a few hours, where I am kept from the modern world and slip out of postmodern mindset.

For example, old Manila home structures are unlikely to be able to support a chandelier of heavy metal and brighter lights

Do elder Filipinos really have the affinity for glass fruits?

The Philippine Flag was made in Hong Kong, where most people stay in concrete flats that were usually overshadowed by taller structures, but the depiction on this famous painting show the women sewing in a wooden room (evoking memories of wooden Filipino homes) with the light filtering through the capiz-shelled window. Also, it will feel strange to wear a baro't saya in Hong Kong.

Don't know if it is a genuine depiction of the past, but were people that impractical to have a multi-colored glasses cupboard?

Notice the elegant water and halo halo glasses - old rich Manila would probably have something more shiny and crystalised that this

Fried Vegetable Lumpia - Traditionally served as an afternoon snack, the versatile vegetable roll through time has become an all-occasion Filipino table mainstay. For Php 95.

Tokwa Rebosado - crisp golden brown tofu patties served with a fresh tomato salsa for Php 120. This rendition is new to me, so while I take every opportunity I can to eat beancurd, I shied away from this one after 1 piece.

Adobong Batangas ala Adarna for PHp 240. House specialty - I loved this!

Piassok - exotic Sulu dish of beef chucks slow-cooked in smoked coconut cream and ten spices til tender-buttered, grilled and sliced for Php 335. I liked the sauce preparation and added it onto my rice, but I think our beef was cooked too soon or too long because it felt like rubber.

Toffee pudding for Php 75. I just got it because it had nuts.

Adarna Food and Culture

119 Kalayaan Avenue

Diliman, Quezon City

Philippines

Tel: 632 926 8712

Cafe Juanita in West Kapitolyo, Pasig

Visiting the new Cafe Juanita reinforced my love for bodaciously designed chandeliers and eclectic decor.

It has been a while since I stepped into Cafe Juanita. I remember the old one from No. 2 United St (just right across the new one). It was a bit shabby and dark and dusty in some parts, but props to the creative food creations and combinations. View some choices from their ala carte menu here. That old location had to go because the owner of the house informed them of his further plans of the place, so they set up shop next door.

This new branch is brighter and offers more space, and one moves around with cheery Bahay Kubo rendition on the background.

We arrived at the Cafe on a Sunday, when they served buffet meals (at Php 507 nett). I would have loved to try their ala carte menu and their reinvented menu choices, but who am I to say no to purely made Kare-kare? (Toasted crushed peanuts, oxtail, the works)

There were a lot more on the buffet table: dinuguan, soy chicken, lechon, menudo, adobo and many others that are staple Filipino food. Below are some of the desserts that I got seconds for.

Cassava of sorts?

Saging na saba

Halo halo

Cafe Juanita

19 West Capitol Drive

Barrio Capitolyo

Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines

Tel: 632 632 0357