Cafe Juanita, Manila

A few weeks before my trip I tweeted The Walking Man of Manila for at least one recommendation for some great Filipino food in the Philippines.

He shot back 6!

Unfortunately I got to visit only one of those restaurants: Cafe Juanita in Pasig City. Attempting to visit 6 restaurants within 3 days of visiting a busy metropolis of wonder and awe is futile I tell you, FUTILE!

I knew there was one particular item I wanted to order: Their Two-Way Pork Adobo Ribs. The rest of our requests were shots in the dark, like the Crispy Pork Binagoongan, which to be honest with you is more like a shot in the heart! Ba dump ching!

As we waited we got to appreciate the ambience. Each lamp and chandelier was styled and adorned in a different way. The customers seemed to be just as diverse: European, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Filipinos were sitting within earshot of each other speaking in different ways but enjoying the same Filipino fare.

In our booth we had in our company a statue of an angel surrounded by blue cups and vases. The booth itself slightly walled on three sides by transparent tapestry. We felt like kings, especially when the wait staff knew the dishes as if they themselves had made them once before.

It was like the twilight zone. We were eating in a restaurant sitting right on the border of Spain, China, the Middle East, and the Philippines. In one corner would be Spanish dolls and in another, items made out of capiz and wooden statues of carabao, draped with what reminded me of malongs (Filipino sarong) from Muslim Mindanao, and finally alongside steps leading to the unknown, Asian-looking rice hat lanterns.

And then our Two-Way Pork Adobo ribs arrived: pork ribs topped with shredded crispy pork flakes. I was waiting for this moment since that first tweet back in December. Unfortunately, I over hyped it for myself. DOH!

I felt the sauce was average in terms of flavor. But the ribs were nice and tender. I can see what they wanted to do with the crispy flakes and the saucy adobo ribs… it would have been an awesome combination of textures if the flavors were more potent. Either that or I just had too much of my uncle’s sweet and vinegary adobo back in the province.

Just a quick side note, this is the 2nd dish where I noticed a restaurant making a new dish (at least new to me) combining two textures, crispy and creamy, using Filipino condiments and ingredients. The 1st dish I had was “Crispy Dinuguan” from Kanin Club in Makati, which was crispy liempo (pork belly) drenched in dinuguan (pork blood stew). And finally here with the “Two-Way Pork Adobo”, a combination of crisp pork flakes on top of saucy pork adobo ribs. Im loving all this pairing with hard and soft textures using Filipino ingredients. Its Filipino on Filipino fusion!

Crispy Pork Binagoongan. Pork belly topped with bagoong (fermented shrimp). This was my favorite. Then again I had just discovered bagoong a few years ago so anything with this Ilocano condiment slash Filipino ambrosia of mga Gods is gonna get me. The pork had a crisp surface crust of skin that didn’t stick to my teeth and a moist, edible chunk of meat with slivers of savory fat. Topped with my favorite condiment on earth.

And finally, Kare-Kare. Ox tail and tripe cooked in peanut sauce and toasted rice with tropical vegetables. I also found this to be a bit average but that’s just me. I grew up with my aunt’s Kare-Kare who mixes the bagoong with the peanut sauce. That coupled with fall-off-the-bone ox tail over rice is a wonderful slap to the face. Whether hers is the best because I grew up on it or because it really is that good is up for debate.

I really regret not trying the other items. Everything looked so good. Next time i’ll try the “Special Dinuguan” or pork blood stew topped with strips of green mango and chicharon shavings, “Pasta Filipina” or Angel hair pasta with taba ng talangka sauce or crab fat, and last but not least…

“Pinoy Ratatoy”, a play off ratatouille, a vegetable dish from France. Juanita’s “Ratatoy” however not only has tomatoes, eggplant, & herbs, it also has flakes of “tuyo / buwad” (dried fish) that I heard gives it a very nice, subtle, salty kick.

By the end of the night I got a good share of food for thought too.

I was able to better appreciate the different cultures and countries that have contributed to Filipino cuisine during the last 500 years and more importantly appreciate the desire for Filipinos to experiment and evolve the cuisine, playing with dishes that are novel yet so “authentically” pinoy.

If there is one thing that is consistent about Filipino food its this: if its good, it will be used. Whether it is peanuts and fermented shrimp to a play on a French name and dried fish… in the end you have something very creative, very good, and very pinoy.

Mga links:

• Cafe Juanita on Facebook
• The late, and great, Carlos Celdran’s Twitter