Where's Bacchus?

A portion of a wall and the ceiling of the formal dining room of Café Ysabel. It is also the room used for large group reservations. There is another, more casual dining area which, unfortunately, I wasn't able to take a photo of.

A touch of romance

Chef Gene Gonzalez's Café Ysabel in the City of San Juan has a romantic ambiance and serves great food—perfect for a dinner date today.

Wishing you all a love-filled day.

Happy Valentine!

Easy to miss

From the road, the ancestral house of the Legarda family looks like any of the few 1930s houses in Manila that survived World War II—though better maintained than most—and belies the wealth of history that lies within. The garden in front is planted with many herbs which are used to season the dishes served in the restaurant.




Only this small wooden sign on the privacy wall announces that the house is the proud location of La Cocina de Tita Moning. • LEGARDA ANCESTRAL HOUSE #9

Old world elegance

As I mentioned at the start of this series about the ancestral home of the Legarda family, the house is now also a fine dining restaurant called La Cocina de Tita Moning. Appetizers are served in the sala (living room) while you wait for your table in the dining room to be prepared. All the china, glassware and silverware on each table were actually used by the family and their guests across three generations, and the beautiful table settings are complemented by elegant Italian glass birds of different shapes and sizes. The menu of the restaurant are from recipes which date back to the time of Alejandro and Ramona—European and Filipino family favorites and special occasion dishes served to their distinguished guests. La Cocina de Tita Moning is operated by the long-time servants of the Legarda family, and the small scroll on the table introduces each of them and tells their stories. • LEGARDA ANCESTRAL HOUSE #8

Pride of place

The interiors of the Legarda ancestral house is a perfect example of American colonial era home design in Manila. I will not be the only Manileño to say that it reminds me of my own grandmother's house. What I find absolutely amazing is how everything—from the furniture to the bric-a-brac—is wonderfully preserved. It is to the Legarda family's credit that the younger generations resisted the urge to modernize the home (well, except for the air-conditioner, that is).




The living room has two sets of seating. The one above flanked by family photographs, and another directly across, above which hangs the centerpiece of the room: a painting by Filipino artist Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo (21 February 1855–13 March 1913), a contemporary and close friend of Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal. Titled "La Inocencia," it is still in its original Art Noveau frame and is believed to be a painting of Hidalgo's mistress in France. • LEGARDA ANCESTRAL HOUSE #2

Ancestral home

Welcome to the home of Alejandro Legarda and his wife Ramona Hernandez, now a museum and fine dining restaurant called La Cocina de Tita Moning (The Kitchen of Aunt Ramona). Built in 1937, it was one of Manila's first art deco houses. It is located along San Rafael Street in the San Miguel district of Manila which, before the war, used to be one of the city's most elegant neighborhoods and home to many of Manila's most elite families. Malacañang Palace, the official residence of the President of the Philippines, is also in the San Miguel district. In the next few days, we will be touring this elegant house where Alejandro and Ramona raised four children and which was used by three generations of the Legarda clan. • LEGARDA ANCESTRAL HOUSE #1

D.I.Y. burgers

Another new little eatery in our neighborhood is The Burger Project. Choose your bun (whole wheat, potato, sesame seed), patty (tofu, chicken, beef), cheese, toppings and sauces. Quite innovative since most burger places here, franchise or independent, let you choose only the toppings and sauces at the most. The tofu burger was a disappointment, however; I'll try the chicken burger next time.

The art of eating

During the past three years, our neighborhood has become quite a popular location for small, independent restaurants and bars. Aside from Trellis, which has been around since the 80s, there's Pino, Tomato Kick, Friuli and Kiss the Cook, and many others that I have not yet featured here—all within walking distance or a tricycle ride away from our house. Makes for very happy taste buds but I'm beginning to despair of my waistline. Leona Art Restaurant used to be located in a different part of Quezon City but recently moved in too. Both their grilled and fried pizzas are good and we're looking forward to trying other items on their menu. I should ask the owners why they call it an "art restaurant" but I won't be surprised if it has to do with all the eclectic, quirky and lovely decorations they have in the place.

Of glass and light

Inside the Quezon City branch of Alba Restaurante Español. I just love the wine bottle holder that they built into the wall separating the foyer from the main dining room.

Bienvenidos!

Alba Restaurante Español probably has the best-value weekend lunch and dinner buffets in Metro Manila. The buffet always has paella and includes their most popular meat dishes—Cochinillo Asado (oven-roasted suckling pig), Lengua Sevillana (stewed ox tongue with mushrooms and olives in sherry gravy sauce) and Callos a la Madrileña (stewed ox tripe in tomato sauce), among others. They also offer several desserts, including their yummy Canonigo (soft meringue cake with vanilla custard sauce). All for only a third of what hotel restaurant buffets cost nowadays.

One of the best smells in the world

Sofitel Manila's Galette Patisserie & Chocolaterie does not only have delectable pastries, it also has a wide variety of freshly-baked breads.

Red ball cake

Edam cheese is known here as queso de bola (cheese ball) because of its shape. By tradition, it is usually widely available only during Christmas time, but please don't ask me why. The generations of my parents and grandparents love this hard cheese but many of my age and younger, not so much. However, some local bakers have started playing around with it and a few of their confections have become favorites of Manileños across all generations. A new discovery is Queso de Bola Cheesecake, which we first tasted at Kiss the Cook Gourmet café. It is absolutely delicious! Kiss the Cook doesn't make it though; they source it from a supplier and, lucky me, I've discovered where the home baker sells them during weekends. Hello, additional five pounds!

A roc's wingspan

Persia Grill is one of many restaurants on the Sky Garden of SM City North EDSA mall. I must say that my husband and I weren't impressed with the food we ordered, but I do like their sign and lanterns. If someone can tell me what this creature is supposed to be, I'd really appreciate it.

Omnomnom

Of course, I cannot write about Buddy's restaurant without showing you the food that Lucban is best known for: pancit habhab and Lucban longganisa (which, in the unique and highly recognizable Tagalog dialect of Lucban, is pronounced langgonisa). Two things distinguish Lucban's sausage from those of other provinces: its heavy use of garlic and the fact that the pork is not ground as finely. In fact, it is almost a disappointment if a piece does not have chunks of fat. The best way to cook it is to fry it in its own fat until it is tostado (toasted). Crunchy Lucban longganisa is one of my comfort foods and always brings me back to childhood summers spent in Lucban. I'm half Lucbanin, though I've lost my accent—and the use of peculiarly Lucbanin words—ages ago. And just a special note to Francisca: I had my first sip of lambanog on my 8th birthday!

Leaves of rice

The Pahiyas Festival celebrated in Lucban and in other towns in the Philippines is a harvest festival. It is always held on May 15, the feast day of San Isidro Labrador (St. Isidore the Laborer or Farmer). The highlight of the festival is a procession of revered religious icons followed by the town's prettiest girls in fancy gowns, which begins and ends in the parish church. The houses along the roads where the procession goes through—the route is changed every year—are decorated just for the festival and this is what pahiyas (ornaments) refers to. The decorations are composed of the fruits of the harvest and Lucban has a special kind of ornament made of rice, called kiping, which is why the festival attracts thousands of tourists every year. Grains of rice are pounded to a flour and mixed with water and food coloring to form a paste, which is then brushed over leaves and left to dry. The result is thin, translucent, jewel-toned leaves which are used to cover the houses' facades or strung into elaborate designs, like this almost two-story high chandelier which graces the entrance of Buddy's restaurant in Quezon City.




Smaller kiping lanterns are hung all around the restaurant's interiors, and the flower pattern at the building's facade is echoed by the beautiful light fixtures on the ceiling.




A photo collage about Lucban—the higantes, the procession led by the statue of San Isidro, Mount Banahaw, the parish church, and a house richly and colorfully decorated with pahiyas—curves along the wall of the staircase which leads to the second floor.

Fiesta!

During the opening of the Timog Avenue branch of Buddy's restaurant (see yesterday's post), the owners recreated some parts of the Pahiyas Festival. It was a fun treat seeing higantes (giants)…




and a brass band. Of course, both attracted quite a lot of attention from passersby, including a vendor hoping to sell some balloons to guests with little children.

Slurp

The town of Lucban in Quezon Province is most famous for its Pahiyas Festival, which I Heart Manila featured extensively last month. Almost as famous is the town's longganisa (sausage) and pancit (noodles). Buddy's is the only restaurant that I know of in Metro Manila that specializes in Lucban cuisine and it just opened a new branch along Timog Avenue in Quezon City. The flower design over its entrance is typical of the festival's decorations. Lucban pancit is regular street fare and usually served on a piece of banana leaf—no plate, no fork—and one is supposed to eat it straight from the hand. Because of that, and the sucking sound that people tend to make while eating it, it is also known as pancit habhab. Of course, customers don't have to do that in Buddy's though I won't be surprised if they have banana leaves in stock just for those who want the experience.

Everything has a price

ZeKaf opened in the basement of the new dormitories of the Ateneo de Manila University late last year. With flowers on the tables, warm light, earth colors and a photo mural in sepia tones, it looks pretty good for a school cafeteria. I'd call it a café rather than a cafeteria if it weren't for the fact that their food counter still looks like those found in any school cafeteria anywhere in the world. The food's good too but, compared to the other cafeterias on campus, their prices are higher and the serving sizes are smaller. I guess ambiance doesn't come cheap.

Fast and cheap

Greenhills Shopping Center has a restaurant row at the Promenade. Behind one of the buildings which leads to the supermarket, it also has a row of food stalls along the sidewalk. Needless to say, the food and drinks here are much, much less expensive than those at the Promenade.

Still life with fountain

Simple lines, warm colors and fabulous textures at the foyer of Kimpura Japanese restaurant.

Natural or man-made, take a refreshing dip in Watery Wednesday.