Cafe Juanita, Barangay West Kapitolyo, Pasig City, 632-0357
photo grabbed from bogchipinoy's blog
Our ancestral house in Taal, Batangas is always filled with rich aroma of barako brew whenever our family visits. Inang makes it a point that tapang batangas, kapeng barako, and fried rice cooked in tapa oil (yummy) are ready to greet us and make us feel that distinct lure of my lola’s house.
The capiz windows, the mismatched photo frames, and embroidered curtains: we can probably publish an architectural book listing how the clutter and the over-decorations, of our beloved lola’s homes, very well defies design rules. But who cares? Those designs in architectural digests are meant for photo shoots or for people who lives in their corner offices. Lola’s home is meant to be lived in, and to create a perfect concoction of rainy day meriendas and fiesta lunches that completes a Filipino’s childhood memory.
My lola died ten years ago, along with all the genuine lola stuff—ancient chandeliers, biskwit cans that doubled as rice storage, and wood stock used for cooking—replaced with my cousin’s videoke machine and cocktail bar, especially requested by her seaman husband. The house, with the same capiz windows and wooden stairs had lost that loving lola charm.
Last Saturday, along with two other food snoops, I had a chance to reminisce those yellow lighted, white table top dinners in grandma’s house at Café Juanita. The entrance was quite small, that we were shocked to see that this café is actually a 15 table or so dining tryst of families and yuppies.
It was hard to believe that the place was packed. Priding ourselves to be good food hunters, our ego was badly hurt that Juanita is quite popular already and it was not such a discovery of a lifetime. I mean we usually have the scoop but not this time, I’d say. Located in a residential cum commercial area of West Kapitolyo, Pasig City, (a few minutes drive from the motel row, now I know you know where it is), it is quite a wonder to think that oldies—and I mean mestiza looking mommies and baston-walking daddies—know where it is.
Of course, we didn’t have a reservation. I was actually thinking that this Juanita goes in the ranks of now defunct Gayuma in Katipunan, thus I never bothered to call them up and ask if I have to reserve. You know, I don’t wanna be OA. But alas, when we got there, juanita’s son (or so I believe, hehe) immediately asked us if we do have reservations. Since we didn’t, we were thrown at the second floor of the resto, which was a less decorated area of the café.
We were quite underdressed, I’d say. The ladies were fully made up and the men had collared shirts on. Notorious for being overdressed, I’d say my red skirt and safari shoes just fit right in. I must have really underestimated the place.
At a glance, the place was, how could I say this? Uber-ly cluttered. Lighted old church-like chandeliers are hanging every two feet; candelabras are scattered all around; old mirrors staring back at you; and any possible house pieces are hanged, scattered, or displayed all around the place. As I say, it easily resembles a pack rat lola’s house whose kids had also used her house a bodega of all the old stuff they want to remove from their newly-renovated minimalist home. Everything has tag prices, some are written by black markers on pieces of not so carefully torn papers. So I presumed, everything around was on sale.
The seats were narra, and we even joked each other that we didn’t expect to be seated on a long table, Last Supper style. Upon sitting, the jologs that we are, candidly examined the white table crocheted linen, played with our heavy utensils, and had individual trip to the comfort room which we all described as “parang bahay,” including the sound of the flush.
A waiter dressed in white, with black bow tie. I thought the uniform was a bit too superficial as Juanita is really just a converted apartment in Kapitolyo. He gave us a menu, which I’d say is quite a selection ranging from Filipino, Medditerranean, to Chinese.
We opted for the kare-kare, which they say is the best seller, the tom yum goong soup, which was featured on Pia Guanio’s Ang Pinaka show, and the Laguna fish a.k.a. tilapia with guacamole, as I am still this trying hard semi-vegan, and two cups of rice, for the two ladies, as apparently, the guy we were with is in this some kind of diet of not eating rice. For a few minutes we argued how many servings of tom yum are we gonna order, or how spicy should it be. As the perfect mediator, the waiter told us that we need not worry as they will let us taste the soup first to determine if they got how spicy we want it.
The tom yum came in first. It was heavenly. It was the perfect mix of sweet, salty, sour, and spicy. Though we only had one order, it was split into two as per our instructions, which we thought was just right for us three since I wasn’t a big fan of shrimp-based food.
The main dishes were prepared in ten minutes or so. It was quite fast for that kind of meals. The kare-kare was really really sumptuous. And in fairness, it had more meat than vegetables, which is different from other restos. The sauce was really thick and in fact, can serve as ulam as it is. The pechay was twisted and the puso ng saging tasted liked meat.
The laguna fish was so-so, but interestingly presented. One of my companions said that “pag sosyalin ang isda, dapat pala nakalabas ang tinik,” the other noticed, “dapat talagang patayuin ang isda, ah.” But the only thing I noticed being a tilapia lover is that the fish was quite thin. But you can eat everything, including the tinik and the head as it is cooked crunchy.
The biggest shocker of all was their rice. We ordered for two, as I said, but it seemed just good for one. Again we joked that the rich don’t eat much rice, or probably they used some other kind expensive rice and it would expand only after swallowing it.
But no, the rice wasn’t enough that we ordered for two more orders, which we thought was just enough for us. So all in all, two ladies had four cups of rice. Just figure out how small their portions are. The other meals, as the waiter have warned, are too much for one but not enough for two. So it’s for a 1.5 person; broken sizes, as my companion said.
The food didn’t have that distinct out of this world taste like let’s say, Pho Hoa or Aristocrat. But that makes it really delicious, it’s like your very own lutong bahay just cooked well. May I correct myself: very, very, very well. It’s like dining at your ancestral home, minus your tita’s story about her son’s sky-rocketing salary, your cousin’s two-year old who doesn’t want to stop crying, or your grandma’s scolding. I know you know what I mean.
Food is relatively inexpensive but the portions are not hefty. So in effect, it seemed pricey. But the place and the ambience really compensated it all. It’s one of those quaint restos—those dining secrets—that you’d love to talk about to friends but stops yourself to do, so it remains exclusive. If you’re a guy, you might want to bring the girl your courting just to impress her. Or if it’s your birthday and you wanna make your in-laws happy, then this might be the perfect place to treat them.
Getting there
Parking is quite a commodity. So if you’re one of those car freaks who don’t want to park in the middle of the street, I suggest you just park in Shangri-la mall and get a cab from there. It would roughly be a 50-60 peso taxi fare from there. Just tell the cab driver to bring you to West Kapitolyo and always be in the look out to the left side if you’re coming from Kapitolyo. But if some stupidity (hehe) you don’t see it, then you can easily ask a tricycle driver about the place.
But if you don’t really care then it wouldn’t be too hard to look for it. Take shaw boulevard from Shangri-la going to Kapitolyo. Upon arriving at the rotunda, you’ll see a street between Petron and Mercury Drugstore. Enter that street. Go straight and turn on the first street on the left.
Our ancestral house in Taal, Batangas is always filled with rich aroma of barako brew whenever our family visits. Inang makes it a point that tapang batangas, kapeng barako, and fried rice cooked in tapa oil (yummy) are ready to greet us and make us feel that distinct lure of my lola’s house.
The capiz windows, the mismatched photo frames, and embroidered curtains: we can probably publish an architectural book listing how the clutter and the over-decorations, of our beloved lola’s homes, very well defies design rules. But who cares? Those designs in architectural digests are meant for photo shoots or for people who lives in their corner offices. Lola’s home is meant to be lived in, and to create a perfect concoction of rainy day meriendas and fiesta lunches that completes a Filipino’s childhood memory.
My lola died ten years ago, along with all the genuine lola stuff—ancient chandeliers, biskwit cans that doubled as rice storage, and wood stock used for cooking—replaced with my cousin’s videoke machine and cocktail bar, especially requested by her seaman husband. The house, with the same capiz windows and wooden stairs had lost that loving lola charm.
Last Saturday, along with two other food snoops, I had a chance to reminisce those yellow lighted, white table top dinners in grandma’s house at Café Juanita. The entrance was quite small, that we were shocked to see that this café is actually a 15 table or so dining tryst of families and yuppies.
It was hard to believe that the place was packed. Priding ourselves to be good food hunters, our ego was badly hurt that Juanita is quite popular already and it was not such a discovery of a lifetime. I mean we usually have the scoop but not this time, I’d say. Located in a residential cum commercial area of West Kapitolyo, Pasig City, (a few minutes drive from the motel row, now I know you know where it is), it is quite a wonder to think that oldies—and I mean mestiza looking mommies and baston-walking daddies—know where it is.
Of course, we didn’t have a reservation. I was actually thinking that this Juanita goes in the ranks of now defunct Gayuma in Katipunan, thus I never bothered to call them up and ask if I have to reserve. You know, I don’t wanna be OA. But alas, when we got there, juanita’s son (or so I believe, hehe) immediately asked us if we do have reservations. Since we didn’t, we were thrown at the second floor of the resto, which was a less decorated area of the café.
We were quite underdressed, I’d say. The ladies were fully made up and the men had collared shirts on. Notorious for being overdressed, I’d say my red skirt and safari shoes just fit right in. I must have really underestimated the place.
At a glance, the place was, how could I say this? Uber-ly cluttered. Lighted old church-like chandeliers are hanging every two feet; candelabras are scattered all around; old mirrors staring back at you; and any possible house pieces are hanged, scattered, or displayed all around the place. As I say, it easily resembles a pack rat lola’s house whose kids had also used her house a bodega of all the old stuff they want to remove from their newly-renovated minimalist home. Everything has tag prices, some are written by black markers on pieces of not so carefully torn papers. So I presumed, everything around was on sale.
The seats were narra, and we even joked each other that we didn’t expect to be seated on a long table, Last Supper style. Upon sitting, the jologs that we are, candidly examined the white table crocheted linen, played with our heavy utensils, and had individual trip to the comfort room which we all described as “parang bahay,” including the sound of the flush.
A waiter dressed in white, with black bow tie. I thought the uniform was a bit too superficial as Juanita is really just a converted apartment in Kapitolyo. He gave us a menu, which I’d say is quite a selection ranging from Filipino, Medditerranean, to Chinese.
We opted for the kare-kare, which they say is the best seller, the tom yum goong soup, which was featured on Pia Guanio’s Ang Pinaka show, and the Laguna fish a.k.a. tilapia with guacamole, as I am still this trying hard semi-vegan, and two cups of rice, for the two ladies, as apparently, the guy we were with is in this some kind of diet of not eating rice. For a few minutes we argued how many servings of tom yum are we gonna order, or how spicy should it be. As the perfect mediator, the waiter told us that we need not worry as they will let us taste the soup first to determine if they got how spicy we want it.
The tom yum came in first. It was heavenly. It was the perfect mix of sweet, salty, sour, and spicy. Though we only had one order, it was split into two as per our instructions, which we thought was just right for us three since I wasn’t a big fan of shrimp-based food.
The main dishes were prepared in ten minutes or so. It was quite fast for that kind of meals. The kare-kare was really really sumptuous. And in fairness, it had more meat than vegetables, which is different from other restos. The sauce was really thick and in fact, can serve as ulam as it is. The pechay was twisted and the puso ng saging tasted liked meat.
The laguna fish was so-so, but interestingly presented. One of my companions said that “pag sosyalin ang isda, dapat pala nakalabas ang tinik,” the other noticed, “dapat talagang patayuin ang isda, ah.” But the only thing I noticed being a tilapia lover is that the fish was quite thin. But you can eat everything, including the tinik and the head as it is cooked crunchy.
The biggest shocker of all was their rice. We ordered for two, as I said, but it seemed just good for one. Again we joked that the rich don’t eat much rice, or probably they used some other kind expensive rice and it would expand only after swallowing it.
But no, the rice wasn’t enough that we ordered for two more orders, which we thought was just enough for us. So all in all, two ladies had four cups of rice. Just figure out how small their portions are. The other meals, as the waiter have warned, are too much for one but not enough for two. So it’s for a 1.5 person; broken sizes, as my companion said.
The food didn’t have that distinct out of this world taste like let’s say, Pho Hoa or Aristocrat. But that makes it really delicious, it’s like your very own lutong bahay just cooked well. May I correct myself: very, very, very well. It’s like dining at your ancestral home, minus your tita’s story about her son’s sky-rocketing salary, your cousin’s two-year old who doesn’t want to stop crying, or your grandma’s scolding. I know you know what I mean.
Food is relatively inexpensive but the portions are not hefty. So in effect, it seemed pricey. But the place and the ambience really compensated it all. It’s one of those quaint restos—those dining secrets—that you’d love to talk about to friends but stops yourself to do, so it remains exclusive. If you’re a guy, you might want to bring the girl your courting just to impress her. Or if it’s your birthday and you wanna make your in-laws happy, then this might be the perfect place to treat them.
Getting there
Parking is quite a commodity. So if you’re one of those car freaks who don’t want to park in the middle of the street, I suggest you just park in Shangri-la mall and get a cab from there. It would roughly be a 50-60 peso taxi fare from there. Just tell the cab driver to bring you to West Kapitolyo and always be in the look out to the left side if you’re coming from Kapitolyo. But if some stupidity (hehe) you don’t see it, then you can easily ask a tricycle driver about the place.
But if you don’t really care then it wouldn’t be too hard to look for it. Take shaw boulevard from Shangri-la going to Kapitolyo. Upon arriving at the rotunda, you’ll see a street between Petron and Mercury Drugstore. Enter that street. Go straight and turn on the first street on the left.
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