Cafe Juanita: No Shortage on Eccentricity
There never seems to be a dull moment in Cafe Juanita. Its eccentric display of collectibles, antiques, and crafts sprawled across the room will definitely keep your eyes entertained, and conversations buzzing as there's something worth noticing in every corner of the room.
No two tables are alike, as the restaurant's management is creative enough to make sure that each table has something else to offer. I loved that we were able to get a corner table built as a dresser, which came with a worn-out row of books, which simply added to the appeal of the restaurant.
An interesting contrast would be how Cafe Juanita showed restraint in its menu offerings. Despite the quirky character of its interiors, it focused on sticking to simple, honest and classic Filipino dishes, allowing the quality of its dishes to speak for itself.
CATFISH MANGO SALAD (P288)
We started off with what has to be the most elegantly plated Catfish Mango Salad I've ever eaten. The deep fried catfish strips were molded into a neat nest served atop julienned green and yellow mangoes bathed, bathed in a clear sour dressing. The occasional kick of sweetness in between bites delightfully brought all the flavors together.
ADOBONG PUSIT (P192)
The Adobong Pusit was divine! Make sure it's your cheat day, because it seems impossible to skip rice when eating this tasty dish! A distinct obsevation though is that this version lacked the characteristic sour kick typical of this dish. I don't know if this was intentionally done or not.
For people who tend to shy away from teeth staining dishes, let me share you my secret! Limit chewing to only one side, drink a sip of water (just a gulp would do!), and lightly dab tissue on your lips in between bites. It's a bit of an effort, but I guarantee you that every time you and your friends would do the post-meal 'teeth-check', yours would be squeaky clean!
CRISPY PORK BINAGOONGAN (P367)
Reinventing on the classic pork stew dish, the Crispy Pork Binagoongan simply won me over. Aside from making the dish more aesthetically attractive, the crunch of the liempo skin, added to the sticky bagoong paste brought more interesting elements to the dish. I loved how the bagoong it came with was the slightly sweet variant in an effert to prevent it from overwhelming the tasty-on-its-own liempo slices!
SPECIAL CASSAVA (P127)
For dessert, we first had the Special Cassava, which lived up to its name. We were treated to a luscious slice of the smoothly baked kakanin served with coconut emulsion and topped with a wonderful caramelized layer of sugar.
STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING (P145)
We also treated ourselves to the Sticky Toffee Pudding, which is definitely as good as it looks! The melt-in-your-mouth texture of the toffee cake, married with a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream was a match made in heaven! The lighter, yet spunkier alternative to the classic brownie a la mode would definitely keep your taste buds excited.
Overall, I loved how the food was able to live up to the excitement hyped up by its interiors. What makes the experience more noteworthy was the fact that these stellar dishes came with such affordable price tags! You'd definitely get more than your money's worth!
Although, I'm looking forward to another visit to this branch, I'd also love to drop by its Kapitolyo branch to see its own hodgepodge of collectibles!
Droolworthy Dish: Crispy Pork Binagoongan
Cafe Juanita
Unit WS-2, Burgos Circle, Forbestown Center
Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City
Date of Visit: May 9, 2014 with Lily Chua
