Tales From The Tummy

food + travel + lifestyle

The New Cafe Juanita

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We had been to Cafe Juanita only once and since then they have moved to a newer location besides Shunji Matsuo salon (same owner), just across the street from the old one. I really liked this new location, it is well lit, spacious, and more orderly. The decor is still a mishmash of different styles but now it is in a so much brighter area.
I had already made a reservation; a must especially for their Sunday Filipino buffet, and we were whisked off to our table  near the stairs by the friendly staff.

We started off the meal with Molo soup to be shared by all 5 of us. The soup was served with optional toasted garlic on the side. It was a great taste on a classic with its flavorful soup garnering the approval of my daughter. The molo had a nice bite to them contrasted to the very thin wrapper.

Pinakbet salad, an unique take by the restaurant,  made up of different blanched vegetables with green mango and topped with their special “Pinakbet” salad dressing . This was a hit with my SIL and her friend, they finished the whole plate among themselves.

The first of our entrees to arrive was the Two-way Pork Adobo Ribs, pork stewed in vinegar, soy sauce and garlic. This was the only disappointment of the night. The meat was tasty with the strong taste of garlic but not overpowering vinegar,  The adobo flake topping was not good at all, you can taste the oil the flakes were fried in although it looks good in the presentation.
My favorite dish was the Bagnet, crispy pork belly on top of a tomato salad. This was recommended to us by the waiter when we were asking him the difference between the Bagnet and the crispy Pork Binagoongnan.The pork was crispy but not oily to the taste, but add the tomato salad and it kicks it up a notch. The tomato salad reminds me of chunky salsa that we use for tortilla chips due to the usage of cilantro and garlic although this one had a little more spice. Even Lauren enjoyed this dish sans the tomato salad.

Ampalaya ni Doc ,sauteed ampalaya (bitter melon) topped with crispy catfish. I did not taste this dish since I never ever eat ampalaya. Everyone said this dish was very well done
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Prawns with Cereal, pan-fried prawns with spiced cereal, a Singaporean favorite. Although the shrimps were not very big they made it up with freshness. Every bite of the shrimps has a noticeable crunch you  only find in fresh shrimps. I would have liked more cereal to coat the de-shelled shrimps in though.

Special Dinuguan, pork simmered in pig blood. chili and other spices.  Their version included chicharon (crispy pork rind). I do not eat this so will relay comments by my wife and SIL. They said the dish was very meaty and the chicharon added a crunch not found in other places. I guess their scarping off  the sauce from the bowl says a lot about their love for this dish.

My SIL ordered a few more dishes including the Crispy Pork Binagoongnan. This dish would be good by itself but following the Bagnet relegated it to a far second. We realized the waiter was right all along and should have ordered Bagnet again instead of this.

For dessert, we ordered their Cassava cake, Banana con hielo (banana in ice), Buko cream (coconut strips , cream and plain gelatin) and Sansrival. We added another order of Cassava cake, sansrival and banana c o hielo.
The dazzling amount of food we ordered for four adults and my daughter prompted the waiter to comment  ” di kayo malakas” (you don’t eat a lot). My SIL is already thinking of excuses to come back even going as far as concocting a reason to hold a party after asking the waiter about the seating capacity of the whole restaurant.
Cafe Juanita
#19 West Capitol Drive, Barrio Kapitolyo
632.0357

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Comments

  2. Have you tried their Ratatoy? (it’s really spelled that way and pronounced that way) That’s my favorite! This post is making me hungry!

  4. Mrs M.,
    Sayang they have really good food and great ambiance. They also have some other asian food like the cereal prawns and i think the beef rendang is very good according to some.

  5. yumm! but yeah, not a fan of pinoy food too.. but BAGNET is a diff story.. haha…

    oh btw.. you dont seem to inlcude the prices in your blog, hope u dont mind me asking why…

  6. Blitz,

    Did not think of that, maybe in the next entries I’ll put some prices in.
    The bagnet is so good I would go back just for that and a bowl of rice.

  7. Hi, would you know if they have an email address that I can contact to inquire for wedding reception?

    Thanks!