Cafe Juanita

After work last Tuesday, my husband and I had dinner at Cafe Juanita in Burgos Circle, Bonifacio Global City. I had read a lot of mixed reviews about the restaurant so I thought I should go try it out myself. The first thing that caught my attention was the massive capiz chandelier along the staircase as pictured above. Here it is up close:

It's not something that I would want in my home but it's elaborately beautiful nevertheless :-) They should change that busted bulb though, but I doubt if they would as they may have deliberately left that lightbulb out to achieve some sort of contrived imperfection. The entire place seemed so bohemian and carefree, to put it lightly. They managed to pull together a collection of mismatched things which were casually (and almost halphazardly) arranged throughout the restaurant. Come see for yourself:



Each table was unique in that different tablecloths, chairs and backrest covers were used. The lamps were shrouded in ethnic scarves and decorated with odds and ends.

 



You can see more of the covered lamps in this picture.

 


What do you think of this crocheted backrest cover?



I would imagine that the restaurant's interiors would appeal to the hippie creative types, which I am unfortunately not :-S  Although the interiors were interesting to me, I did not exactly feel relaxed and cozy.

Let's now move on to the food. My husband and I split an order of Tom Yum Soup. The broth was rich, dense and redolent of the taste of kaffir lime leaves, coriander, lemongrass, prawns and chili. The heat was just right as the chilis were added to our taste. The waiter literally had us taste a tiny cup of the broth (which I did not get to take a picture of :-/) to check whether we were happy with the heat level. Very nice touch.This soup was a winner!



Tom Yum Soup. WINNER.



I ordered the Two Way Pork Adobo Ribs. A large slab of pork ribs was prepared in classic adobo style (i.e., simmered in vinegar, garlic, soy sauce and bay leaves) and then generously drizzled with thick and oily adobo sauce. It was oily in a good way, as the pork fat made for a very savoury sauce! The pork ribs were then topped with crispy pork adobo flakes and garlic chips. Excellent plating, excellent dish!



Crispy adobo flakes with garlic chips, tender pork ribs and a pool of rich adobo sauce. Three layers of pork goodness!

The adobo flakes up close.

The perfect bite - a small chunk of pork, a smattering of sauce, a garlic chip, strands of floss and (not in picture) garlic rice. Sigh :-)

My hubby ordered the Korean Beef Stew. The key ingredients of a standard Korean beef stew were in there - beef short ribs, soy sauce, sugar, sesame seeds, ginger, green onions, etc. However, they put a little twist to the sauce as it had the consistency of kare-kare sauce. It was good but I prefer Kaya's version over Cafe Juanita's.

A note to future Cafe Juanita patrons. The two way pork adobo ribs was pretty hefty. It could be shared by two, or even by three if there are other dishes. We only ate half of it and then forgot to take the rest home! Hope it did not go to waste as it was really good. Oh, and no dessert reviews for now as we were so stuffed and had no room for any!  

Burgos Circle at night. Picture courtesy of http://www.burgoscircle.com/.

Incidentally, it was our first time at Burgos Circle and we really liked the area! It was vibrant but relaxed at the same time. We will definitely go back to try out the other restaurants :-)