Cafe Juanita Fort and Larry's Bar Serendra

It's been a long while since I last dined at Cafe Juanita. I remeber falling in love with the swanky yet cozy ambiance and delicious Filipino dishes they serve. I have read that they they already branched out to the Fort. Yes my friends! From Kapitolyo Ortigas, Cafe Juanita's ostentacious charm can now be enjoyed at the new Forbestown Center at the Fort.

We had to try our old time fave to see how the new branch fares with the original.

Catfish Mango Salad Php 230.00

Crispy shreds of Catfish ontop of green mango salad. It was yummy and the the texture of the crispy catfish gave a nice delicate touch of savory taste to the tangy mangoes.

Beef Salpicao

This dish was ok but we found the serving size contemptibly small.

Laing Php 180.00

Ground pork and sundried anchovies wrapped in young taro leaves and stewed in thick coconut milk and capsicum.

Two-Ways Pork Adobo Php 435.00
Tender pork adobo ribs topped with crispy adobo flakes. This was very flavorful and I liked contrast in pork textures . Yummy with rice!

Laguna Fish Php 228.00
Crispy fried Tilapia with a tomato salsa on the side. It was nice but we found the fish too small for the price.

Fresh Corned Beef Sinigang Php 428.00

Sorry for the blurred picture, it was taken in a hurry as the server was to dish out this soup already. This was a house specialty, as indicated on the menu. They even set out a cup of the broth to our table so we may check the taste of our sinigang soup before they finish cooking it. How nice we thought...so that the balance in sour to salty would be just as we liked it. We told the waiter that we were pleased with the sourness and asked for the saltiness to be toned down. When we were finally served our custom sinigang, we were disappointed that it was still salty =(.

Lengua Estofado Php 385.00

Tender Ox tongue gently stewed intomato sauce. The dish was flavorful but we found the tongue not as tender as it should be.

Over all we found the ambiance great and the food not as wow-ing as my dining experience at it's Ortigas branch. The prices are just right but the serving portions of some dishes are a bit small...not enough for sharing perhaps.

After dinner, we moved to Larry's bar at Serendra to have a little bit more nibblies...

Larry's Spinach Quiche

This was delicious! The pastry was rich tasting and the egg-bacon-spinach filling was cooked perfectly....eggs set yet still deilicate...served hot. The side salad with vinaigrette gave the touch of tart that I needed to cut through the savory richness of the quiche! Yumm! =)

Churros con Chocolate

One of my friends found the chocolate, not sweet enough... I liked it nevertheless. I detect a touch of mani (peanuts) grounded with the chocolate---native chocolate is at times made that way.

A delicious evening of good food, ambiance and friends =)