Spices: Cafe Juanita

As soon as we entered the doors of Cafe Juanita, beautiful quirky looking  chandeliers, statues, figurines and ornaments greeted us, the whole place was filled with interesting conversation pieces. This alone is one reason why people should dine in Cafe Juanita.

Cafe Juanita

I have to admit, upon looking at the menu and looking around, I didn't have high expectations on the food. The menu was so extensive that I assumed the quality of the dishes would suffer because of this. And with so much decorations inside, I thought that the place is more of a 'must-see' rather than a 'must-eat'.

Being still half full from munching around Kapitolyo, we only got to try out a few dishes. First of which is the Vegetarian Curry. A variety of vegetables and strips of tofu in curry sauce. Everything on the dish was cooked perfectly. The vegetables still had a good crunch, tofu strips were tender and the curry sauce was rich and thick. Flavor wise it tasted ok, I hope that it had the pungent Indian flavor but it was more on the  Filipino gata(coconut milk) curry flavor.

Vegetable Curry - Php199

The Pan Grilled Fish Fillet on Kare Kare sauce was pretty good. Just like the first dish, everything was cooked perfectly. I'm not sure what kind white fillet it was but the big chunk was soft and milky all throughout. The sauce tasted nutty and creamy, we found ourselves spooning out what was left on the plate.

Pan Grilled Fish on Kare Kare Sauce - Php373

The last dish that we got to try was the Tinuktok, a dish from the Bicol region that consist of crab meat and coconut strips wrapped in taro leaves cooked in coconut milk and crab fat. It reminded me of  the Pinangat dish that I've tried in Bicol. But with the addition of the crab meat, buco strips plus the aligue (crab fat), it had so much  more texture and flavors. It was delicious and addicting, I can go back to Cafe Juanita again just to eat this.

Tinuktok - Php199

I enjoyed dinner at Cafe Juanita, my assumption was totally wrong. The food was prepared and cooked well, the resto is not just a must-see, it is also a must-eat. Next time around, I'll go there with an empty stomach so that I'll be able to try out more dishes, specially the resto's award winning Sinigang.

Cafe Juanita

Cafe Juanita
Address: 19 West Capitol Drive, Kapitolyo, Pasig City
Tel. No.: 632 0357