Celebrating in style at Guevarra’s by Chef Laudico
As a true-blue foodie, celebrating my natal day somewhere with good food and good vibes is a must.
So to commemorate my 46th trip around the sun, I took the fam to dinner at one of the metro’s most celebrated buffet restaurants: Guevarra’s by Chef Laudico.
It’s not actually my family’s first time at this establishment. Over the years, together with our extended family, we have celebrated…
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Being a UP student requires too much sacrifice, including the need to endure homesickness and the longing for the cozy feel of the countryside. So for you guys who haven’t had the chance to go home to your respective provinces for so long a time already, here’s a little treat that will surely bring back all those childhood memories, chill moments with family, and the familiar taste of home.
“Hi ma’am. Taga-saan po kayo?”
It was such a nice little gesture from a staff who’s actually just expected to do nothing more than stand behind the row of dishes and assist the customers. He was standing behind the row of main course dishes behind the fried chicken adobo—wearing both a smile on his face and a white toque on his head.
The friendly gesture deserves a friendly answer.
“Bulacan po.”
“Taga-Bulacan din po ako! Sa Norzagaray. Tatlo po kami ditong taga-Bulacan.”
It was followed by an exchange of two more lines, which, had it not been for the “ma’am” in his “Enjoy your meal ma’am!” would have felt like you are being entertained by one of the members of the family who hosted this grand feast for the celebration of the town’s fiesta.
Nostalgic
Much of the country’s tourism today owes a lot from such hospitality that Filipinos naturally exert towards visitor, be he a foreigner or a fellow local. But that’s just one of the ways by which Chef Laudico Guevarra’s can make you feel like you were invited in a banquet with the Ilustrados.
Chef Laudico Guevarra’s is a 1920s heritage house, which was turned into a buffet restaurant in 2013, seated at the heart of San Juan City along Guevarra Street,minutes away from the congested streets of the city but miles away from its hustle and bustle. It is, at a glance, a simple, quiet house dwelled by a wealthy family who call their kids “hijo” and “hija”. No trace of food in the air. No noise. No music. No clattering of utensils and plates.
Upon entering the gate, guests are greeted by a green, spacious area with a small fountain where people could simply lounge around, reminiscent of childhood times in your grandma's old Spanish-inspired house in the province where family members sit and chat under the orange rays of the rising sun.
The grand, Filipino-Spanish banquet vibes, however, starts as you enter the house. Customers are welcomed by upbeat staff in white blouse or polo and black slacks or skirt. At the ceiling is a chandelier made of white and gold crystals dangling from the several candle- like bulbs surrounding the edge of the circular bottom, generating most of the light in the dimly lit main room called “Guevarra”.
The very detailed chandelier, however, does not mirror the whole interior of thehouse. Little intervention was done in each of the seven rooms and the restaurant just worked around what is present, giving it the authentic appearance of an old Manila house. The cream- painted walls are adorned with nothing but Filipino- themed paintings, like the famous bayanihan scene , a painting of a group of salacot- wearing men beside their boats, and the planting rice scene, all painted by local artists like Rona Manansala.
Six of the rooms are converted into dining areas, which are furnished only with wooden tables and foamed chairs covered with red leather. The rooms with bedroom- like space such as Recto and Abad Santos are intimate enough yet not too confining that dining with strangers would feel like dining with family whom you have met for the first time. Add it with the natural light coming through the large glass windows and the homey, cozy vibe is complete.
Tickling the native taste buds
While many restaurants in the metro are busy putting the spotlight on foreign cuisines, Guevarra's is celebrating the taste buds of the native tongue. Why won't they dare to rival traditional eateries along the busy streets of Manila that offer the same foods in a much cheaper price, when they got the power couple Chefs Roland and Jacqueline Laudico?
"Syempre, nasa Pilipinas tayo, so ano nga ba y'ung population? Syempre mas maraming Pilipino. So we decided to go for Filipino dishes," Guevarra's Marketing Officer Lyka Mamatugas said with conviction.
Guevarra's is proudly all about Filipino cuisine. Every spoonful of each dish brings into mind images of the reunion of one's kinship, where each family carriesa tray of their specialty dish. However, as the food lingers in your mouth, there is this certain tickle of flavor that only Guevarra's can offer. "May twist" as Ms. Lyka put it.
"May dinagdag (si Chef Lau) na ingredients... And well kay Chef Lau na 'yon," she said with a laugh.
Their spaghetti (one of the "Filipino pastas" offered along with the likes of Pancit Canton and Palabok) for example, perfectly meets the standards of a Filipino kid--that sweet, cheesy sauce showered with tiny meat chunks--uniquely marrying the dominating saltiness and adobo-like taste.
The 60- plus choices are divided into six stations: appetizers, main course, hot and grilled, carvings, desserts, and beverages, all of which are either built by Chef Lau from scratch, are Filipino dishes with his personal touch or foreign dishes revamped to suit the Filipino taste. The vegetarian pizza, for example, which is Italian in origin, was altered into one with the dominating taste of Baguio beans before getting adopted. Filipinos' love of meat and poultry, on the other hand, can be totally satisfied by Liempo, Grilled Chicken and Fried Chicken adobo.
Every good meal needs good dessert to keep it warm and sweet. That task is the purview of Chef Jacq, the wife of Chef Lau, who fulfilled it excellently. The Suman Balls, Chocolate Crinkles, Minatamis na Saging, Buko Pandan and Maruya were all pleasing to the eyes and taste buds. Their colors are something that are not normally used for food, giving it an extra appeal, as if embedded with metals that magnet your hand to pick them up and put them on your plate. They are worth the try though, because their sweetness is not too strong, giving room for the natural fruit flavors to burst.
* * *
Guevarra's experience is not by any means similar to the pretentious atmosphere felt in most of the fine dining restaurants, where people people spend a lot only to be pressured to act sosy and sophisticated. It, however, maintains to be a classy destination for people who would want to travel back in time and enjoy the casual, good old feels that none other than the taste of home could give.
I think we make terrible bloggers. Last update was from March? Really?? Oh man. To make up for it, please let us update you with some posts from our Instagram! If you aren't following us yet, please do! It's our saving grace from our lack of updates here on the blog (which I am still quite embarrassed about, to be honest), haha. :)
Recently, we've been doing work with the awesome rocker chef behind popular restaurants Guevarra's and Bistro Filipino, Chef Laudico!
A bit of prototyping for one of our clients, The Noodle Bakes! Packaging design happiness!
Trying out (then) soon-to-come flavors at BONO Artisanal Gelato over a meeting!
Trying out a new shooting style for a photo shoot! We're beginning to see the limits of having just one light. Perhaps it's time to upgrade our equipment?
Lunch meeting at Starbucks. :)
Finally, a complete team photo! Yaaay thanks Tricia for taking this for us! Pre-meeting photo, haha. :)
Paid a visit to Go! Salads a couple of days before their soft opening!
Attended the Go! Salads soft opening last Thursday! There was a live performance during the first part by the owner, Cibbie, along with two of his sisters, and their friend Dav. Their sound was beyond lovely! We could have listened to them play all night.
Official merch of The Noodle Bakes, haha! The owner, Sam, had her sticker at the back of her phone! So cool!
* * *
We've got more projects lined up, so hopefully we get to make proper posts soon!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
The Never Ending Story at Chef Laudico’s Bistro Filipino
Degustations have become quite the fad in 2011, with many restaurants offering customers a chance to try their signature dishes in tasting portions. The idea of a degustation is to serve more than the usual number of food items to each customer, enabling them to sample and savour a variety of tastes the chef has to offer. It allows us to taste more variety without dying of stuff-ication. And much to the restaurateurs/chef's delight, we'd come back and have a full portion of whatever we fancied.
Normally, a degustation is a set menu—three appetizers, a couple of soups, a salad, 2 entrées and maybe 2 desserts and priced between 1k – 3k, depending on where you go.
It was an absolute treat for me and a friend to try a degustation menu that has quite challenged the typical set menu. I could not believe my ears when someone said: “Go to Bistro Filipino by Chef Laudico, order the eat-all-you-can degustation and order EVERYTHING!” I thought that was ridiculous. How on earth can I even order “everything”?? I stared down at my stomach and realized, well, how on earth can I NOT order everything??
I called Bistro Filipino to make a reservation, the date was set and we were ready to raid the famous Laudico degustation buffet!
So, what happens when you get there? We sat down and told the waiter that we wanted to try the bottomless food parade. We ordered the Php1288 buffet which included angus steak and prawns (you can get the buffet at Php788 without the latter choices) as well as refillable soda, iced tea and coffee. If I were you though, I’d go for refillable H2O instead—there’s more room for food that way and sugary drinks won’t interfere with how your tongue decides on what’s good and what’s not.
Let the parade begin!
Appetizers
We each ordered the appetizer sampler which included one appetizer each (8 all in all).
Lumpia Trio: very nice lumpia served in a cone shaped wrapper with frozen vinegar to add taste to the famous Filipino dumpling. Very creative--the vinegar looked like sorbet! (Eat's good!)
Sisig Selections: served in a small pastry cup set on a shot glass. This was slightly spicy with a quail egg shot at the end! (Eat's good!)
Valencia Croqueta: my comment is not croquet-y enough.
Bihon Crunch: too crunchy! Not much taste! Must’ve spent too much time in the deep fryer?
Palabok Bites: a tiny serving of Filipino Pancit Palabok. So much flavor packed into one little bite! Let’s just say I wanted more! (Eat's good!)
Tokwa’t Baboy: spicy pork and tofu combination with soy seasoning. I did not expect this to be spicy but it was and it was good! If you decide to get this as well as other appetizers, I suggest you eat it last. (Eat's good!)
Kilawin Carpaccio: it was, well—carpaccio. Nothing special though but not bad either.
Calamares Negra: with really good aioli sauce!
Soup
Mongo Bisque: a smokey soup made with monggo beans. (Eat's good!)
Callos Chowder: Practically just callos, but with a double serving of sauce.
Adobo Shitake Cappucino: I really could not place this one. It didn’t taste like adobo to me!
Salad
Tapsilog Salad: with beef tapa, a quail egg and dressing. (Eat's good!)
Tortang Talong: a simple salad with a very compact piece of torta on top laced with ketchup-like-sauce-thing that's surprisingly spicy. Taste before you mix it in.
Main Dishes
Lamb Kaldereta: not gamey at all! This was served with vegetables on mashed potatoes. Looked a bit dry, but happy it wasn't when I started eating it. (Eat's good!)
Angus Beef: a tasty serving of Angus Beef with vegetables served on a bed of mashed potatoes. (Eat's good!)
Yellow Fin Tuna: served rare atop white rice with black pepper sauce. I would have liked this better if it were well done.
Tiger Prawn: cooked so well that it wasn’t dry at all! I hate it when prawns are overcooked--making it impossible to separate the meat from the shell. Pleased that I was able to enjoy this one juicy bite after the other.
Pizza Vegetarian: a slice of veggie pizza sandwich style
Pizza Carnevorous: another sandwich style pizza, this time loaded with meat!
Dessert
Yema Balls: served with ice cream and chocolate. Dee-vine! Wish the balls actually had more yema, though. Other than that, delicious! (Eat's good!)
Pandesal Pudding: a dessert that feels like home. Served ala mode with vanilla ice cream.(Eat's good!)
Tsokolate Oh: Pinoy style tsokolate pudding-ed!
I must admit that this was the most challenging of all degustations as well as the most filling and most worth-it I have ever experienced. Most especially because it seemed like what they served us weren't tasting portions at all! Not that I am complaining, but man, talk about sulit. And yes, I tasted EVERYTHING in the list up there! I cannot wait to go back to try other things on the menu. The total pricetag: Php 2,806.00 (with taxes and service charge).
I Found Eat at:
Bistro Filipino by Chef Laudico
Net 2 Building, 28th Street cor. 3rd Avenue
The Fort Global City, Taguig
Philippines
Telephone: 856-0634/0541
http://www.cheflaudico.com.ph
