A taste of Cafe Ano

By Candice Montenegro, Contributor
INQUIRER.net

FOR SOMEONE like me who lives right smack in the middle of Quezon City, the Alabang area is practically unknown territory. Malls, restaurants, and other commercial establishments are within a 30-minute drive, so except for the occasional road trip to visit friends, there usually is no need for me to travel down south.

Café Año gave me a reason to.

The quaint little restaurant is hard to miss. Located in Westgate, Filinvest Alabang, Café Año is right next to Alabang Town Center and is just a few kilometers away from nearby village Ayala Alabang.

I interviewed Café Año president Dionnie Guerrero. Check out the video.

Formerly known as Café Adriatico, the restaurant is now under new management and was re-launched on the first day of April 2008. The restaurant still carries some of Adriatico’s all-time favorite Filipino dishes, but the recipes were modified to carry its own Café Año twist. A new menu was developed to include a wide variety of Italian, American, Japanese, French and Korean dishes.

Still, Filipino dishes remain the most requested from the menu. Some of their kitchen bestsellers are the Alugbati Salad (red spinach with bagoong, lemon and chicharon), Lumpia Mais (corn, shrimps and onion, wrapped with rice paper and deep fried) and the Pata Bawang (deep fried pork leg topped with savory garlic bits).

The relaxed ambience gives off a fine dining vibe, but the prices are definitely not as steep. Guerrero said the restaurant is not marketed for fine dining. The main entrées and even the house wine are priced reasonably to make sure that guests enjoy both food and wine. Guerrero said people are ordering more wine because the prices are “hindi harang, hindi mabigat.”

And that’s why it appeals not only to foreigners and expatriates living in the vicinity but also to families, couples, executives and even call center agents who enjoy the wide assortment of breakfast meals after an early morning at work.

But what really keeps guests coming back to Café Año is their very own rendition of well-loved dishes. Unique to the restaurant are dishes like Pork Chop Bulgogi (with kimchi and sprout rice) and Pinangat na Tapi ng Bangus (bangus belly wrapped in fresh Taro leaves simmered in gata). For dessert, enjoy the popular Maruya ala Mode and Turron Manga at Suman.

Guerrero said an expansion is part of the plan, but this all depends on the development of the Makati-Parañaque-Muntinlupa area. Meanwhile, they are enjoying the patronage of guests from nearby villages.

In the meantime, I guess “north dwellers” like me would have to make that trip to the south.

Editor’s note: Video taken by INQUIRER.net community evangelist Alex Villafania.

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