Bite Contemporary Cuisine, Filipino Food Re-invented

It was the payday weekend traffic that lured us into visiting the restaurant.  We were stuck along Yakal St. and the well lit establishment caught our attention.  I remember visiting the same place formerly known as Villa Cafe, its predecessor and was skeptic thinking that it may still be expensive, at least on my standards.

Based on my research, the restaurant is now owned and operated by Chef Jam Melchor, who also co owned Villa, but gave it a more modern upgrade.  I love the improvement in the interiors, keeping the  colours simple replacing the damask upholstered chair to grey and the play of accent lighting.

I love the chairs and the play of warm accent lighting!

What's even more admirable about the place is the fact that they are using the best, healthy, homegrown, local ingredients and dishes,  re-introducing them to diners in a contemporary and creative way. For this visit, we tried the Pinoy Pizzaladerie and Bacon Shiitake Truffle Linguine.  We are reserving their specialties for our next visit, when we're really hungry.

The Salty Kesong Puti, cuts the creaminess of the sauce and the Shiitake and bacon provided flavour and texture.

This Pinoy version of the Italian favourite is a bit sweet from the Longganisa and reminded me of Bibingka (Rice Cakes) because of the addition of Salted Eggs.

We ordered ourselves a 2 glasses of the house merlot while waiting for our meals and the traffic to subside.  With servings enough for 2-3 persons, our less than 1 thousand bill was worth every peso.