Pasto + Cafe Juanita

D: On P's first Saturday back, we started off the day with lunch at Pasto, Eastwood. This happened upon the invitation of our friend, Meggie who celebrated her birthday last June 2. My high school girl friends Maina and Donna also joined us for the meal. A shout-out goes to Tala in the US, who we missed that day!

Meet some of my fabulous friends!

Donna and her pretty necklace

Maina, my friend since 5th grade!

and the blooming birthday girl, Meggie!

FOOD

P: The Pasto menu was difficult to photograph but we took the liberty of linking it here.

Gamberi (fettucine with garlic-sauteed shrimps, asparagus spears and fresh diced tomatoes)

D: I didn't get too much of this but the girls seemed to really like it. This was Maina's personal preference.

P: Oil-based pasta isn't really my first choice but I like the combination of ingredients. Tasted fresh.

Carbonara (linguine with smoked bacon and mushrooms in garlic cream sauce)

D: I really love good old carbonara. This was a classic and simple rendition of the dish. Creamy and no scrimping on the bacon and mushroom!

P: Agreed. There was enough bacon to go around. Some restos tend to pile on the cream and neglect the toppings.

Melanzana (penne with eggplant, smoked bacon and melted mozzarella)

D: Despite the fact that I don't eat eggplant and had to weed through this, it was actually pretty good. I'm a fan of penne and the tomato sauce was tasty!
P: This one was my favorite of the three. I really like eggplant in my pastas.It lends a unique flavor. I liked the generous helping of onions and meats on this as well.

Formaggi (feta, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan) and Rucola (prosciutto, fresh arugula, mozzarella)

D: I only tried the formaggi and it was perfect! I love the bubbling cheese, the super thin crust, and the chunky bits all over.

P: The formaggi seemed to be popular so I let the girls have it! I did like the rucola but it could have used a bit more prosciutto. The salty and bitter combination is right up my alley.

Greca (feta cheese, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, artichokes, and capers) and Di Carne (Italian sausage, smoked ham, pepperoni )

D: The greca was exceptional! I especially loved the sweetness of the sun-dried tomatoes. The sweet ham on the di carne was pretty good too but I had to strip off my slice since I don't eat pepperoni. I know, picky picky.

P: The sweet sun-dried tomatoes really made the greca pizza for me. It was a surprising touch and really brought the other flavors together. The di carne was ok for me, regular meat pizza.

Chowing down on our carbofeast

All five, absolutely clean plates!

For dessert, we all went over to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to try out their new yogurt offerings. Our other friend, Alexi works in their marketing division and tipped us off about a flavor not posted in their menu. All we had to do was say the "secret password."

So Maina says "Awesome" to the lady behind the counter and luckily, she knew what we meant and didn't think we were crazy. The secret flavor? Hazelnut!

Maina's hazelnut swirl, our green tea swirl, and Donna's original

Meggie doesn't really like yogurt so she got a cup of chai tea latte.

P: I really liked the green tea on this one. It really tasted like good matcha, probably the same one they use on their drinks.

D: The green tea and hazelnut didn't have the tanginess of the original flavored one. Ours was more like ice cream but I really liked it! The green tea was grainy and wonderful!

Enjoying good company and sweet treats! 

Happy 23rd Megs! Thanks for a great lunch!

D: After lunch, we took care of some errands for LFL and went to SM Makati to check out the pieces from Fashion Week. I finally got the black and white striped boots and some additional things from WWW.

P: I found a pair of cherry red Persol-esque sunglasses for less than P200! More on that soon. We left the Makati area at 8 and wanted to go somewhere easy yet delicious for dinner.

D: And considering I live 2 minutes away from it, what's easier than Cafe Juanita?!

The famed restaurant with its quirky interiors

P: We didn't make any reservations but luckily, they had a free table for us. Do call ahead though. The place was almost completely full when we got there at 9pm.

Tamarind shake and buko lychee shake

D: I've gotten the buko lychee shake each time I've dined here. It's refreshing and not too sweet. I wish it was more lychee than buko though.

P: My tamarind shake was a little too sour. I prefer the shake from LJC restos.

Catfish mango salad (Thai-style crispy shredded catfish on green mango salad)

D: We absolutely finished this off. I love that the catfish was dried and shredded. It gave the salad a nice texture.

P: I like the crispiness of the catfish and the sour dressing. It was a simple but great way to start off our Thai supper.

Stuffed crab

P: This is one of the resto's newer offerings. The flavors here were surprisingly complex. It came with a good honey mustard sauce.
D: I like how the crust on top broke open and crumbled into soft crab bits. This was yummy!

Thai bagoong rice

D: This is a dish on its own! I love all the flavors together. A Cafe Juanita staple for sure.
P: The ingredients mixed really well together. I like the flavor of the pork, a little different from other Thai restos.

Crepe Samurai

D: This didn't look like any crepe samurai I've had before. It was sweet and the chocolate was perfect with it, of course.
P: A good, light dessert to finish off the meal. Cheap too at P89!

Great weekend as per usual! Later, folks!