Adarna Food and Culture: dining at it’s best
Dining has never been so fine after visiting Adarna Food and Culture. This restaurant, located along Kalayaan Avenue, Quezon City, serves more than just good Filipino food: they also serve customers a heaping spoonful of culture and nostalgia with every bite. Indeed, Beth Angsioco has done a wonderful job in putting the restaurant together.
Chef Giney Villar, wearing black in the picture above, is the genius working in the kitchen and responsible for the wonderful dining experience that Adarna is known for. My personal thanks to the students of St. Joseph College, with special mention to Ms. Eena for inviting us bloggers to this event.
So what did we eat? Let’s start with the soup.
Chicken Mole Soup – chicken chunks in savory coconut milk with pechay and spices. A dish reminiscent of our Southeast Asian Heritage. P135.00 (US$ 2.70) per order.
Sigarillas Salad – adapted from a salad served by the long-time cook of a convent school. Light and refreshing winged beans, onion and tomato dressed in a citrusy vinaigrette and sprinkled with Ilocano bagnet (bagnet is deep-fried pork belly cooked three ways) bits… P140.00 (US$2.80) per order.
Seafood Special – a true-blue Manila family shares an Iberian style seafood dish of shrimps, scallops and fish in a flavorful tomato-olive oil sauce topped with bell pepper, fried onions and parsley. P471.00 (US$9.42) per order.
Chicken Relleno – roasted chicken stuffed with chorizo, ham, quezo de bola, nuts, dried fruits and everything nice! Courtesy of a 1940s recipe notebook. It takes a whole day (or more) to prepare this spicy dish making it a measure of the importance of the occasion and the guests… Good for two to three persons. P448.00 (US$8.96) per order.
Adobong Batangas ala Adarna – The base recipe for this pork dish was generously shared by architect-granddaughter of prominent family from Batangas City. Adarna uses the original ingredients with other traditional cooking methods on a defining Filipino classic. P176.00 (US$3.52) per order.
Pancit 1913 – Chinese panciterias popularized this favorite take-home one-dish meal that working people, rich and poor, would willingly queue for as a take home treat for their loved ones after a long day’s work. Good for two people. P280.00 (US$5.60) per order.
Piassok – Hankering for something really different? From Mindanao, experience this exotic Sulu dish if beef chunks cooked slowly in smoked coconut cream and ten spices till tender then buttered and grilled just before serving. Great with beer or red wine. P304.00 (US$6.08) per order.
Kesong Puti and Langka Fry – Original Malolos, Bulacan carabao cheese and sweetened langka (jackfruit) in a crisp wrapper with mango cream sauce. A surprise treat. Four pieces. P86.00 (US$1.72) per order.
I highly recommend that you visit Adarna Food and Culture located at 119 Kalayaan Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City with telephone numbers +632 926-8712, mobile number +63 917 961 8113. You can email them at adarnafoodandculture@yahoo.com.
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Comments
Comment from pinoycontests
Time: November 23, 2008, 7:14 am
Yum! Looks very delectable!
Comment from jhed
Time: December 6, 2008, 12:23 am
I’d still prefer Ellen Adarna over this 
Comment from carlos Celdran
Time: December 11, 2008, 9:46 pm
Love this place. And they have amazing vegetarian selections. Which are soooo hard to find in Manila. And its really good veggie stuff. Not some compromised recipe…
I could eat there all the time.
Comment from Bitin Talaga
Time: January 2, 2009, 3:08 pm
I was there before new year with my family. The place was quite unique and the food taste ok but the serving size really SUCKS!!!!I’s been to other Pinoy Resto during my vacation and my over all rating was fair to good. I don’t expect Adarna to have servings like the American way,I was just so disappointed about their serving.
I’ll give them 2 years in business if they continue to offer that very small size serving.
Bitin na Bitin!
Comment from bagot
Time: April 5, 2009, 1:31 am
Ok sana ang place, pero LOSER ang service. NOT GOING BACK TO THIS PLACE.
First time we went, may event yata at nagchikahan na kami, wala pang waiters so we left na lang.
Dahil nagandahan naman kami sa place, bumalik kami recently. Umorder kami ng Piassok.
AY NAKO, 40 YEARS BAGO DUMATING ANG ORDER. Ewan kung nakalimutan ba kami o ano. Nakapagkwentuhan na kami at lahat, puti na ang mata ko sa gutom, wala pa rin. Ilang follow up na, wala pa.
Sa sobrang kagutuman, di ko na napansin kung masarap ba o ano, basta kain na lang.
Nung kinuha ang bill, jusko po, ganun din katagal ibigay. Naka limang follow up na kami ata.
Tapos nagkamali pa sila sa bill, hindi nainclude ang drinks. Akala ko naman nagmagandang loob na at hindi na ininclude, but no, nagkamali sila. At another 5 years ang tinagal namin doon.
Hinid kasalanan ng waiters, mukha silang mababait at hardworking. Prublema ng management iyun kulang ang staff nila at di maaccommodate ang mga tao.
NOT RECOMMENDED KUNG AYAW NYO MAGBAYAD PARA LANG UMINIT ANG ULO NYO.
Comment from Rosario Adams
Time: April 20, 2009, 10:48 am
I recently visited the country and one of the restaurants my family treated us to dinner was Adarna. I would say that this is one disappointment for me. I thought reviews were reliable but it turned out to be the unexpected. Very poor service, food is not even good — I guess going to Chowking would have been better. Kulang na kulang sila sa staff, I would say that their kitchen staff needs some major fixing. The cook/chef needs to give her food a taste sample before serving.
THIS PLACE IS NOT A GOOD PLACE TO RECOMMEND TO BALIKBAYANS.
Comment from alma alvarez
Time: August 31, 2009, 8:49 pm
hi. i googled “piassok” and was led to your site. when i was in college, i joined the maggi plan-a-meal contest, and this was my exact entry. we got the recipe from a filipino cookbook (cover was beige, but i don’t remember the title). anyway, we adjusted the ingredients a bit, and guess what? we won! i just wanted to share this because that was the first time i joined a cooking contest…
Comment from boy kuripot
Time: October 12, 2009, 1:47 pm
just ate here last Saturday. Contrary to Bagot’s experience, my GF and I had a wonderful time in this resto. We ordered the Batanes yellow rice, pork chop, gambas, Chicken Mole Soup, and a sago and gulaman drink. While waiting for our orders, a waiter asked if we wanted a quick tour around the resto to which we said – YES! The waiter was like a museum curator pointing out and explaining one artwork and antique after another. He even showed us the 2 function rooms that were behind closed doors.
The food came out right after we had the quick tour which was roughly around 15mins. The only dish that struck a note with me is the Chicken Mole Soup. I found the other dishes quite normal and average.
Comment from jeoren
Time: November 29, 2009, 12:33 pm
ONE BIG DISAPPOINTMENT!
If you’re thinking of bringing your guests to Adarna, let me warn you, you might end up embarrassed like me.
I brought about 24 of my friends and co-workers to Adarna last month. First, I felt that the staff who handled my reservations was very incompetent. Second, the prices of the food were not reasonable; serving size was so small it wasn’t even enough for a child. Third, some of my friends had an allergic reaction to the shrimps or ingredients used in their pancit. To top it all, you cannot complain to a manager, because there was none, or at least that was what I was told by the staff.
When I finally got hold of the email address of the chef, I sent my feedback to her. Instead of apologizing and assuring a customer that she will look into all my complaints, i felt that she was very defensive about the whole thing, apparently, she didn’t get her facts straight and insinuated that I was partly to be blamed.
I have never experienced such poor customer service!
Comment from Anthony Ariel Aya-ay
Time: November 23, 2008, 5:20 am
Wow Arpee, thanks for this blog entry. I already know where I’m going to once I come home next year.