FOOD REVIEW | Locavore Kitchen and Drinks in Kapitolyo, Pasig City
Unlike other restaurants, Locavore Kitchen and Drinks is not located in popular Metro Manila food hubs like Tomas Morato and Eastwood in Quezon City. Nevertheless, there’s undeniably something special in it.
How else can you explain the fact that it is jam-packed on a regular Tuesday night (we had to wait for almost 20 minutes before we got a table), days before salary day?
“This is a regular scene here!” says Alta Redor-Lyttle, one of the owners of Locavore. She added that they have customers who take the time to travel for an hour or so just to enjoy their authentic Filipino dishes prepared with a twist.
The name of the five-month old restaurant was derived from the word “locavore” which in the West refers to people who primarily eat meals made of locally-obtained ingredients.
“All our ingredients are from the Philippines,” Locavore’s head chef Mikel Zaguirre proudly shares. He says he has made it a mission to prepare popular Filipino dishes like sinigang and kaldereta unlike the others.
One way to do it, he says, is to make the meals butter-heavy and to use more time preparing the food. “Lechon belly can take as much as 24 hours while the sizzling sinigang usually requires six hours,” he said.
“We do the Filipino dishes with a twist but we retain the heart and soul of the food. We do not forget its roots,” he said.
Here are some of the Locavore’s main offerings:
Ms Lyttle explained that Locavore is a joint venture of eight individuals who have a shared love for food. “Putting this up has been on our minds since 2013, and late last year, it finally came true,” she said, adding that their first customers were their friends.
“Suddenly, people were talking about us on social media. I guess their satisfaction with our specialties is really the reason behind the good feedback we’re getting,” she said. According to her, there are plans in the not-too-distant future to have Locavore branches elsewhere.
*Locavore Kitchen and Drinks is open from Mondays to Sundays, 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM for lunch and from 5:00 PM to 2:00 AM. It is located in 10 Brixton Street, Kapitolyo, Pasig City. For reservations, please contact 632-9600 or +63 923 588-9419. Visit their website www.locavore.ph and check out their Instagram page @locavore.ph for more.
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Not only am I a huge fan of butter laden dishes, but local ingredients as well… Excellent! The pictures look so delicious that I am getting hungry just looking at them. Keep up the great work!