NEW Restaurant in Kapitolyo: Locavore

Locavore is a new casual dining restaurant in Kapitolyo, Pasig City specializing in modern Filipino dishes using locally produced ingredients. It is located along Brixton Street, away from the residential areas of the village. Locavore is a term referring to a person who prefers to eat food cooked with meat or vegetables grown, raised or produced locally. We were able to have dinner at Locavore on their first day of opening last October 10, and here's how everything went.

MORE: Best Restaurants in Kapitolyo 2014

Locavore has a modern-industrial interior design with the use of bare concrete floor and walls, wooden tables, galvanized steel and modern plastic chairs. At daytime, glass windows allow natural light into the restaurant, and at night time, industrial lights installed on the restaurant's high ceiling give a warm feel to the space.

Locavore adapts the open kitchen concept allowing the guests to view all the action happening inside the kitchen. Chef Mikel makes sure that everything is running smoothly inside the kitchen and regularly walks around the restaurant greeting the guests and checking with them how their food was. 

Ensaladang Pakwan

We started off with Ensaladang Pakwan which has lettuce, cucumber, onions, olives, chunks of watermellon, kesong puti and topped with tender beef tapa. It was an interesting combination of fresh and savory. The watermellon makes this salad a refreshing one, the kesong puti adds texture and flavor, while the beef tapa adds a savory taste. The vinaigrette binds all the flavors together. A serving of this salad is good for two to three persons to share.

Singkamas, Mangga at Bagoong

Being their first ever guests, we got complimentary appetizers from Chef Mikel. We got the Singkamas, Mangga at Bagoong. Nothing really special, you got slices of singkamas and green mangoes, and three types of dips (salt with chili, bagoong and patis) which are placed in small jars. I really enjoyed the singkamas with salt and chili flakes.

Street Food Platter

We also got to try their Street Food Platter which includes fish balls, squid balls, kikiam and kwek-kwek, served with three sauces placed in small jars: Manong's sauce, sweet chili sauce, and honey vinegar.

Boneless Lechon Belly

Since it's a Filipino dinner, we gotta have rice and some ulam. We ordered two dishes for ulam. First was the Boneless Lechon Belly. The lechon belly is cooked lechon kawali-style with the flavorful goodness of Cebu Lechon. The meat was very tender while the skin was super crispy. It has a rich garlicky flavor that we Filipinos truly love. It is served with a very innovative dipping sauce made of a mixture of pinakurat vinegar and fish bagoong, plus other spices and aromatics.

Tip: Cut a piece of the lechon, pour a teaspoon of the pinakurat-bagoong sauce, take a big bite together with a spoonful of plain rice, close your eyes and say, "OMG ang sarap!"

Sizzling Sinigang

Don't die yet because dish number two is here. Another invention of Chef Mikel is the Sizzling Sinigang.Yes, you read it right! Our all-time Filipino favorite dish Sinigang as a sizzling dish. Chef Mikel shared to use the owners love sinigang, that's why several sinigang dishes are included in the menu, but this one is special because it's not in its usual soup dish form. They developed a special gravy infused with sampalok (tamarind) flavor. It is then poured over Beef Short Ribs and topped with sauteed locally produced French beans and cherry tomatoes. The beef were very tender while the beans tasted fresh and had the right crisp. The gravy has a balanced mix of meaty and sour flavors. We also recommend this with plain rice.

Leche Flan Turon

Finally for dessert, we had the Leche Flan Turon. Slices of leche flan are wrapped in lumpia wrappers and are then fried with sugar. They are then drizzled with salted dulce de leche. When served, the leche flan filling is still too hot so let it cool for a while. You can eat it as a finger food but it can get messy with the molten leche flan dripping on your hand. Better to eat it with a fork and knife. If you love leche flan, you will surely love this sweet and creamy dessert. I think this goes well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, yum!

Locavore is best described as a restaurant that serves quality and creative Filipino cuisine concepts. Expect to spend ~P500 per person for a 3 course meal, but we assure you that is going to be one of the best P600 you will ever spend on food. We've seen that the staff is doing their best to deliver excellent customer service. There are of course lapses, as expected since they are still on soft opening, but so far so good. We will surely be back because there are so much more we want to try on their menu like the Luglog (which according to owners are very good) as well as the Chori Burger, the Thrice Cooked Pata and the Kitayama Wagyu Rib Eye Salpicado. We'll also try their cocktail drinks on our next visit.

Locavore
10 Brixton Street, Kapitolyo, Pasig City
Soft Opening Store Hours: Monday to Sunday 5:00pm onwards (no definite closing time yet)
Instagram: @locavore.ph