Cafes, Food, Restaurants

D’Palazzo’s Café

One of the things I love about living in this area is the profusion of small, independent cafés and restaurants. Most cafés are nothing more than tiny rooms serving coffee in all its glorious forms; others are more involved, selling comfort food like pastries, sandwiches, and pasta as well.

D’Palazzo’s Café is one of the more involved ones. This relatively new café (no more than a few months old) is along CAA Road, right outside the Tropical Gate of BF. I suppose the immediate market would be students and staff from Southville; since I often drop by the 7-11 next to it (yes, Dat, to buy Mineshine), I decided it was worth a look.

I wasn’t expecting much by way of food, but I was pleasantly surprised. They have a tightly edited but wide-ranging menu, with breakfast meals (tapa with egg, sausages, an omelette), appetizers (nachos, sausage kebabs, even salpicao), sandwiches, salads, pasta, and main dishes. They also have a reasonable selection of hot and cold drinks, as well as flavored frappes. Wria and I had a quiet lunch there the other week, and the food we ordered was indeed substantial enough to be called lunch. Being a bread person, she ordered a Peppered Minute Steak sandwich (P158), which was displayed on a large poster on the wall that caught her eye. From their main courses, I chose the John Dory with Lemon Caper Butter (P198). We also got some Nachos with Chili (P95) and drinks: Iced Chocolate (P95) for her and Iced Tea (P75 / P85) for me.

I was happy with my iced tea, which tasted a bit like Figaro’s: brewed with orangey notes (the price was similar to Figaro’s too, unfortunately—these small places are always even better finds if they turn out cheaper than the more established shops). Wria found her iced chocolate too Milo-ey to warrant the 95 peso price tag (nothing wrong with Milo per se of course; as usual it all boils down to expectations, and one just doesn’t expect to have to pay too much for a glass of Milo). The nachos were simple but good; the accompanying chili was flavorful, though it had more beans than beef (granted, the beans were cooked just right).

My fish turned out to be unavailable, so they replaced it with blue marlin instead (not a difficult compromise at all). It was nicely done, the sauce was tasty but not too thick, and the accompanying greens, though laced with a strongly anchovy-spiked dressing (I thought it was the fish at first), went very well with everything. It was a good, if slightly expensive, meal in a neighborhood restaurant, with fine ingredients at the very least.

Wria’s sandwich was slightly smaller than expected, but overall the meat was good, tender, and well-flavored. The dish was accompanied with lots of cheesy kamote chips, which I enjoyed (Wria tells me these are available in supermarkets).

Altogether it was a better-than-average meal for a small village café. The prices were also slightly higher than usual, but then you could tell that they made an effort with the preparation and ingredients, so that was understandable. The ambiance was pleasant enough, clean and new, though rather undistinguished. Plus, it’s in a good location: right outside a small village and a constantly growing school, and a short walk away from a hospital: if you’re watching over a patient here, it’s an excellent place to have a peaceful meal that doesn’t taste like hospital slop. I don’t think I’ll find myself craving a meal here anytime soon, but our experience was pleasant enough, and I wouldn’t mind coming back to try something else.

D’Palazzo’s Café
Unit 1A Fenima Building, Citadella, CAA Road, Las Piñas (near Casimiro and Southville)
825-7307
Restaurant hours: 7:00AM – 12:00MN, Monday – Friday; 8:30AM – 10:30PM Saturday – Sunday

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