Gastro Park Kapitolyo Find #1: El Phante

Last Saturday was a crazy food fest. I scheduled to meet my friends for breakfast, lunch and dinner in Kapitolyo as I realized that I have to start visiting the new ones before it starts to become unmanageable. I was so giddy on my way to Kapitolyo but it instantly disappeared when I couldn’t find Kitchen Diaries Café. There were two location pins, one from Waze and another from Instagram. I went to both and circled both areas like Sisa looking for her kids and I just could not find it. Worn out and sweaty, I decided to give the café a call and… apparently, there was a change in management and they have to close down the café indefinitely. It pissed me off! They could have at least announced it or something! Aaargh. Anyway, I made sure that lunch will be awesome as I planned it to be at…

Gastro Park!

This place is the StrEat version of Kapitolyo. Similar to the Maginhawa branch, this small compound houses several small food establishments offering different cuisines. And on top of my list is El Phante which got good rating in looloo.

I was excited to hand the coupons I got from Metro Deal where PHP200 worth of food will be just PHP99. But I failed to take note that the coupons are only valid from Sundays to Thursdays. It was not a big deal since it was my mistake and prices are wallet-friendly.

I then ordered the bestseller Chili Beef Basil Soft Taco (PHP140). Don’t be deceived by the name of the dish. It was just mildly spiced or so what the server claims.

It took roughly 10 minutes for our order to be served and it was… small. What do you expect from PHP140? I was pleased though that despite the small size of the soft taco, there was a generous serving of ground beef.

It was quite oily and that’s why T opted to use her fork to munch on it. But I want to enjoy mine the Mexican way. So I stuffed all the meat inside the soft taco and took a bite.

And it was good! There was a tinge of spiciness but it was far from being called spicy. It was flavorful and I loved the hint of sweetness and slight herbal taste from the basil. I liked it and would have even loved it if it was not overly oily.

I went back to Gastro Park that same day for dinner and headed to El Phante for more and we got Chili Beef Basil Nachos (PHP165) and Pad Thai-Mex (PHP175).

Note to self: Stick with softtacos. I didn’t like the nacho chips used by El Phante. Though the toppings were good, it was not enough to make up for the blah chips. 

And they were stingy with the cheese! I want more cheese!

Spicy food lovers would love the Pad Thai-Mex. It was too spicy for my liking and I only had a few forkful. The pasta was al dente though and there was an itsy bitsy hint of the delectable sweet taste which pad thai is known for. But I won’t order this one again too.

Overall, it was a mediocre meal but I’d go back for the soft tacos.

El Phante is inside Gastro Park, 1^st Street, Barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig City.