Thursday, December 1, 2016

First Bite: Café Lidia

After 9 hours of eating, we have finally reached the last stop of our Marikina food crawl. And just when we thought we’ll just have a spoonful of each dish, we were spoiled with mouthwatering pasta dishes, pizzas, meats and cakes! And we simply could not say no to those!

Hello, Café Lidia.
Café Lidia is one of the pioneer restaurants in Marikina and has been well-loved by residents and foodies alike. Most have seen this establishment grow from a humble restaurant to a space that could cater to special occasions like weddings and birthday parties. And I was surprised that at almost 9 pm, the place was still packed with diners. 
The place has this Hispanic or Old Manila feel with its brick walls, wooden furniture and lovely pond. 
As we waited for the dishes we were about to sample, I browsed through the menu and was impressed with the number of dishes Café Lidia offers. They have several viands, pasta, pizza and cakes to choose from.
Soon, the long table beside ours was filled with several mouthwatering dishes for us to take photos of. And by several, I meant a lot of dishes! I struggled in making all the dishes fit the frame. 
Since I was already about to burst, I wasn’t able to sample all of the dishes. But I managed to sample the following: Potato Salad (PHP130), House Salad (PHP155), Shrimp and Pasta ala Enrique (PHP205), Pepperoni Pizza (PHP205, 12 inches) and Beef Salpicao (PHP225). For the cakes, I was able to try UbeWhite Chocolate SansrivalClassic Sansrival, and Blueberry Cheesecake (prices range from PHP85-115).
The potato salad was pretty good. I had a bite of the potato chunk and I liked that it was not mushy and not swimming in mayonnaise.
I wasn’t able to fully enjoy the house salad but the mango bits were sweet and fresh! 
I loved the Shirmp and Pasta ala Enrique which was a combination of bacon and shrimp with tomato chunks, capers, parsley and garlic over linguine. I loved the harmonious play of flavors—salty, tangy and light herb taste. It could just be a bit too oily for some who are health conscious
I also liked the garlicky salpicao. The beef was tender, succulent and made me crave for rice.
I didn’t like the pepperoni pizza though as it tasted ordinary and the crust was a bit too floury. But then again, I’m not a fan of pepperoni to begin with.

As for the cakes, I had a forkful of ube and I loved it! It wasn’t too sweet and the chiffon was very soft. It was a fluffy piece of purple heaven!
There was a battle between Classic Sansival and White Chocolate Sansrival that night and the latter won as majority of the foodies part of the food crawl love sweets. 
I liked classic more though as it had a stronger cashew taste. 
The blueberry cheesecake was also good. It had a lovely texture and it wasn’t very sweet as well. However, given the chance, I’d get another plate of ube instead of this one. (They ran out of ube cake when I tried to order another slice.)
Here are the other dishes that were served to us but I wasn't able to sample anymore as I was too full.
Overall, it was a pleasant visit. Though the savory dishes are not that spectacular, I’d go back to Café Lidia to grab a cake or two. 
Café Lidia is located at 64 F. Calderon, Marikina City.

Cafe Lidia Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments or other recommendations? :)