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.

Restaurant Love: Leona's Art Restaurant

I was so excited for the Quezon City Food Fest as it sounded so promising. Imagine, gathering all the best finds in Quezon City in one area. It was a foodie’s dream come true. But I wasn’t expecting (1) that it’ll rain pretty much the whole afternoon and (2) that there wasn’t anything special about the whole event. There were no special dishes or offering and every single restaurant was packed! In short, I ended up being a sticky and wet hungry girl.

After an upsetting trip to this new Japanese restaurant I shall not mention, M recommended that we visit his favorite pizza place instead. And since I was famished and the two sorbetes cones I bought were about to disappear, I agreed.

Hello, Leona’s Art Restaurant!

The place is pretty small and we had to wait for a bit for a table to clear up. Luckily, the wait wasn’t that long.

Since the place was packed, it took the servers a while to clear our table and to get our orders. But since the owner was apologetic, I was more forgiving this time. (Plus, the sorbetes helped calm me.)

We opted to get the Take Three Pizza Promo for only PHP499 (for 10 inches). For the flavors, Three Cheese and Pepperoni are fixed. We could only choose one more and we got the Garlic and Mushroom. I also ordered the Tomato Espresso (PHP80) and Soft Taco (PHP90). I also got a rootbeer float as drink/dessert.

Celebrating weekend freedom with Fredom Fries

To celebrate Candy bagging the Golden Rocket Awards, the publishers behind the great teen magazine organized a Publishers’ Lunch at Army Navy.

It was my first time in Army Navy and the first thing I noticed there was the interior. It was pretty cute. It has the camp feel—stylized camp feel.

The name of the restaurant was painted on the cemented walls. There was also the cute Oscar-the-Grouch trash bin. The counter was also like the ones you’ll see in some camps serving potatoes and everything else mashed.

When we reached our tables, there were already several orders of Freedom Fries (PHP60) waiting to be eaten. My boss told me that Army Navy’s burritos and Fearless Fried Chicken (FFC?) are good but I got curious with the soft tacos and my boss never tried it before (I thought that at least I could tell her what it tasted like). I then ordered Soft Taco with Chicken filling (PHP125) and a regular Libertea, Army Navy’s brewed iced tea (PHP45).



The Freedom Fries was one addicting snack. The flavorful, thinly sliced long fries were not very oily and it was not salty at all. Zesty as the menu described it, it was something I will definitely order when I visit again.

 After finishing all our Freedom Fries, our orders arrived. My order has a very strong smell. Very oniony—a scent I do not like at all. I had to remove most of the onions to get a taste of the other ingredients such as—chicken.

The lime and the salsa didn’t play much of a role. It was like onion soft taco. K

At least the popular Libertea was good. It was definitely LEMON ICED TEA.

Next time, I'll stick to burrito.

Army Navy Burger + Burrito is located at the GF Strata 2000 Bldg., F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.