It’s summer in the Philippines and we can’t help but remember our childhoods in the province, playing traditional Filipino games until sundown and filling ourselves up with our grandparents’ exquisite cooking.
For working adults in Metro Manila, there’s a dining spot that can give you the same gastronomic experience as our childhood summers. Tucked away in Taguig City is La Luna Cafe which serves Filipino comfort food – including panaderia (bakery) favorites – in an ancestral home.
Deck area
Image credit: Doy David
La Luna Cafe is just a short drive away from the busy Bonifacio Global City yet it’s sure to remind you of your childhood summers at your grandparents’ home in the province.
It has two two-story houses with the lower stories made with stone and cement and top stories made with wood. These have capiz windows – the trademark of a Filipino heritage house.
La Luna Cafe also has an al fresco deck area surrounded by trees where you can enjoy your meryenda (snack).
La Luna Cafe’s interior
Image credit: @la_lunacafe
Inside, the cafe looks like an opulent family’s ancestral home, decorated with intricate beams and decked in wooden furniture and glass-top tables. To dine indoors, each guest is required to present a completed vaccination card.
Champorado
Image credit: @la_lunacafe
La Luna Cafe menu items are also on-theme. They’re elevated versions of homecooked, Filipino food.
For breakfast, they have several kinds of silog (Filipino breakfast dishes) starting at P215 (~USD4.11) and champorado, or sweet chocolate rice porridge for P200 (~USD3.82). For lunch or dinner, they have Filipino viands such as igado and bopis (both P350, ~USD6.69), both made with pork innards.
Tapsilog
Image credit: @la_lunacafe
The cafe also serves specialty dishes from Taguig. These include balut ala pobre (sizzling boiled fertilized duck egg), paksiw na ayungin (silver perch fish stewed in vinegar), and ginataang biya (round goby fish in coconut milk). There are also local duck dishes such as adobo (soy-braised duck) and fried itik (duck).
Pan de coco
Image credit: @la_lunacafe
Bread from the local panaderia is a huge part of Filipino childhood like any other type of food. For this, La Luna Cafe carries Filipino bakery classics.
They have ensaymada, (sweet pastry topped with butter, sugar, and grated cheese) pan de coco (dinner roll filled with sweetened coconut meat shavings), and kalihim (soft bread with red pudding filling), made fresh daily.
Kalihim
Image credit: La Luna Café
You can also get pandesal (salted bread roll) with your choice of filling – from corned beef and Spanish sardines to premium glazed ham.
To complete your Filipino childhood summer throwback, you can also cool down with the shaved ice desserts and summer staples halo-halo and mais con yelo.
Baby back ribs
Image credit: @la_lunacafe
You can also enjoy Western cuisine at this Filipino heritage house cafe.
You can have a light breakfast of bread rolls and butter (P250, ~USD4.78) or a heavy breakfast of fried chicken and waffles (P400, ~USD7.65). Lunch and dinner mains include steak frites (P600, ~USD11.47) and a juicy rack of baby back ribs (starts at P850, ~USD16.25).
If you want to taste as many La Luna Cafe flavors as possible in one dish, we recommend getting their roasted chicken on sourdough bread (P350, ~USD6.69) that comes with pesto sauce and with a side of fries.
There are Filipino restaurants at every corner of the metro, but La Luna Cafe is unique from the rest for its ambience that will remind you of childhood summers and simpler times in the province.
Located in an ancestral home and serving good, Filipino food, it can soothe your homesickness while saving you the effort and expenses of taking a trip back home.
Address: 103 M. L. Quezon Avenue, Taguig City, Metro Manila
Opening hours: 7AM-10PM, Daily
Address: (02) 8293 7655
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Cover image adapted from: @la_lunacafe and @la_lunacafe
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