Drinks are on the house

Back in June 2008, I wrote about Pino, a tiny restaurant and bar near our house with a very innovative menu. I'm happy to say that it's still open and has actually been featured in a local TV show, which I hope means that they'll get even more customers so they'll continue operating. After watching another play last week, my husband and I decided to stop by for a beer and some bar chow (their Tempura Oyster Pearls are yummy!). We sat outside since it wasn't too hot and humid. Looks like humans aren't the only creatures who use Pino as their watering hole.

Find more Odd Shots—or post your own—at Katney's Kaboodle.

Rabbit food

Because of the popularity of their vegetarian dishes, the owners of Pino Resto-Bar (see yesterday's post) decided to open another restaurant, strictly vegetarian this time. It is located just above Pino and is called Pipino. Aside from being a play on the original restaurant's name, pipino is also the Tagalog word for cucumber. You can always order from Pipino's menu if you eat at Pino, which is what I did the last time we were there. I don't think it works the other way, though.

Pino Pinoy

I first posted photos of Pino Resto-Bar back in 2008 when it was new. It's still around, and has even moved to a bigger place—and still in the neighborhood, thankfully. After all these years, though, it was only yesterday that I noticed that the asterisk separating "resto" from "bar" in their logo is actually the 8-rayed sun of the Philippine flag.

Strange fusion

The kids that run Pino restaurant have a knack for creating dishes that sound strange when you read the descriptions in the menu but taste absolutely heavenly. This is one of them. Cheese sticks with nori (seaweed) wrapped in wonton wrappers, deep fried and served with strawberry sauce and nori relish. Pino's Nori Cheesesticks is supposed to be an appetizer but I can eat all eight finger-sized pieces for dinner.

Find more Odd Shots—or post your own—at Katney's Kaboodle.

Fun wall

Yesterday, I showed one side of the restaurant Pino. This is the opposite wall—cartoons! Drawn with black markers of different thicknesses. Fine and fun. Much like their food. And probably the young owners too.

Crunch, crunch

Tokwa is what we call firm tofu, and when I was a child, it was the only kind of tofu that I knew. Because of its firmness, it can be fried without it crumbling. Pino Resto Bar's vegetarian Tokwa't Tokwa (Tokwa't Baboy is tokwa and pork, which is popular as bar chow in Manila) is exceptionally crunchy and served with fried rice, a leaf of pechay, chili mayo, and a dipping sauce made of soy sauce and vinegar into which you can squeeze the calamansi and add the onion bits.

Oodles of doodles

At Pino Resto-Bar's original location, they had one wall covered in doodles. When they transferred to their current, bigger place, they commissioned the same group to doodle on a wall again.

See murals from around the world in Monday Mural.

It's fine

A tiny restaurant named Pino—Tagalog for 'fine'—opened near our house less than a year ago. I adore its interior—all the varied textures! Wood and chrome furniture, wicker and embroidery accents, and a black crystal chandelier (which is way too low for me—I keep hitting my head on it when we sit at the table in the photo) in a room painted all in white hung with small paintings in plain white frames and matting. Even the food is as multi-textured as the interior design. Imagine breaded fish fillet, but the batter is made of nori (dried seaweed). Imagine maki (rolled sushi), but instead of raw fish, it's stuffed with crunchy salmon skin. When you get to meet the owners and the chef, the experimentation and daring are not surprising. All of them are young (in their early twenties)! My husband and I both hope that the restaurant does well so they'll stay open and continue experimenting for a long time.

The art of eating

During the past three years, our neighborhood has become quite a popular location for small, independent restaurants and bars. Aside from Trellis, which has been around since the 80s, there's Pino, Tomato Kick, Friuli and Kiss the Cook, and many others that I have not yet featured here—all within walking distance or a tricycle ride away from our house. Makes for very happy taste buds but I'm beginning to despair of my waistline. Leona Art Restaurant used to be located in a different part of Quezon City but recently moved in too. Both their grilled and fried pizzas are good and we're looking forward to trying other items on their menu. I should ask the owners why they call it an "art restaurant" but I won't be surprised if it has to do with all the eclectic, quirky and lovely decorations they have in the place.

3.1415

From the same chef and co-owner of Pino and Pipino restaurants comes π (Pi), which serves breakfast fare and pies everyday from 7am to 10pm. Who said that Eggs Benedict, omelettes and pancakes are only for early mornings? And who said that cream pies are not for breakfast?

And now, back to our regular programming

Beginning with food! Nothing is more typically Pinoy than comforting each other, celebrating or just gathering to talk, than doing so with lots of food. Seafood pasta (squid rings and shrimp in spicy tomato sauce) from Pino restaurant.