Crisostomo: Turn of the Century Filipino Cuisine

I am starting to dodge my culinary adventure in Eastwood since it is the area that our Section Editor is planning to cover for our issue of the newsportal. And yes, I am at the periphery to hunt for restaurant that I could have a lunch at. I am a forerunner of the adage: "fast-food on week days , fine dining on week ends." But today is not the day since most fast-food stops in Eastwood are full. This is a surprising fact because there are actually only three dining demographics despite business heterogeneity: people from call centers, people from IBM, and people from Citibank.

I stopped by Crisostomo: Turn of the Century Filipino Cuisine. The restaurant is forged by the same culinary mastery by Chef Florabel Co of Felix Restaurant in Greenbelt which I have dined at once. Looks like her restaurants are an ensemble of dedication efforts. Her father is Felix and her husband's name is Crisostomo, so she must have named them after them. Secondary only, perhaps, is the concept it was derived at.

Crisostomo was formulated to have a revolutionary flare on Filipino cuisines, the same stance that evoked from the spirit of Crisostomo Ibarra who had been a bastion of cultural change. It was embodied in the restaurant's interior that has lighted drawings of the 17th century Filipino clothing styles and the Noli Me Tangere-inspired menu. The pinnacle of classic wooden elements complemented well with the modern well-cushioned seats.

It was hard for me to order because most of their entrees are good for 2-3people at the least. So I grabbed myself an Adobo Damaso(Php325 + 10% SC), a chicken and pork fried twice to recapture its crispiness, served with fried kangkong and a special sauce, Crazy Sisa Squid Salad(Php220 + 10% SC), a green salad with sprinkled with dried squid and strips of green mango, a Pandan Rice(Php60 +10%SC), it's just a steamed rice, and a Green Mango Shake(Php150 + 10%SC) that you can literally taste the bits and freshness of green mangoes. And oh, they serve a Cornbits-like courtesy appetizer too.

It was a nice dining experience, it feels like singing a kundiman with contemporary spin.