MAVER, PETRA & PILAR

Two nights before good friend R's scheduled exodus to Singapore, my galpals and I trooped over to the stylized carenderia that has been drawing crowds (and raves) since it first opened its doors to the public. Petra & Pilar, the new dining establishment along Export Drive near corner Pasong Tamo, applies that carenderia dining credo of providing good, familiar, home-cooked meals, only this time in more comfortable, air-conditioned surroundings.
A collaboration between businesswoman Katrina Ponce Enrile and chef Ed Quimson, the restaurant pays homage to Katrina's lolas, Petra and Pilar, and their delectable cooking styles--with meats most tender and sauces most flavorful. Their lunch and dinner fares include those oh so familiar meals that we love coming home to--binagoongang baboy (pork sautéed with shrimp paste), bicol express (stewed pork and chilis in coconut oil) lengua estofado (ox tongue stew), escabecheng fish fillet (sweet and sour fish fillet), caldereta (beef stew), tinolang manok (chicken with ginger broth), bistek Tagalog (fried beef with soy sauce and onion rings), rellenong alimasag (stuffed crabs), and embutidong bangus (milkfish roll), and if your lucky, ensaladang ampalaya (bitter gourd salad) and halaan (clam soup). Petra & Pilar also houses a small deli counter where the famous Delimondo range can be purchased. Let your eyes do the choosing among locally made sausages, pasta sauces, and the famous ranch-style corned beef. Hahahay!!!
My girlfriends and I had helpings of the beef kalitiran, kaldereta, escabeche and tinola (naubos agad, hehe).
We also couldn't resist an order of the San Moreno...
the Sans Rival and Chocolate Cake (gone, all gone!)...
Can you blame us?!?

Petra & Pilar indeed boasts of an interesting restaurant concept. It brings the "carenderia" dining to a whole new level--the interiors, welcoming and cozy; and food, anything BUT common.

Petra & Pilar
Ground Floor JAKA Center Building
Exportbank Drive corner
Chino Roces Avenue (formerly Pasong tamo) , Makati
Near Buendia and Pasong Tamo intersection
Tel. No. 887-5168
Open from 11am to 11pm