Casa Roces Manila

 Last Tuesday we went to Malacanang for an educational tour of Manila. I had never been to Malacanan Palace so I was quite excited.
First, we went to Casa Roces, which is just across the Palace, for lunch. They also arranged our trip to the Malacanang museum.
Casa Roces used to be the home of Chino Roces, publisher of The Manila Times. Their logo was a newsboy selling the paper and a statue of that newsboy welcomed us at Casa Roces.

The people running the place have transformed the home into a restaurant where one can walk right in or reserve a room upstairs ahead of time (like we did) for a more private dining experience.

The rooms have been slightly modified but still use the original 1930s furniture of the owners. 

I didn't bring a camera so all of these photos are from my officemates.

For a set meal of P800/person(plus 10% service charge) one can have:

Roasted tomato soup for starters (Delicious!)

Mixed green salad with artichokes (I found the lemon vinaigrette too sour)

Pinakbet with Bagnet (The crisp bagnet sealed the deal for me)

Barbecued marinated pork belly (Just ok)

Chicken adobo confit (Excellent)

Baked fish fillet with salsa verde (Good)

Vegetarian mix for my boss

Maja blanca for dessert (a bit too sweet) Not photographed was the sangria tea provided for each of us.

 They also have other set meals which includes Sopa Molo, Lengua in Mushroom Cognac; or crispy lengua caesar salad, pork belly stew with banana blossoms and fettuccine with roasted mushrooms among others also for P800/person.

The also have a selection of cakes at the counter.

Overall I must admit the price for our meal was quite stiff considering it wasn't really anything extraordinary but the house a definitely worth a visit. Snapshot-happy folks will be quite stimulated by all the different rooms named after Philippine publications like Liwayway, The Daily Mirror (photo above) and La Vanguardia (photo below)

Tip: If you don't have time to go to Las Casas, Casa Roces is a good alternative. You might also want to wear Pinoy attire to give your photos a vintage look.