La Vida Loca-vore

Whenever we pass by Brixton St., en route to a meeting at UNAHCO or Unilab, we'd often pass by this hole-in-the-wall looking restaurant in Pasig.

"Locavore." That's what the sign states - etched neatly on the cool gray concrete wall.

Apparently, it's a very popular choice among modern foodies. Judging from the reviews I've read - both on print and on-line - Locavore offers Filipino cuisine with a modern twist. Not exactly a new proposition, but people who've eaten there say that the way they've modernized and twisted local cuisine is phenomenal.

So, after passing by the restaurant for over a year, it was time to drop by and try it out.

Tuesday night isn't really the briskest for restaurants, but Locavore was full tonight. All the tables were filled with big groups, ranging from families, officemates, friends, and some rowdy, mildly entertaining and mildly irritating college kids. (Hello, table on my left!)

Initial reaction on the menu? Very interesting and quite novel. They had dishes like oyster sisig, kare-kare wings, tilapia in kwek-kwek batter, and pakbet ratatouille. I've been to quite a number of "Filipino Moderne" restaurants, but this is the first time I've encountered these dishes.

After poring through the choices a few times, we finally decided on a combination of old favorites and experimented on some new dishes.

For starters, the street food platter. You can't go wrong with that.

Our main course was the baby squid, pinakbet ratatouille and organic garlic brown rice. Visually, they might look simple but the interplay of flavors belie its seeming simplicity.

The baby squid was perfectly tender, and had a rich, garlic butter flavor. It had whole cloves of roasted garlic that gave added zing to the taste. The pinakbet had a creamy texture to it. When blended with the bagoong and the individual flavors of the veggies, it felt like a fiesta of flavors. And to temper all these strong flavors, the garlic brown rice did the trick.

Now, what's a meal without dessert? Enter the pandesal pudding.

It has salted egg and dulce de leche sauce. 'Nuff said.

Overall, Locavore lived up to the hype. The dishes were unique, the flavors were top notch, and it was worth the lengthy walk going there.

No wonder people are going Loca over it.