A daily fiesta at Gourdo's Café

MANILA, Philippines - For appetizer, you get a pizza, but not just any pizza. It’s the gourmet kind — thin-crust that came from a wood-fired oven so that it is both chewy and crisp. Now, the toppings are something else. What would you call a pizza that’s got chunks of longganisa, farmer’s cheese, green mango, and adobo sauce? At Gourdo’s Café, that’s a true Filipino pizza. And this is the only café where you can find this unique, truly Pinoy pie.

The truth is, Gourdo’s Café’s new executive chef Tristan Encarnacion loves Filipino cooking. And this is why, when he joined Gourdo’s culinary team, he couldn’t think of anything but. So, what else can a Filipino food-loving chef do? Create a menu that would make every day a fiesta, but of course!

Today, Gourdo’s Café presents Gourdo’s Pistahan menu, featuring local dishes with a slightly different touch. For instance, there is the tinolang sinigang na manok, chicken cooked tinola-style, then further cooked in sinigang broth, along with slices of local saba bananas and tamarind. The chicken is moist and tender with a tangy taste of sinigang that Filipinos have come to find comfort in.

Then, there’s also the huge plate of Gourdo’s kare-kare. This is a rich stew of oxtail cooked for hours in thick peanut sauce and fresh vegetables. Of course, this is not complete without some of Gourdo’s own shrimp paste or bagoong on the side. 

Fried and tested: Gourdo’s deep-fried halo-halo consists of sweet, crisp spring rolls filled with sweet beans, bananas, and everything else delightful in a halo-halo.

If you still have room for more, perhaps you would enjoy some baby back adobo. It’s everyone’s favorite baby back ribs cooked in adobo sauce that can simply remind you of your own mother’s cooking. Aside from that, Gourdo’s also serves up other local favorites, including the crispy binagoongan, laing lasagna, sinigang na bulalo, mustasa leaves, buro and spicy tuyo, ensaladang mangga, talong at bagoong.

Aside from entrées from the Pistahan menu, you can also try other Gourdo’s café bestsellers, including the prawn pizza, peach, bacon and cheese pizza, fish pot pie, baked penne and cheese, tuna gyoza, brick oven-braised lamb shank, and grilled smoke-infused pork chops.

As for dessert, Gourdo’s has simply made a full culinary repertoire of it. From the Pistahan menu, you can try deep-fried halo-halo. These are sweet, crisp spring rolls filled with sweet beans, bananas and everything else delightful in a halo-halo, and served with a rich cinnamon cream sauce.

Meanwhile, Gourdo’s Café also serves up fresh scoops of their very own gelato featuring flavors such as dulce de leche, straciatelle, cheesecake, cioccolato, strawberry, Nutella, pistachio, coffee and hazelnut.

Aside from this, chef Jackie Ang-po serves a delicate macadamia nut pie cake, glazed macadamia nuts baked on a shortbread pastry crust. There’s also the tiramisu, walnut rum cake, blueberry streusel, almond sansrival and warm chocolate cake.

Meanwhile, chef Buddy Trinidad also bakes up an array of comforting desserts such as the Climax chocolate cake, deep apple pie, chocolate truffle cake, tiramisu with smooth cream, caramel pili tart, French apple cake, and more.

As you see, at Gourdo’s, you don’t need a reason to have a feast!

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Gourdo’s Café is located at The Fort Entertainment Center in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. For inquiries and reservations, call 845-1700 or 885-5007. Gourdo’s also delivers via City Delivery at 87878.