Tahanan Bistro — Restaurant in Rizal

Before getting into the review details, we loved the place and we would definitely come back. We went here unplanned and no expectations whatsoever as we were just looking for a place to chill out to end the weekend. I just did some quick random search to look for a cozy place near our area. When I saw some info about Tahanan Bistro and it is available, without much thought, I just immediately reserved and paid for it without even looking at the menu. 😁

[ Food ]

We have ordered Baka and Pugita course set menu.

For the "Baka" course set (which I have ordered), I would rate it as 4.2 Stars (5,3.5,4.5,4,4)

Appetizer (5 Stars) I loved the combination of the ingredients used on their appetizer and it was very pleasing in the eye. The taste and texture really suits my preference. So this is 5 Stars for me.

Salad (3.5 Stars) I also liked the salad but I was expecting a different/premium ingredient instead of having pansit-pansitan. Pansit-pansitan can be found everywhere (without going into details). It is a good herbal medicine though. 3.5 Stars for the salad.

Intermezzo (4.5 Stars) This one is good too as it really resets your taste buds. 4.5 Stars

Main (4 Stars) For the main event, i'll try to be as detailed as possible as I know a thing or two about kare-kare. My family and relatives always look forward when I make this.

a) Roasted Banana Heart - I definitely preferred the way they have prepared it (try ko gayahin lol). Taste and texture is a must try. 5 Stars

b) Peanut Sauce - The taste is okay but it felt like something is missing. Maybe a hint of beef taste should be included in the peanut sauce? For my personal preference, when it comes to Kare-kare, the peanut sauce should taste like a fusion of other ingredients that goes together with the peanut sauce. I would rate the peanut sauce be 4 stars

c) Bagoong - will not rate this, as rating bagoong is extremely subjective (some like it sweet and some like it salty). I have no complaints though.

d) Pulled Beef - Indeed the beef is tasty and tender. However, I was expecting another ingredient (ex. different part of the beef or anything that can go together) that is fused or some secret stuff with the pulled beef. The idea is that when we wrap something, there is something inside that would make you feel surprised and unique about it. It could be that I'm expecting too much since I super liked the starters of the set course which made me expect more with the succeeding meal. For the pulled beef concept, I would rate it 4 Stars.

e) Bagoong Black Rice - I would rate it 10 stars! I think describing it would make it more biased since I have rated it to 10 stars haha!

Dessert (4 Stars) Taste and texture suits my preference too. The sweetness and slight bitterness of the dessert is well-balanced. However, the black rice puff may need improvement (texture is above normal) as people that has dentures might have difficulties chewing it. Elderly people might struggle when eating rice puff as well. For me, I have no problems with the texture as my teeth are complete and do not have dentures lol.

For the "Pugita" course set, I can't comment on this one in detail, but according to my wife and kasambahay that everything they have tasted, suited their taste. I will leave it to your imagination about the rating of those.

[ Service ]

5 stars as their staff is very accomodating and they don't seem to judge you based from your appearance (hopefully) even we were on very casual clothes.

[ Atmosphere ]

5 stars too as the place is serene and quite nostalgic.

For the price, the cost of the food depends on many factors. In terms of overall setup, the 2.7k+ per head is still acceptable but not to many. But I'm looking forward that all ingredients used should be somewhat premium or difficult to procure which would make the price more justifiable.

Thanks for the overall experience and see you guys next time!

P.S. We hope that next time you would cater a kid's menu. Tahanan is for family and friends. For...

We ordered their three set menus in April 2022 and sadly the quality of their food has gone down so bad that it is not anymore the place my cousins, friends and I loved in 2018. I think Tahanan has had to change chefs and wait staff because of the pandemic, understandable because of the long lull in business, but what is left behind is unrecognizable.

So here's a rundown of their April 2022 menu:

HALCON Kamote - INEDIBLE. It was the driest, most fibrous kamote on the planet. This small one-piece kamote was priced P290 + 10% service charge ala carte. Considering the price and how good it sounded on the menu, the reality was shameful. According to the menu, it came with a topping of chickpeas, longganiza, salsa verde, and house-made ricotta. The chickpeas tasted like canned garbanzos straight from a grocery, without any added pleasure. Even the salsa verde was tasteless. If the house-made ricotta was there it was unidentifiable. I would have derived more satisfaction from boiled kamote bought from any no-name palengke in any Philippine province. It begged the question: How did Tahanan find the most fibrous kamote on the planet and cook it so dry? Pininyahang Manok - The chicken was tender, the fried potatoes had a nice crisp, and both were seasoned well. The sweet and salty flavors of the sauce blended fine. But the dish as a whole was nothing special. You don't have to leave Manila to find yummier dishes for a fraction of the price. Honestly, I enjoyed better-tasting cafeteria food in college. Prutas - house-made frozen fruit cocktail. Not as bright and flavorful as it was in 2018. How come? Ube - The ube lava cake along with the cheese ice cream was delicious. The cheese topping of savory edam crisp balanced the sweetness of the dessert.

MAYON Rellenong Pusit - The aligue-battered calamari was makunat (instead of crunchy, tough and chewy). Danggit - It was NOT delicious. The flavors did not blend well. The danggit tasted burnt. Binagoongan - My companion said it wasn't crispy. I didn't try it. Bibingka - The french toast cornbread had the same texture, flavor, and density as Kenny Roger's corn muffin (which you can avail of a dozen for P120). The carabao's milk vanilla ice cream was ordinary vanilla ice cream.

IRAYA Gising-Gising - Delicious. The prawn and winged bean dumplings were soft and delicately cooked. The flavor was palatable, balanced with coconut cream sauce with chili oil. The coconut cream was a little too watered down, the leeks topping was stringy, and the pork floss was makunat (tough and chewy) too, but the dish was still a win for me, because I relished the delicacy of the coconut prawn dumplings. Bistek Tagalog - Okay. Just okay. Small portion size. Beef was tender enough. Flavor was forgettable. Didn't have the nice flavor of Bistek Tagalog. The enoki mushrooms in the menu were missing from the actual dish. Fruit Salad - The chia pudding's texture was interesting and pleasing to the palate. The champagne sabayon didn't have a hint of champagne. But the flavors and textures were good.

The verdict: Overall, Tahanan like most of us who got sloppy during the pandemic needs to shape up!

Even their cleanliness got sloppy; the tables were sticky and ants were crawling all over, as if the staff didn't care enough to clean it properly for the next set of diners.

Tahanan Bistro's gallery is no longer open to the public. I hope at least its kitchen gets back on its feet because if it continues at its present poor quality its loyal customers will simply...

Casual, Homey, Food is Filipino Fusion but Lacks Quality Service

It is casual. How do you know? You have to remove your shoes before coming in. So, don't wear white socks otherwise good luck with the wood stain.

We had the place to ourselves to in order to celebrate the birthday of our Foundress.

It is called Tahanan for a reason. It is homey. You expect to being treated like a house guest. But no, you are treated exactly as you are - a paying customer, which is worse.

The house itself is a gallery of breathtaking of art collection and wood creation. That is perhaps its best Attraction. That by itself is worth the trip.

The woodsy garden setting should be exhilarating for people from Metro Manila, but because we live in a 13.5 hectare mountain sacred place, none of us was impressed. But that is more our fault, not theirs.

Now the food.

It is called the Pinatubo Set which I suppose meant that it was supposed to create an eruption of flavors. It didn't.

It is inventive. But like all inventive food, it is not for everyone. The chef is daring enough to call a menu set Filipino Food and didn't include rice. They served adlai. I love adlai - we have adlai at home. It is low in sugar but high in energy. But adlai is not for everyone.

Soup is sweet corn based, a modern version of the Pampanga specialty Suam na Mais Rustic. It is my favorite. I loved it. It had moringa oil. So healthy.

Aperitif is kinilaw na Yellow Fin Tuna or tambakol. NOW! it was inventive but not impressive. It didn't elevate your appetite. At least not mine. You can't taste the fish because the spices were overwhelming. The avocado mayonnaise seemed over the top.

Main dish is a gourmet attempt I will recommend only for the daring and adventurous. It is a modern take on beef pares (stewed beef in soy sauce) but using ox tongue cooked twice, fried tripe (insides of a cow) tasted like liver which made one sister to comment that it had liver spread. It looked messy on the plate. The flavor is beefy. I loved it. But will only recommend it to seasoned food adventurers.

Popsicle as palate cleanser is a big NO. After beef, I needed something smooth like a sherbet.

Dessert was ube lava cake. Not bad. Not great. But worth the try.

What is not to like?

Poor service. The time between aperitif and main dish was enough time to shampoo your hair, iron it, and set it to party curls. Yep. That long. And to think we were the only customers.

The staff were nice, courteous, and friendly. But it felt like they had no intention to impress. As if we owe it to them that we visited their place on a rest day. 😂

Bubbly white wine was served with BEEF! The only white wine that can stand the flavor of beef is chardonnay. But dear Lord. Sacrilegious!

Two sisters stood up to redistribute the soup because they were not served well. One request for milk to go with coffee didn't even arrive.

But we were there for the company of our Foundress so it made up for all the flaws.

We were very grateful to...