Cagayan's Cafe, Centrepoint

Wanted to try this last year, but didnt have the time nor the opportunity to...

So one fine day, some of my ex-colleagues wanted to meet for lunch and I suggested Cagayan as I wanted to try some Philipino food :).

We were there around 2pm, the lunch crowd has already subsided. We took a seat and browsed through the food selection...noted that this place is actually fusion Philipines and Japanese as there were an array of Japanese noodles and rice too. While we were so busy catching up, we managed to ordered some 'signature' dishes..

We had the golden mushroom bacon maki.. Well, it's basically enoki mushrooms wrapped in bacon and panfried. I do find this delicious as the enoki retained its juiciness while the bacon was crispy. The saltiness from the bacon balanced the sweetness from the enoki well, making this a delightful appetizer..

Since we are in a Philipino restaurant, obviously we wanted to try some Philipino dishes too.. hence we ordered the Chicken Adobo (RM7.90) and Pork Adobo(RM7.90). The Chicken Adobo looks ver similar to ayam percik (malay-style bbq chicken) in the menu, we wanted to try it as it looks so tempting...

Well, we were disappointed.. :( Look at this. Does this look like ayam percik at all? Looks more like chinese wine chicken.. We thought we were served with the wrong dish, but the waiter confirmed that this is chicken adobo..:(. But it looked so different from the menu!! we protested. The waiter explained that in the picture, they added dark soy sauce. But they dont add that sauce now as it was not that popular amongst the customers. Oh well. :( We were served with white rice and before we even started, the pork adobo was served..Since both are called adobo, obviously it had the same sauce as base. The sauce was unique, very strong in vinegar actually..It was sour but slightly sweet and savoury as well. Have it with white rice, it was actually pretty good. But if I had to choose one of the adobos, I'd go for the pork. Somehow, the pork's sauce seems thicker and more fragrant. Maybe its the fats frm the pork :p

The last dish that was served was Cagayan's famed ribs..As we were sharing, we ordered the 8 slab portion (RM40+), served with the classical sauce. You can also have it with Oriental (suppose to taste like bak-kwa) or Chilli hot (which I wanted, but my frens voted against :( ). The portion was huge, enough to feed piggies like us. The ribs were very tender and again, it had that distinct vinegary flavour. The exterior was grilled nicely, all sticky sweet salty from the bbq sauce, but the pork..it was so unique. It pratically melts off the ribs and we savour it, the flavour slowly but surely, engulf our taste buds...different, but still yummy nonetheless.

What Julianne thinks?

Unique, unassuming but tasty

Cagayan Cafe is located at G107-108 Centrepoint Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama. Opens daily, 11.30am-10pm. Tel: 03-77241022. For those who dislike/ allergic to vinegar, Cagayan do serve other dishes that you can try too.