Limbaga 77: Comfort food in the hood
Where I live in Quezon City can rightly be described as restaurant row—or more accurately, rows of restaurants as dozens of them fill not just Tomas Morato Avenue but also its crisscrossing and parallel streets. If I turn into a road I don’t normally pass I will inevitably discover many inviting spots that span a world of cuisines to suit every taste and wallet.
They say if a new restaurant survives in Quezon City, it will survive anywhere else in the metro. That’s because with such a wealth of options, we are truly spoilt for choice. Expensive cafe? It better justify the prices because there are so many reasonably priced places around here. Any new spot that comes with good reviews will draw out a hungry horde. If the place is deserving, the queue remains weeks and months after it opens. If not, the curious crowd quickly evaporates.
To thrive in this highly competitive city means you must be good. To last 10 years means you must be very, very good, and a visit or revisit is in order. But there are so many places that I haven’t tried even if I’ve lived here for 22 years.
Such a restaurant is Limbaga 77, so named for its street number on Scout Limbaga. This is Laging Handa, the barangay named for the boy scouts who died in a plane crash on their way to the 11th World Scout Jamboree in Greece. But apart from streets named in their heroic memory, this a quaintly residential of houses dating to the ‘60s, ‘70s and beyond, many converted into charming cafes, bakeries, boutiques and gift shops.
Limbaga 77 just celebrated its 10th year with a dinner that brought together regulars and supporters who come for festive Filipino food at its finest, yet without any unnecessary frills. Since a number of the partners are from Ilocos, you’ll find specialties like crispy bagnet and poqui poqui, the latter an eggplant and egg dish similar to tortang talong. Here, they are served as appetizer balls.
The other popular dishes include salmon sinigang, crispy pata, a seafood paella, puchero and bulalo. Steamed pompano and fresh lumpia, sinigang na baka sa pakwan and binusog na pusit (stuffed squid) are lighter options. They can balance the richness of sisig, salpicao and kaldereta.
As is often the case in a Fiipino fiesta, lechon is a star. At Limbaga 77, it gets turned into tacos, a baked lechon paksiw and even carbonara. I suggest as a starter the stuffed kalabasa flowers that I haven’t seen outside Italian restaurants.
Your Filipino dessert flavors are very much present, with an ube leche flan cake, a creamy bueno mango and a brown butter sans rival.
The restaurant is set in a large but cozy former residence whose layout makes it perfect for reunions, celebrations or even just a visit in search of those comfort Filipino dishes. The homey atmosphere puts you right at ease, and there are two private rooms on the second floor.
Limbaga 77’s decade celebration is proof that Filipino food can stand on its own amid a great many options in the metro. We will surely be back shortly to revisit, with more of our family in tow!
