35°C
Partly cloudy
Thu
30°C
Fri
29°C
Sat
29°C

Powered by WeatherAPI.com

USD $1 ₱ 56.28 0.0000 March 27, 2024
March 26, 2024
Ultra Lotto 6/58
232648012531
₱ 49,500,000.00
2D Lotto 2PM
2819
₱ 4,000.00

Succulent Steaks and More at Borgo Café in Parañaque

Take a field trip to the south and stop by this village restaurant in BF Homes for long conversations over premium steaks and decadent desserts.

Borgo Café is another hole-in-the-wall to try along Aguirre Avenue of BF Homes, Parañaque. The word “borgo” is the Italian word for village or suburb. The restaurant is owned and managed by long time friends Chef Alvin Magpantay and Ryan Mendoza. Chef Alvin graduated from the Center for Asian Culinary Studies under Chef Gene Gonzalez of Café Ysabel and also finished the Grande Cuisine Mediterraneenne course at Alain Ducasse’s Ecole de Cuisine in France, while Ryan is a triathlete and former IT professional. “In 2010, while still working as an IT manager in Makati, plus not having any background in the food industry, I decided to put up a juice bar but it didn't pick-up. Then in early 2011, Chef Alvin and I talked about doing a business partnership. After a few months, my old juice bar became Borgo Café,” says Ryan. “One of my next projects would be to add recovery meals for athletes. Hopefully, that will be ready by June. Fresh and tasty food that you need after a good workout and something that won't ruin your diet,” adds Ryan.

Before this particular visit, I was at Borgo for 4 hours with my best friend, and we tried almost half the small plate dishes on the menu. The unassuming façade and simple interiors creates a very laid-back atmosphere – something that’s typical of southern metro dining. There’s a main dining area (spot the vintage-looking clock) and a more private area that’s closed off by a sliding door.

 
 

You’ll find an array of Mediterranean dishes at Borgo. For appetizers, they have a couple of choices each for soup and salad. There’s the smoky Tomato and Celery Soup (P115) that’s served with bacon and breadm and the colorful Octopus and Mango Salad (P239), which has smoked salmon, grilled octopus, and generous cubes of ripe mango. The salad is large enough for three people to share.


Tomato and Celery Soup
 
 

Octopus and Mango Salad
 

They have ten Tapas dishes to choose from, all at P99 each. We had a taste of the crispy Calamari Fritos served with garlic aioli and pomodoro, one dish I didn’t try the previous time (so that makes 5 out of 10 – plenty more left for the next 4-hour visit).


Calamari Fritos
 
Served with pomodoro sauce

The highlight of the menu is their steak dishes (they have Steak-All-You-Can promos for P499). Take your pick among their main courses made with USDA Angus beef (and you can have the low carb option of no rice and more greens).

Advertisement

Butcher’s Steak
 

The Butcher’s Steak (P299) is hanger steak that’s laid over a serving of mashed potatoes and served with peppered brown sauce. Known to have a lot of flavor, it’s called as such because old-school butchers saved this cut for themselves.


Angus Salpicado
 

There’s also the Angus Salpicado (P299) made with bite-size USDA beef sautéed with garlic, button mushrooms and roasted peppers on top of rice that’s cooked with the salpicao drippings – that’s a load of beefy, peppery flavor in one spoonful. The side salad of lettuce drizzled with honey balsamic vinaigrette gives your palate a break from all the strong flavors.


Premium Tapsilog
 

Order a plate of their Premium Tapsilog (P175) – Angus trimmings with garlic rice and two sunny side eggs – if you’re in the mood for breakfast-for-dinner.

They also have their version of lengua but instead of ox tongue, it’s made with shin shanks or tendons (litid in Filipino). Aptly called Kali for “kalitiran” (P299), it’s beef braised in mushrooms and olive brown sauce.


Kali
 

Main dishes for sharing are Short Ribs Caldereta (P399) and Arroz Mixto (P399). The sweet caldereta has chorizo, bell peppers, olives, and mushrooms all covered in thick red sauce. The paella-style Arroz Mixto screams fiesta with all the colors from the tomatoes, eggs, and slices of lemon with clams and mussels wedged in between.


Short Ribs Caldereta
 
 

Arroz Mixto
 

Their pastas can also be shared like the Quattro (P199) made with four kinds of mushrooms in a truffle béchamel sauce.


Quattro
 

We were also able to try a dish from their Valentine’s menu called Steak and Ink (part of a set meal with amuse bouche, drinks and dessert all for P1,290), which is USDA hanger steak marinated in garlic and anchovy with homemade Chimichurri served with squid ink risotto.


Steak and Ink

The risotto was an interesting sight and I enjoyed it (though I couldn’t smile after three inky forkfuls) with the tender steak.

Another Valentine’s offer was the Strawberry Cheesecake (P190) made with four-cheese gateau and US strawberries. Cheesecake isn’t my first choice for dessert because I’ve had ones that were too rich for my taste, but this one was a nice blend of salty and sweet, not at all overwhelming. Those strawberries were just decadent!


Strawberry Cheesecake

Dessert is synonymous to chocolate in my book. The Choco Lava with Seasalt (P165) has both, with swirls of chili syrup with seasalt on the plate and caramel on the vanilla ice cream. This chocolate-with-chili is growing on me.


Choco Lava with Seasalt
 

Go and take a field trip and stop by this village restaurant for long conversations over premium steaks and decadent desserts.

 

How to get there:

Coming from Lopez Avenue, enter gate of BF Homes and go straight along El Grande. Turn left at the stop light to Aguirre Avenue. You’ll see Borgo Café (312 Aguirre Ave.) is on the left before you reach Puregold.

Like and follow Borgo Café on Facebook (borgocafe) and Instagram (@borgocafe).

Share the story

Advertisement
Advertisement

Recent Posts

Hot Off the Press