Filipino Comfort Food Haven: A Review of Limbaga 77 Café Restaurant

Dining in Limbaga 77 is like dining at the comfort of your own home. The restaurant itself is an old house: the first floor, as well as most of the second floor, was repurposed as a dining area while a couple of rooms were converted to private function halls.

Like most traditional Filipino abodes, the house is mostly made up of wood, as is evident with the flooring and ceiling, and it’s reminiscent of a typical grandparents’ home in the province where the family reunion is held every year. The place was cozy and quiet, with bossa nova covers playing in the background. Since we visited the restaurant in broad daylight, we saw how the huge windows gave the dining area a beautiful natural lighting.

The quaint, old-home feel was also reinforced by the cute knickknacks in the dining area—the gigantic television set alone took us back to that time where we’re happily watching classic shows like John and Marsha or Iskul Bukol in our living room when we were a kid. These ornaments were smartly placed around the dining area, so the overall effect wasn’t too overwhelming and stifling.

Limbaga 77 also has a nice al fresco dining area on the side of the restaurant for smokers or for those who want to dine in the open air. It’s also a great area for late-night barkada (friend group) hangout sessions as it has its own bar.

The only downside is the arrangement of seats. Although the chairs were plenty, they were placed too close to each other, thus making it a hard time for diners to pass through.

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Limbaga 77 serves Filipino cuisine, so it’s likely that you are already familiar with most of their dishes. For our take on the food we ordered, read on.

To start our meal, we ordered Limbaga 77’s Pancit Bihon. Served piping hot, the Chinese-style bihon consists of a mountain of noodles topped with different kinds of vegetables and mixed meat including squid, pork, kikiam (sausage-like ground pork and vegetables wrapped in bean curd sheets), and fish balls. The vegetables were still crunchy and nicely cooked, as were the various meats, which were soft and easy to chew. Although the noodles were firm and not soggy, we initially found them quite oily. Still, this also prevented them from sticking together, and personally, I’d rather have them oily than too dry. The flavors were the right amount of savory and salty, and were made better with the fried garlic bits. If you’re not a fan of calamansi (Philippine lime), there’s no need to squeeze one because the dish already has a nice hint of sourness.

We ordered Four-Flavored Wings, Prawns in Garlic Sauce, and Grilled Liempo so we can taste each of their meat and seafood options. We also ordered Garlic Rice to go with these viands.

We first tried the Four-Flavored Wings. It was coated in a mixture of organic honey, soy, roasted garlic, and calamansi juice. It gave the wings a coating of sweet and salty goodness similar to that of Korean fried chicken, although the flavors were not overpowering and are still fit for the Filipino palate. The sauce thoroughly seeped into the skin of the chicken wings, giving a tasty flavor in every bite. The menu says that this dish is good for two persons, but each wing is huge and can fill up one person even with just one piece.

For some seafood, we tried the Prawns in Garlic Sauce. The dish has five pieces of prawns lying on garlic sauce and topped with plenty of garlic bits. The sauce was a beautiful mixture of garlicky goodness and the shrimp’s natural oiliness from its fats. It resulted in a thick and almost buttery consistency with a spicy kick. The shrimp on the other hand were large, tender, and cooked nicely with the shells already removed when served. We dipped the meat of the shrimp on the sauce, instantly making the dish even better.

The last one on our main dishes is the Grilled Liempo. The dish consists of soft and succulent pork belly grilled beautifully, with a small cup of soy sauce mixed with chilies and chopped onions for the dip. This is another simple yet flavorful dish. The grilled liempo was perfectly charred and it had a nice smoky flavor that went well with its sweet and salty marinade. The pork was also easy to chew and it had a nice fat-to-meat ratio. The serving was good for two people.

Although rice is often set aside and forgotten, Limbaga 77’s rice was a nice addition to our meal. Instead of just sitting in the background, it made our meal better. The rice was soft and the abundant fried garlic bits gave it a nice flavor. It’s like an elevated version of the usual sinangag (fried rice). One cup of their rice is good for one person only.

To finish our meal, we ordered Limbaga 77’s Brazo Tablea Cake. It was a bit of a downer after enjoying the previous dishes. A good point about it is that the tablea (local chocolate tablet) was nice; it wasn’t too sweet and it lent a nice chocolatey flavor to the cake. The menu says the cake has Batangas barako coffee in it, but the coffee flavor was not that evident. The thing that we least liked about the dessert is the cake itself: it was soft but the texture was almost wet and chewy.

Overall, it was a great dining experience at Limbaga 77. The dishes were good old Filipino food that will remind you of your parents’ cooking. There were neither crazy twists nor dramatic plating to wow you; it was a collection of Filipino comfort food prepared simply but packed with traditional flavors that we know and love. Limbaga 77’s food is a testament that you don’t always have to reinvent things to make it relevant. Sometimes sticking to the classic and just perfecting a well-loved dish is enough to win your diners’ hearts.

The menu, to put it simply, is packed. It has plenty of sections that range from soups to salads, starters, noodles, and main dishes. It also offers a wide selection of drinks, from juices to shakes and coffee, and even cocktails and hard liquor.

The good thing about the menu is that it is simple to understand. The meat, seafood, and vegetable dishes are grouped accordingly so diners can easily choose the main dishes that they want. Limbaga 77 also smartly integrated its name to the pricing, as most of the dishes’ prices end with 77. A little heads up to solo diners: they don’t serve a la carte items on the menu. It’s best to bring a friend as most of the offerings are good for sharing.

One detail that we would’ve wanted Limbaga 77 to specify was the additional service charge. It wasn’t indicated on the menu so we assumed that they do not impose a service charge on top of the price of the dishes.

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Limbaga 77’s staff was very professional and attentive. Despite the fact that it is a casual dining restaurant, the waiters were dressed well, and this added a sophisticated atmosphere to the place. They were also well informed about the dishes and were armed with a basic knowledge of the features. When lunch time arrived and diners started pouring in, the staff handled everything with grace, attending to each and everyone’s need without a hurried air.

One additional thing we should mention is the kind attendant at their parking area. Although his role is to attend to diners who want to avail of their valet parking services, he insisted on holding an umbrella over our heads while we were taking photos of the restaurant’s façade.

One look at Limbaga 77’s prices and we immediately noticed that it’s quite expensive. But once we took into consideration the nice ambiance that they offered and the service we experienced, the price is actually quite reasonable. Another factor we considered is that most of their dishes are for sharing.

Limbaga 77 is not that hard to find. It is located in 77 Scout Limbaga Street (where it got its name) along Tomas Morato, and its sign is easy to notice along the highway. The restaurant itself is inside a small street, not in front of the busy traffic of Tomas Morato, so it’s away from the noise of private cars and jeepneys.

Limbaga 77 has its own parking lot and a small parking space in front of the restaurant so bringing a car wouldn’t be a problem. Another plus is that the place offers free valet services.

Limbaga 77’s high points include its cozy and homey ambiance, the Filipino comfort food that hits all the right spots, and the superb service from the waiters to the valet.

We would recommend the addition of the service charge details so diners would be aware of what they would be paying before they order. In addition to this, improvement could also be made on the tight seating arrangement which might give diners a hard time when they want to pass through and go somewhere else.

To sum it all up, Limbaga 77 is a great place to gather the family if you’re looking for a place to relax and dine. Limbaga 77 made us feel at home with its modest interiors and it filled our bellies with dishes that we can truly say are comfort Filipino food.

Here, you will not find dishes with influences from multiple countries in one plate or deconstructed food that you won’t recognize what it’s supposed to be. The winning point of Limbaga 77 is its down-to-earth, honest-to-goodness preparation of dishes, giving its diners familiar flavors that they know and love. In short, Limbaga 77 is for those who want a place to dine and spend quality time with their family and friends minus the drama.

Check out our list of restaurants in Quezon City or visit the Dining & Leisure category of the ShoppersGuide Directory.