Abe (ah-beh), noun.
1. Capampangan word for friend, companion, and getting together.
2. Nickname of a beloved son of Pampanga, Emilio Aguilar Cruz (1915-1991), writer, editor, painter, connoisseur, bon vivant and legendary eater outer.
3. Means good “Filipino” food!
Finally, a Serendra restaurant that is relatively cheaper with a filipino food quality that can rival the best Filipino restos. Of course, expect only the best from this restaurant which is a loving tribute to Larry Cruz’s Father, Abe. This is part of the LJC group of companies and you should not be surprised to see some of the menu items from Cafe Adriatico, Bistro Remedios, etc. etc. What I like about this is that it serves true Filipino food and I always believe that Campampangan dishes are the authentic Filipino food that have little influence from our colonizers.
Also, if I would have foreign visitors, this is the type of place that I want to bring them to experience Filipino cuisine. This is not your modern fusion cuisine but Capampangan dishes at its finest. Think about Kamayan + Cabalen with a touch of Chef Laudico into the quality and presentation. The menu items are P200-P400 and if you just stick to the P200 menu items, this would be the best deal in Serendra restos! Also, rice is bottomless @ P45++ so you can eat all you want ] as most Filipinos do. The Buro or what they call balo balo relish is superbly done. Rey, the manager who has been with the LJC group of companies for the longest time, provides very good customer service. I do hope he gets to train the rest of the staff quickly.
In the past, I have a star rating system for restaurants with 5 as the highest rating. I would rate this a 4.5 overall because of the overall ambiance, quality of food, value for money and friendly service. The only thing is that it is not kids friendly and they don’t have a high chair. Check it out and let me know what you think!
Technorati Tags: Philippines, Restaurants, Serendra
This is the A-be ambiance with lots of artist photos and artworks. They also have a private room for 10-12 people (I think).
Here is a quick preview of Abe’s Menu:
Abe’s Cover Menu
Meaning of Abe’
Small Dishes and Vegetables Relishes & Salads Menu
Hearty Soup Dishes, Abe’s Specialties and Grills, Stews and Fries Menu
Old Chinatown and Our Spanish Heritage and Artists’, Writers’ Favorites Dishes Menu
Travels with Abe Menu
You should look and have a chat with Rey when you are here. He gives excellent recommendation and shares with you the story of the menu and of the resto. Although, just be careful because he is a veteran sales person that can upsell you with fresh Tamarind Juice that could cost P115++!
Pritong Baby Hito (P175++). Young Catfish fried crisp and served with balo balo relish and mustasa leaves.
This dish passes all campampangan standards and you can enjoy one of the best buro I ever tasted. It is not too slimmy and will make you forget that this is fermented rice.
Mutton Adobo with Popped Garlic (P275++). A dish the keeps forever, “kambing” adobo is best with fragrant rice.
We were suppose to get the Lamb Adobo which is suppose to be good. But since they run out of this, Rey gave this complimentary mutton dish instead. I like the garlicky strong adobo sauce. The mutton meat is soft and taste better than beef.
Abe’s Chicken Supreme (P495++). Spring Chicken stuffed with galapong rice, chestnuts and raisins. Good for two served with a light soup.
I love this oven baked chicken far from your usual andok’s manok or roasted chicken variation out there. The stuffing which taste like Machang goes well with the chicken. Overall, this is value for money because this could serve 4-5 people already.
This is the picture of Abe. Someday, I would also like to setup a place as a loving tribute to my father.
If you want to try more of LJC’s restaurant, here are the different restos under this group:
ABÉ, G/F Serendra,
Global City, Taguig City.
Call 8560526 for reservations.
Related Posts:
Serendra Piazza: Restaurant Index
The menu reminds me of the Cafe Adriatico menu in Cebu. Will be interesting to read your comments on the food.
The food was mediocre at Abe but what drove us insane was their undermanned wait staff. It took 45 minutes to get our orders (even the rice that was readily available!!!) and it was hard to flag a waiter down throughout the wait. I don’t recommend going to Abe until maybe December or January after they’ve gotten their operations up and running and have learned what it’s like to service their customers without the horrendous wait. The ambiance and corner location were nice though.
I was there last Thursday lunch. My experience was totally different. It was around 12:30 pm. Before I started to order, I asked the food attendant how long would it take for the food to be served. She said 10-15 minutes. I had to be back in Makati by 2:30 pm. True enough the food came out in 10 minutes time. Squid tactics came first follwed by lamb adobo, gule magalang , the pla-pla and finally the chicken. The rice was all you can eat. Rey, the manager in the photo above, gave us complimentary desserts. The food was good however the chicken was a bit pricey. I tend to compare it with the Iberian chicken of Ed Quimson and the late Senor Armas. Service was acceptable. I had too much rice because the adobo was very tasty. One of my measures for a good Kapampangan restaurant is by the quality of its “buro” (fermented rice). It exceeded my standards.
For those art patrons, you will enjoy the huge photos of some artists like HR Ocampo taken 30 years ago. On my next visit, Rey promised me that he will be able to identify the other artists in the photo.
Next time, I will go there in the early evening and have patang bawang and a mojito for starters!!
Where is Abe located? How may I get in touch with you? We will be in the area to attend a wedding of a friend’s daughter on the 14th (PGMA & 1st Gent primary sponsor).
We went there a few weeks ago. Service was unpolsihed due to the fact that they just opened. We had to wait over an hour just to get our appetizers. Food was so-so and the house specialty–the baked chicken was a big dissapointment. The stuffing was frozen!! I guess they freeze the whole bird and just bake it when somebody orders. The ambiance was nice and the watermelon ginger shake was very good.
Went to Abe for Sunday lunch with my family. Service was uneven: waitresses were quite courteous but some items took sooooo long to get to us. It’s a good thing my family tends to order a lot of entrees, which we ate while waiting for the slow items. Items I enjoyed include the crispy tadyang (they really deserve the bragging rights they allude to on their menu for this item), kare kare (though I didn’t like the bagoong that accompanied it), chicharon bulaklak, the mushroom rice and tamarind shake. I also love the interiors. This seems to be a popular place for Sunday lunch at Serendra. I look forward to my next visit.
We went there 2 weeks ago and ordered spareribs habanera, tidtad and lengua . The spareribs are just bland , definitely I won’t look for it in Havana. Same with the tidtad, I’d prefer a little more vinegar and sili to spice up the dish . The lengua are just regular .
We had Christmas dinner tonight there at Abe. My family was completely dissatisfied with the food. The sinigang sa bayabas na bangus belly was really sweet not sour so it wasn’t good at all. The stuffed chicken was a huge let down. For a chicken that’s worth P750, you’d expect so much more. It was pretty bland, and the stuffing was not exceptional. Plus, in the menu, it said that it is served with soup. The problem was, they did not serve the soup right away. It arrived when we were almost finished eating. If I didn’t remind them to serve it, they wouldn’t have served it. The servings were also very small. I don’t see getting value for my money. The only delicious thing that we had from there was the tamarind shake. But overall, this place was a huge disappointment. Won’t bother eating here again.
I’m a die-hard fan of Bistro Remedios so I was thrilled to learn that Larry had opened Abe in Serendra. I’d walked past the place several times and checked out their menu and so was looking forward to pigging out on their knockout knuckles, the deep-fried pla-pla, cocido, etc. Came one Sunday and I took my mom out to lunch there and ordered all three. Boy was I disappointed. The dishes tasted tired and worse, the oild they’d used tasted like it’d been used one too many times. Tapos they didn’t have my fave dessert Sekreto ni Mari Clara. But I’m willing to give the place another chance. On the plus side: friendly service, love their rice bowls and the “upper deck” that looks like a retro airport lounge. Oh, a final quibble. While I appreciate managemne’s effort at providing an in situ lavatory for guests (unlike most other Serndra restos), I’m afraid the ceiling was made to measure with the dimensions of a midget in mind. I’d never pass for a tall guy but I had to crouch the entire time.
We ate at Abe about a month ago. My bestfriend and I were wondering why our bosses liked eating there. So we dropped by one weekday for lunch. The ambiance was good and the staff were very accommodating.
Upon perusal, we noticed that some of the food in menu were a little pricey but what the heck, we were hungry. So we asked one staff what the resto’s best sellers were. We picked the kare-kare.
We were disappointed to see the that the price does not justify the taste. The ox tail was very tender but my friend and I could say that we had tasted better kare-kare at home. We also found the bagoong to be a little undercooked. Meaning, it still tastes a little of alamang. Bottled bagoong (like Barrio Fiesta) tasted better. Our verdict? Bitin. Do you know the feeling that you have eaten and yet you still feel that you need to eat something to be satisfied? That’s how we felt. We ended up dropping-by a nearby coffeeshop to satisfy our hunger.
During our 4 week vacation we ate at ABE 3 times! Our favorites: PAKO SALAD, Crispy Pata, PLA-PLA, & COCIDO.
hi! your blogs are really interesting. i’ll be visiting a customer there in the philippines and we’re booked at crowne plaza. i was wondering if you can recommend a very good filipino restaurant in the area where i can have a taste of authentic filipino dishes. thanks in advance.
I just came back from a short trip to the Philippines to visit my family. My cousins took me to Abe and we had a great time. The food was absolutely wonderful and I cant wait to go back. We sat waiting for additional family to arrive and in that time we were watching what others had ordered. The family infront of us had ordered the Tilapia, Bamboo Rice and other dishes. After seeing the dishes we also ordered the same dishes as well and even more. I have to say my favorite dishes of the night were the bamboo rice and the lamb adobo. Never before have I had an adobo so good. I was tricked into having the Ox tongue, but I have to say at the time it was so good I would never have known it to be ox tongue. I definitely recommend Abe and plan on going back as soon as I can.
Hi Anton, We tried Abe Trinoma during their dry run. We brought 3 American physician friends who were in the country for their rotation. We loved the food especially their lamb adobo, bamboo rice and pla pla. Their burong manga appetizer was such a hit among our guests. Their service was also very good. Their experience at Abe was their gauge in eating at other Filipino restaurants while they were here.
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the food is good but the service was horrible! we waited for almost an hour for our food to be served and the waiters were unattentive.
i love abe!
well what can i say, we love the pako salad–ONLY….food is a little bit pricey and average….
hi, we were at Abe last 16 September for my cousin mina’s 50th birthday as an afterthougth as Abe is on my daughter’s list must go places recommended by her pinoy friend studying in Melbourne. It was a delightful experience. We have the Tamarind shake and was impressed with all their kinds of shakes (which you cannot find in Australia) The food was very good and we enjoyed the feast especially the presentation of the tilapia. My children and nieces were able to sample filipino food at its best. They ended their meal with suman chocolate fondue, a twist in serving our suman. The place was full but they were able to get us 2 tables quickly and the service was attentive.
Thanks Nini for the comment on your wonderful experience in Abe 🙂
Had early dinner at Abe, Trinoma on March 21, 2014.
Met my doctor and her sister here. Starters were Lumpiang Ubod each then we shared Kilawin of Fresh Tanigue and Sinuteng Baby Squid since they didn’t have Arobung Kamaru. It took us around 45 minutes to finish our starters. For entrees, we shared Pastel de Lengua, Adobung Puso ng Saging, Crispy Pork Adobo ni Lola Ising, and Binukadkad na Plapla. Nothing really stood out among the dishes but I favored the Adobung Puso ng Saging with its crispness. Hope Lola Ising didn’t have dentures coz the Crispy Pork Adobo ni Lola Ising was tough and dry. I like the Binukadkad na Pla Pla’s presentation.
I appreciate Pete’s patience with his timing in delivering the foods. The other bussers and servers with him acted as though they had blinkers. They only see what was immediately in front of them. I hated waving in a restaurant. I had to stand twice to tell them what we needed.
When dining, I always visit the restaurant’s restroom to see its cleanliness. This one did not have its own. One has to go outside the restaurant.
The place was clean and the employees were neat. Overall experience was good. A place for casual dining. If trying to impress someone or if it is a business dinner, I suggest you go elsewhere.
two thumbs down. was there yesterday with my family. the food is ridiculously priced. 275 pesos for a small plate of pinakbet that tastes just like the you can buy from turo-turo? 60 pesos for a cup of rice? this is not for the average diners. if you have some money to burn, then go ahead. but for those who want the real value for their money, go somewhere else. Cabalen and Kamay Kainan buffet at 289 pesos/pax is a much better choice as compared to Abe. Ridiculously pricey.