I must admit, we had second thoughts of going to Lime 88. It appeared like any one of those inuman place in Mandaluyong and we don’t want that especially we have Aidan in tow. We saw bikers who lived in the Mandaluyong area, patronizing this place. Sometimes, you might see Mac Mac Cardona or some of the basketball players eating here because they say, they just live nearby.
One of the reasons I agreed to do a taste test of what Lime 88 has to offer, is because of Chef Archie Val Juanta. He worked as senior chef in M Cafe and currently a chef in Paseo Uno, Mandarin Hotel. He will soon be the corporate chef of Hagen Daz, Max Brenner, Olivers, Tea n Therapy and Blue Steak and Bistro, Trinoma. Given that credentials and the ambiance of the place, you can only expect excellent food at very affordable prices.
Daryl, Earl and Chef Archie Val Juanta — Owners of Lime 88, Mandaluyong
Chef Archie decided to convert his lola’s ancestral house (these days anything old is called ancestral for sossy effect) into a restaurant. It serves Filipino Street Food with a twist or “pina-sosyal” as he would call it. It is a very interesting concept where I can bring my visitors to an authentic street food experience prepared in a clean and nice way but of course, nothing beats the original.
I will always remember to not judge a restaurant by how it looks but by how the food would taste like. I’m going back to Lime 88 for sure and I do hope the place remains to be a secret. We almost tasted everything in the menu and this was the first time we had such a wonderful taste test experience.
Lime 88 serves a fun menu, check this out. Let me know what do you think are the most interesting one…
The heavy rains these days ruined the al fresco ambiance of Lime 88. They have limited covered areas. Since it is an old house, there’s really nothing fancy about how it looks.
The living room is converted into a billiards place where you can play for P100/ hour.
We stayed in a private room inside the house. You can reserve this if you want some privacy and air conditioning.
Lime 88 Menu
Appetizers, Salad, Skewers, Poultry, Meat
Noodles, Pizza, Dessert, Seafood, Sandwiches, Drinks
Baked Oysters (P120) Hollandaise Asian Style, Wilted Kangkong — The oysters come from Roxas City and my dad loved it. It would have been better served hot.
Balut in Red Wine Sauce (P120). Au Jus, duck eggs, butter. It started to get interesting when they serve balut. This is the place where I can bring my company visitors to try exotic stuff like balut. It was awesome if you like Balut.
Deep Fried California Maki (P150). Guimaras mango, Kani Sticks. I like the maki with the pork belly ala sisig inside it as the main ingredient. These are the white stuffed makis in the front.
Curried Fish Balls (P120). Red Curry, Coriander, Thai Chili. Fish ball sossy style P15 for each ball — not bad. I like the thai chili twist to this. Maybe, they could consider serving authentic fish balls ala shabu shabu style with the same sweet and spicy sauce you can find on the streets. That’s what my wife misses!
Quail Egg Tempura (P60). Soy mirin glaze, sinamak. I loved this specially with the soy and sinamak sauce. Although we know that each egg is high in cholesterol as compared with the regular sized egg.
Assorted Tagaytay Greens (P110). Sinamak Vinaigrette, pop nuts. This was boring and healthy but my mom liked it.
Green Mango Salad (P110). Coriander, Nuts, Thai Chili. This is the best salad they have to offer. The mango was not that sour and in fact it is the sweet buro kind of mango. This one taste like the Thai catfish salad minus the catfish. Gone in a minute!
Caesar Salad (P120). Pork Crackling, Salted Egg. I love the choice of chitcharon and the itlog na pula for this caesar salad. Only thing is the vegetables appeared to be soggy, other than that, it was a good combination.
Grilled hito (P120). Fermented Rice, Steamed Vegetables. Standard… but they sure know how to grill a hito. The buro and sinamak were very good complement to this grilled dish. My mom insisted on this hito and she was satisfied.
Green Mango Stuffed Grilled Tilapia (P120). Thai Chili, Sinamak. This one was grilled to perfection with the sweet green mango stuff inside.
Creamy Garlic Tuyo Pastas (P120). Extra Virgin Olive Oil, White Wine, Chili Flakes. This was our Favorite!! It was a little bit heavy and creamy but the gourmet tuyo brought this pasta to life every time you take a bite.
Street Style Barbecue Plater (P160). Chicken feet, ears, skin, chicken intestine, peanut sauce. Sossy Isaw and Sossy Pig ears serving… in Sinamak and the yummy peanut sauce. Perfect for the barkada pulutan.
Street Style Baby Back Ribs (P150). Barbecue Sauce, Mashed Potatoes. When we saw how big it was, we commented that it was such a good deal to order it at P150 only. The problem is the meat was cooked hard and we did not even bother to finish this.
Osso bucco style Kare Kare (P180). Beef shank, peanuts, grilled vegetables. This is another favorite as well. It is like eating kare kare with a tasty thick sauce, full of meat, and with a Barrio Fiesta bagoong. Highly recommended!
Street Style Pizza (P190). Longaniza, Tuyo, Kesong Puti. The combination of the ingredients were perfect but the pizza was soft and soggy, needs improvement. At P190, it is better to order the other dishes.
“Sossy Scramble”, Dirty Ice Cream Tempura (P100). Lambanog shooter, tsokolate-eh. We must admit, this is the first time we have tasted Scramble that you can only in the streets of Manila. It was OK but it was quite interesting to have this for dessert.
Churros con tsokolate-eh (P120). Tablea, cinnamon, berry lambanog. We did not like it because it was so deeply fried and the chocolate was diluted.
M Cafe’s Casuy Langka Sansrival (P800/ Box). We immediately recognized this when they served it because Rache was raving about M Cafe’s sansrival. This is not in the menu but you can order it if you call in advance. We loved this and at at last, we can now order it at an affordable price. I suggest that you call Archie (+63 916 783 8876) directly if you want to order this. Call 3 days in advance to order the whole cake.
License to Chill (P60). Vodka, Melon liquer, Pineapple Juice. The cocktail drinks are also worth raving about.
Chef Archie and his culinary team. Thanks for the wonderful evening! We will surely go back with our friends 🙂
Lime 88. Street Food with a Twist
160 San Rafael St. Mandaluyong City, Philippines
Phone: +632 533 7515
Mobile: +63 916 783 9976
Email: juanta_kulinero@yahoo.com
Driving Directions:
Go to the Mandaluyong circle and turn into the street with Tapa King in the corner. Turn right when you see China Bank on your right and you should be able to see the Lime 88 sign from China bank. Lime 88 is on your right side.
you guys are awesome…..happy looking fellows food chefs
are men who satisfy unsatisfied food lovers….hmmm maybe i should spent my satisfied days in kitchens and tables perhaps? hmmmm i’ll ask my future of what they think about that….NOW can you baked better ‘chocolate cakes’ than boracay’s friday restaurant{is it friday?but it is the last beach front hotel-resto in station 1}? because if you do i will marry you….LOL!……god delivered one of the few happiness i’m longing for…..a special kind of chocolate cake that i had to walk miles{boracay}just to eat it i day dream about it afterwards over and over again NOT even germany or switzerland can baked-delivered taste that good not even france americans or belgium ever made that GOOOOOD LOL!
I’ve been looking forward to this entry ever since I saw the pictures at your flickr. Must try place!
now i know where our barkada’s next inuman will be.. hahahaha! oh, if you haven’t tried (i doubt it though) BBQ BOY at the ortigas home depot at j.vargas, i suggest you do.. it’s open 5pm to 5am.. great barbecues!!!
keep em coming!
peace..
wow! i would love to try this out! 😉
hmm…yum! thanks for your post!!! XD
It’s too far! 🙁
Finally! A blog entry na mu-mu (mumurahin)! 🙂 What I mean is – I miss your entries na medyo down-to-earth, hehehehe! The likes of Cookbook Kitchen ba. Thanks for this!
that was awesome, thanks…
my friends and i love to try something new each time we go out and u know wat, were all from mandaluyong and we dont even know this place..
thanks…
Good food, good people , good music- Ice sir vinz!
He,he… I like the concept!
Balut in Red Wine Sauce… must be delicious! 🙂
You look a bit drunk in that picture, Anton. Too much Vodka, Melon liquer & Pineapple Juice?
I live 10 mins away and never even knew about this place! Looks like it’s worth a try. I love how the Green Mango Salad looks in the photo =)
I live 10 mins away and never even knew about this place! Looks like it’s worth a try. I love how the Green Mango Salad looks in the photo =)
I live 10 mins away and never even knew about this place! Looks like it’s worth a try. I love how the Green Mango Salad looks in the photo =)
i like and eat those baked oysters every week end here in america i’m fond of those baked kinds among few foreign i tasted-like very much is the korean kal bee-mushroom sauteed sotanghon-
indian-malaysian spicy hot curry rich in gata ng niyog in delicious indian spice herb rice and the swiss small cuts leberli cooked in herb sauce under 2 minutes and my few favorite filipino dishes like max testaurants ‘fried natural filipino chicken’-sauteed rich in niyog ginataang sitaw sa crispy fried meat-pinakbet without the bagoong sauteed in crispy fried meat etc i come from families of good family cooks-bakers that match 5 star hotels chefs standards i will suggest they visit your restaurant-place and see where ‘if’ you’ll need some upgrading LOL! joke i am just happy how you guys turn small place like yours into better-presentable-clean looking place to go-to eat-to hang around i say good job…..
My husband was really excited to try this out– so even if we normally don’t eat out on weeknights..we ventured into this restaurant last night. it was really indeed an “inuman” place — most of the customers are on their drinking spree — we were the only ones who are actually eating. anyhow, we found the quail eggs tempura and balut good but the meals are quite salty for me. our major disappointment was that the dirty ice cream (scramble) was no longer served. sayang! this is what we really came for…oh well…i guess it did not click coz they had taken this out in their menu. 🙁
whaaaat you have scramble ice cream? what aaaa treat hopefully you’ll put the scramble ice cream
back by january 2009 i love those i remember i can’t wait for my elementary school bell to rang
even before the bell i already thrown my schoolbag outside the window all i needed when bell rang is to jump over the window pick up my bag and STRAIGHT to scramble street vendor i don’t like using doors too much kids traffic i can swallow 5 straight mini pink scramble glasses
and still hoping i will find some more hidden
money if not i just stand there just to remember how good it tasted then leave looking forward for the next school day friday week end is a bummer day for me because scramble will have to wait until monday afternoon so please surprise me when nature’s permit me to drop by since my plane ticket will be costly…LOL!
i finally got around to trying this place out. not bad..im still raving about the osso bucco style kare kare 🙂
check my review here: http://frannywanny.blogspot.com
Ü
whaaaat YOU ALSO have osso bucco can it come with herb sauce pasta or pizza calzone o marinara how about lengua de manzo?hhmmm strouganoff-pastetli maybe?
i dont want to offend the world’s most famous european chefs-bakers boulangerie but i was
‘not’ joking about what i said on boracay’s friday ‘ganache chocolate cake’ from few years ago it did’exceptionally’ tasted that good since i personally went to europe to try to remember how good all they have to offer i went alone to switzerland first tried all those chocolate cakes it taste way better than my first trip alone to europe in the 70’s then i went to germany tried the germans then i went to belgium then went straight to france to taste french then america americans chocolate cakes 6 months later after that european all i can possibly do-eat and find some peace-happiness trip but none i tried is even close to that friday’s ganache chocolate when i first tried it was a treat but i had to order more same kind i couldnt sleep that night because i was thinking ‘how good’it was so next day first thing i did was walk down there breakfast buffet don’t offer those cakes in mornings so i had to walk to kill some time a piece of that cake at that time costed around more than 300.00 a piece i was billed almost a thousand pesos coz i ate at least 3 LOL! that goooood LOL!
really good! we live near this place. thanks anton!
oh, maybe you can also try penpen comfort food & cafe juanita….
….hello….happy kitchen food chefs lol!….i advised all filipinos interested in small medium entrepreneurships{businesses}to look at your place as an example how filipinos can do better-upgrade their micro small businesses into a decent neighborhood scale ‘almost’ private food looking place to hang out to dine to visits and just have fun ‘bonding kind’ of public conversations in any corner mini lounges or while listening to mellow romantic but upbeat music….chefs….could you kindly add some tall shady corner trees around your area….outside by the front road in particular….in a tall at least 3-4 ft.tall nice garden pots lol!….thank you….
layo naman..but the food looks good….sana d2 sa Q.C. kayo
helllo,im interested with the kind of your bisiness,are you opoen for franchising?
in from Pangasinan,in the Dagupan ,city
helllo,im interested with the kind of your bisiness,are you open for franchising?
Im from Pangasinan,in the Dagupan City,to, be specific
Hey paul were open for franchising, hope you could visit lime88.
….honestly lol!….me too i am interested in franchising lime 88 as a gift to my elementary & high school mates lol….it will be in all deep blue-pinks tiles commercial house gardens playground park like setting outdoor bistro with indoors state of the upholstered wooden chairs-tables with each attachable deep colored capiz table lamps and dozens of my personnal oil painting collections all 100% cotton-linen table napkins only mixture of unusual atate of the art ‘draperies’ or all glass walls or exclusive wooden design panellings by me lol…so reserved some o.k.d permits for my elementary schoolmates thank you….
Love&Marriage
A Benefit Dinner for Mr Alan Juanta
A gastronomic experience merging Italian and French
cuisines with flair
made more special with classic Frank Sinatra tunes
Dinner will be buffet-style to be prepared by
Chefs Kalel Chan and Archie Juanta
Sunday, 16 March 2008
6:00 pm
Lime 88 160 San Raphael St. , Mandaluyong City
Ticket Price: Php 1,500
Contact Person: Chef Archie Juanta 0916 7838878
Alan Juanta Benefit Dinner
On 30 January 2008, Alan Juanta suffered a stroke at the right side of his brain during a seminar at Horizon Hotel in Boni Edsa. He was immediately rushed to the Polymedic Hospital in Mandaluyong and has stayed in the ICU for almost a month. He has undergone 2 major operations. His wife and children were unprepared for such a circumstance and has been struggling with the mounting hospital and medicine charges. As of 29 February, unpaid hospital bills has amounted to Php 504,000 while medicines and hospital services has reached to Php 570,000 as of 1 March.
Currently Tito Alan has been transferred to a private room and may be discharged after his operation this week. Though he still cannot talk due to a tube in his throat, he is conscious and can hear the people around him. His vision is still not back to normal. Although the clot in his right brain has been removed and the bleeding has stopped, doctors say that another clot has formed in his left brain. Fortunately this is nothing to worry about. Tito Alan’s family is also full of faith that he can walk again despite the discouraging news from the doctors that he may never do so.
I have only known Tito Alan since last year. In that brief period of time, I have seen his zest for life that not even people younger than his years can claim they posses. Those who have frequented Lime 88 can testify to this as he would always try to converse animatedly with each guest every night. Tito Alan is also the family’s resident Music Man. His love for jazz, piano and Frank Sinatra music has made him very popular among friends and relatives.
Tito Alan’s situation is not a unique one. This happens to millions of people around the world. It touches me in a different note since it has happened to someone close to me. It hurts to see someone so full of life lose mobility so suddenly.
I have always believed that we all live in a world where we depend on each other for assistance when needed. We merely pay forward the blessings we receive and count on people to help us in our trying times.
In order to raise money to help to pay for the expenses incurred over the past month, Tito Alan’s son Chef Archie Juanta and his bestfriend Chef Kalel Chan are organizing a benefit dinner to be held on Sunday, 16 March 2008, 6.00 pm at Lime 88, 160 San Raphael Street, Mandaluyong City. The two very talented professional chefs will whip up a marriage of Italian and French cuisines served in a 12-dish buffet. A special blend of iced tea will be bottomless to accompany the meals. Tickets for the dinner are priced at Php1,500.
If you can’t make it to the dinner but still want to help out in the spirit of brotherhood, tickets can be bought from Chef Archie Juanta or Claire Lee (0917 8040378) or donations can be given directly to the Juanta family.
….is there any bank account number paki include yung international direct code numbers kasi sa america kami….kasi i would like to send via bank to bank a small donations mga a few thousands lang….tatay pala ni chef archie yung nasa ospital naku i hope he recovers….
Thank you so much gmmahoney! I’ve already informed Chef Archie of your offer. I’m sure he’ll deeply appreciate your generosity. You may also contact him thru email: juanta_kulinero@yahoo.com
Angels do exist. 🙂
And thank you Ging for posting!
….hello chef archie & family of lime 88 restaurant….my husband & i sent you our small caring o just NOW BUT NOT THRU BANK BUT WESTERN UNION instead so pick the money up to western union closest to you just show your identification photo card that has your name under archie juanta only five thousand but hopefully he can feel even strangers also cares for his recovery….we care cil-gerald….good luck to your father….
Hi gmmahoney!!! Hope all is well with you.
Love&Marriage
A Benefit Dinner for Mr Alan Juanta
A gastronomic experience merging Italian and French
cuisines with flair
made more special with classic Frank Sinatra tunes
Dinner will be buffet-style to be prepared by
Chefs Kalel Chan and Archie Juanta
Menu
Smoked Tomato Consomme with Grilled Olive Foccacia
Tomato Orange, White Cheese with Balsamico Glazed
Rissoto Balls Stuffed with Jamon Iberico
Grilled Summer Vegetables
Smoked Fish Caesar with Bacon and Egg Fried Herbs
Rosemary Lemon Chicken with Au jus
Pesto Walnut Crusted Rib Eye with Bernaise Sauce
Tomato Vodka Cream Grilled Seafood Linguini
Salt Crust Baked Norwegian Salmon with White Wine Sauce
Potato Au Gratin
Italian Rice
Chocolate Fountain
Brownies, Organic Fruits, Mallows
L88 Iced Tea
Sunday, 16 March 2008
6:00 pm
Lime 88 160 San Raphael St. , Mandaluyong City
Ticket Price: Php 1,500
Contact Person: Chef Archie Juanta 0916 7838878
tnx so much gmmnahoney!!!!!!
after reading about lime 88 in your blog, my wife and i decided to try it last night. to be honest, i was disappointed. maybe my expectations were too high. the balut was good. didn’t like the crunchy dinuguan. there was a distinct smell that i didn’t much like (reminded me of OLD chicharon bulaklak) had to add sinamak to make it taste better. they didn’t have the oysters. i agree with your comment on the tuyo pasta. it’s promising. just a little too heavy and creamy. maybe they should eliminate the cream and just use olive oil. the major disappointment was the inihaw platter. i think they have to clean the intestines and kidneys more thoroughly. i bit into something that was bitter and tasted like bile so i promptly spit it out. Tastewise, again to be honest, real street food, the ones you buy at the street corner like isaw, betamax, etc., tastes much much better. and it’s cheaper too. i hope these comments are taken constructively as i really think the concept holds much promise.
eversince the chef went abroad the place started getting bad reviews…:(
Yeah, Archie is in New Zealand na. Sayang… I already told him about this.
this is so cool, i totally wanna go here 😀 btw, does anybody know what vendors use in making ice scramble? like the powdered milk 😀 it would be nice if somebody actually told me :))
yeah strawberry powder u can buy it sa palenke, tapos skim powdered milk sugar and brown cow, hehe, meron pa ba nun?
the best non costly easy way of removing ‘malansa o lansa’ in any food is to have a’ boiling ‘water available
in the kitchen to dip first lahat ng hilaw na sea foods o fishes o kahit na anumang klase na karne kasi pag napakuluan yung mga karne at palitan ang unang boiled water ng bagong tubig eh makakatiyak kayo na tanggal ang mga malansa-lansa ng seafoods o anything na may lasa o amoy na kakaiba so good luck lime 88 restaurant at sa favorite ng mga locals na maka filipino dyan at thank you ho
Oh my,I might see Mac-Mac Cardona?Hmmm..I have to go there..Hahahahaha..Just kiddinG.Well,great foods and services to the customers…Hope I can go there and see how good you are in the business…
puchas kapitbahay ko lng tong lime. best place to be! dito n kayo! hahahaha!!!!
Nagsesrve pa ba sila ng good food and gusto ko sana pareserve na good for 30 – 35.. possible ba? hehe tska yung price..i tried calling but the old and new nos. are not available at the moment..
Kanto freestyle same owner i guess kabilang street lang masarap din during lunch time (3-4am call center life) dun kame pumupunta 🙂
Hello Guys, this place really deserves appreciation and great acknowledgement as the restaurant offers food truly Filipino with different styles and high quality (kahit mga common street food lang ito). The title of “Street food na Pina-sosyal” is swak na swak sa panlasa ng mga kababayan natin.
I was there last September 8, 2011 around 9:30 pm to 11:50 pm along with my SFC Brothers, we were celebrating my upcoming Birthday that night and this experience was actually remarkable. This place really marked in my mind as the service was really good, how they prepare their meal were brilliant and even the taste are fantastic. You can bring your family & peeps there because this restaurant is utterly a fine dining and good bonding place. May I suggest to those who currently reading this message “try to go there and experience what I had experienced. Find what I found there and I know the same feedback will they get.”
Special thanks to the management of the said restaurant and to the chef(s) because without their bright ideas and great skills this place never exist.