The hottest restaurant in Makati these days is in the corner of Perea and De La Rosa St. in Makati. Barely a month old, Mom (Belen Vergara Torres) and Tina’s (Torres-Santos) Bakery Cafe is creating an unstoppable foodie buzz and long queues during lunch time. I’ve never seen such excitement and warm welcome for this Bakery Cafe originally based in Ortigas.
Mom and Tina’s formula for success is simple. They promise to serve home-cooked meals with fresh ingredients and fresh-from-the-oven pastries and baked goodies. I was pleasantly surprise about how affordable gourmet food is in this cafe.
The cafe can accommodate roughly 100 people and opens daily (10am to 11pm at night). This is a favorite hangout for late night dinners or weekend hangout in Makati. It is often difficult to find a good restaurant open during weekends in Makati.
Mom & Tina Bakery Cafe Menu:
Soup of the Day, Starters, Salads, Pasta & Tomato Dishes.
Pasta & Tomato Dishes, Hearty Main Dishes
Hearty Main Dishes & Sandwiches
Desserts, Hot & Cold Beverages
Chicken Spinach Lasagna (P125). Layers of chicken and tomato and cream sauce with homemade spinach lasagna pasta. Served with Garlic Cheese rolls.
If you don’t know what to order, just give this rich lasagna a try. You would savor the thick cream sauce in every bite. The garlic cheese roll is crunchy and shape like a flower you can peel one layer at a time.
Next time, I’m coming back for Paella Valenciana (P170), Chicken Relleno (P160), and Lengua con Setas (P295). I heard they are great from other foodies and the price is quite reasonable.
According to Marbee Go of Wedding Essentials and Manila Bulletin Travel, this is the best Oreo Cheesecake in town. We have to agree and this is a must try!
Mom & Tina’s Bakery Cafe
Perea corner De La Rosa, Makati City
Telephone: +632 894 3598, 840-4299
106 E. Rodriguez Jr, Avenue Ugong, Pasig City
Telephone: +632 571-1540 to 41, 914-0833
Text and Photos by Anton Diaz. Copyright 2008.
Our all time favorite!!! I love their chicken spinach lasagna… I’ll try to check out their makati branch soon 🙂
Aidan loved the chocolate shavings! He got all shavings that was left from last night. Thanks for the pasalubong last night! :*
It’s nice to know that they’ve put up a second branch. I frequent the C-5 branch for their spinach pasta. Their callos is also delicious. Their place is very homey and the food is reasonably priced.
Thanks for this info, Anton. I’ll check this branch out when I get the chance to go to Makati.
sounds interesting! thanks for posting. =P
Try their orange cake, it was pretty good when I tried it a year ago. Wasn’t too thrilled by their savory foods though.
we enjoyed the paella but not the chicken relleno during our visit last friday. the mango walnut dessert was good too but we didnt like the cupcakes.
Their food is great, but I had a bad experience with the Ugong branch manager.
I love the lasagna and the Toblerone torte.
the callos are great! give it a try.
We discovered Mom & Tina’s back in the day, when their oreo cheesecake was around P60 in Pasig. Now that it’s P125 and the serving size is no longer the way it was, we’ve found other more reasonably priced and just as good substitutes elsewhere. However, one reason to keep on returning to this restaurant is their to-die-for French apple pie. The generous and scrumptious crumb topping is heavenly! Just heat it up in a toaster oven for a few minutes and then top with vanilla ice cream before serving. The profiteroles are also highly recommended, though they are also a bit overpriced. For similar desserts of the same caliber but at lower prices, try Gateau de Manille on Katipunan – one can swear by the tiramisu (no scrimping on the mascarpone!), the cappucino mousse (similar to Chateau 1771’s coffee pie but without the crust), and the white choco mousse. Personal sized servings are less than P100. Banapple close to Ateneo also has a great price-to-taste-ratio. We’d recommend the Cadbury Old Gold cheesecake and the strawberry amaretto cheesecakes, as well as their various entrees.
I just tried it a while ago and it was bad. I ordered the meat spaghetti and it wasn’t that good. The vegetables and the mashed potato that my bf ordered were cold. I was so excited to try this resto pa nman. I just got disappointed. The Caesar Salad was okay….too salty for my taste. And the service was bad. And we told the food attendant about our food and he was kind enough.
hi anton,
looks like you bombed out again by
saying this mom & tina’s bakery cafe
is the hottest restaurant in makati,
when its really not.
i really wish you’d stop doing this
and expressing words about a certain
eating place when its not true. you’ll
get into trouble one of these days for
sure.
coming from a multinational company,
you should understand the values of
truth in advertising. but, it seems
you don’t believe in it.
Hi Bobby, Thanks for the comment and feedback taken. The comments are open to prove or disprove my take on a restaurant based on other people’s experience. Have you tried Mom & Tina’s already? What was your experience?
@Mish – sorry to hear about your experience on their food. Thanks for the comment and this will serve a warning to all people who will try this.
I still think Mom and Tina’s is worth a try! Let’s not make hasty generalizations 🙂 The Pasig branch wouldn’t be packed if the place is as bad as you think.
I loved the Chicken Spinach Lasagna!! Yes, the paella and lengua are in my top 2 for the resto. And those are just the entrees. Let’s not forget to try the dark toblerone torte 🙂
HOTTEST RESTAURANT IN MAKATI???? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!!
Service was bad…food was mediocre. Now how can this place be hot? I agree with Bobby Anton.
my sister and i ate there today… it was just a bad experience. my pasta had hair on it, the food was served not hot enough and the waiters just did not know what to do! it was awful! we are never going back.
We tried Mom and Tina’s last Friday and I have to agree with Anton. We enjoyed our food. I ordered the Meat Lasagna and I was very satisfied. My friend also liked the Callo’s that she ordered. What we love most is the dessert. Mango trifle and toblerone walnut torte… :)Yummy 🙂
I don’t think people understand what value for money is, if they’re going for cheap food, they can always go to carinderias/jollyjeeps down the road. Mom and Tina’s is reasonably priced for the quality of food they serve. Now, if you find your food served cold, have it reheated. Always demand the service you deserve, complaining in your head or through blogging isn’t gonna help my friends.
Everybody has different tastes! Every family has their own ‘secret recipe’ of relleno, spaghetti, cheesecake, etc. Mom and Tina’s is definitely worth a try and re-try! You’ll be sure to get good, homey, family style comfort food! Try their sirloin burger, spinach lasagna, chicken pot pie, paella! And all the desserts are just as they should be, super yummy! Not at all commercial tasting like red ribbon, banapple or gateau de manille.
First of all, I love their desserts!
Their Chicken & Chips was too greasy and dry. Their pasta was soggy. Their shepherd’s pie had that “not so fresh” smell and taste. Their Caesar’s salad was a bit funky. I’d definitely go back but order desserts only.
is this the same mom and tina’s that had a branch at mc arthur highway, sn fernando, pampanga years back? i bet it is…well, we didn’t had a problem there in fact we love their desserts, we’ve been trying to locate them since they closed. thanks, now i know where… hopefully the desserts are still good…
no problem anton! we share the same interests regarding food. But i’m just too lazy to blog about it! hahaha=) there’s a resto in cebu that i’ve been wanting to try out. I’ll see if i can get the name(because i forgot). Hehe=) will get back to you soon! =)
haaay….a friend and I tried everything featured a CTC article about Mom and Tina’s but non met our expectations.
The Mango Kani Salad was the biggest disappointment as it was drenched in mayonnaise! We called the waiter’s attention to the greens drowning in mayo after tossing, but he said ‘ganyan po daw talaga yan ma’am eh, nung kumain din ako nyan naumay ako.’
ayus!
Shepherd’s Pie – maybe they forgot to mix in the ground meat that time?
Garlic Cheese Rolls were neither warm nor soft when served. I didn’t catch its “cheesy and buttery flavor”… parang wala lang sya. We even ordered extra butter (“ma’am may charge po”) to flavor it up a bit.
Smoked Salmon and Capers Fettuccine was ok for me, but my friend found it bland.
I didn’t find anything special with my Dark Toblerone Walnut Torte… but that’s probably because the meal was a disappointment, hindi na ako ma-excite. Birthday pa naman nung kasama ko… oh well…
ah! surprisingly! the blue lemonade was ok! 🙂
Well, I guess to each his/her own taste right? I’ve never had a bad experience with Mom and Tina’s ever since I visited their C5 branch. I am now quite a regular at their Makati branch and I just love their home-y feel and food. Perhaps some people just expected too much or maybe it’s just a difference in taste. No restaurant could ever please everyone so I guess each evaluation, critique, or feedback should be taken with a grain of salt. =)
my not -so-good experience with mom and tina’s involved not finding an available table during rush hour but as far as food was concerned, i am satisfied with the serving size and the taste… i always order their P295 skirt steak which is value-for-money given the price… i love their desserts , esp the reasonably priced cupcakes and profiteroles.
i appreciate anton’s posts bec he gives us a PREVIEW of what to expect in a restaurant before actually deciding to spend our own money… he never claimed to be an AUTHORITY on food, he just wants to share with us the experience whether good or bad… for that, kudos to you anton!
hi guys,
woah! strong and bluntly put comments here. well, i agree that we have different tastes. it actually depends on where you are coming from and what your taste buds prefer. i know a lot of people who just love pesto. but still there are others who really doesn’t like it (that includes myself).
but i just love what you guys shared. i guess, we just have to respect what the other thinks.
i’ve tried Mom & Tina’s too. they might not be the best resto in Makati for me but i some in their menu are worth the try.
http://reybaguio.blogspot.com/2009/01/lunch-at-mom-tinas-with-friends.html
thanks
the relleno here was terrible. dont bother
My son and his wife ate at the C5 branch. You may count them as one of your satisfied customers. They even got a calling card for me so we can drop by one of these days. The family is certified foodies – we even raise our own turkeys to have on our table. We can share our products though in case you guys are interested.
Prime
Just wondering if Mom (Belen Vergara Torres) is the same Belen S. Vergara way back in the late ’40s (1947 or 1948) at U.P. High School, Padre Faura, Manila. Her roots were from Mexico, Pampanga. It will also be appreciated if you can publish her photo. Thank you.