Kanin Club began with two couples’ dreams to offer homecooked, unabashedly Filipino cuisine. Anthony and Emely Mendoza are the owners of Gabino’s, while Mariela Luna and Tony Cancio are the proprietors of Café Breton. The concept was simple: a restaurant that is homey, unpretentious, and offers food at great value. “We wanted a place that serves Pinoy food the way it should be done,” says Luna. Kanin Club welcomed its first diners at Paseo De Sta Rosa, with branches in Alabang and the UP Technohub in Diliman, Quezon City following soon after. In December 2010, the restaurant opened at the Ayala Triangle Gardens. “We wanted a place that would represent Pinoy food as a major cuisine,” adds Luna. “All the recipes are influenced by regional specialties.”
Even the interiors evoke an ancestral Filipino home, with wood accents, capiz-shell windows and turn-of-the- century machuca-tile floors. Judging by the overwhelming response from diners, the concept seems to be a success. Familiar Filipino fare given new twists have elevated the cuisine served at the restaurant beyond the run-of-the-mill. The Crispy Dinuguan (P120) is a favorite, along with the Binukadkad na Pla-Pla (P246). The Sinangag na Sinigang is an ingenious take on rice best shared with dining companions. The fried rice with pork liempo and vegetable tempura is meant to be a dry version of the distinctly Filipino sour broth sinigang dish, while the Sigarilyas Express (P149) is wing beans smothered in spicy coconut sauce. There are other Pinoy favorites on the menu, including their version of the Laing, Crispy Pata and Kare-Kare. For dessert, the Turon KC (P90) is a Kanin Club specialty, with banana, purple yam jam, sweet coconut strips, and munggo beans wrapped and deep fried in a rice paper roll.
