Lunch at C2 Classic Cuisine

It was my cousin’s last day in Manila. He was lucky I saw an ad in the newspaper about C2 Classic Cuisine the night before or else I wouldn’t have thought of bringing him there for lunch. Too bad his sister left a few hours before and wasn’t able to join us for a last hurrah.

C2 Classic Cuisine Greenhills is located within the C3 Events Place. It used to be a different restaurant that’s why I never noticed when it became C2.

The place was small but it was nicely decorated.

When I looked through the menu I was happy to see all the classic Filipino favorites were present but most were given a contemporary twist. I’m glad it wasn’t made into fusion foo foo as my cousin calls it.

My cousin had a drink called Guinumis. It’s more like a dessert since it’s made of crispy pinipig (pounded young glutinous rice), sago, panocha (a kind of sugar) syrup, coconut milk and crushed ice.

guinumis P80

garlic rice P75

The bangus belly was coated with flour and fried. It was topped with a chunk of lemon flavored butter. It was just ok. I found it a bit bland but that was remedied by the soy sauce/vinegar/chili mixture in one of the bottles on our table.

sizzling bangus belly P365

One of the best things that happened during lunch was our very knowledgeable and helpful waiter. My cousin wanted to order binagoongang lechon kawali and crispy kare kare. The waiter told us kindly that our cholesterol will surely shoot up with 2 similar pork products. He was right! That’s why we ended up ordering the bangus.

He also dissuaded me from ordering aligue (crab fat) rice because “it will be too rich to go with your food” (which he said in Filipino). What can I say, he was right again. Usually waiters just write down whatever you order. I loved it that he was well trained to give funny and informative suggestions. Too bad I didn’t get his name.

crispy kare kare P640

The crispy kare kare was a deconstructed kare kare with an uber crispy boneless pork leg with the peanut sauce in separate container and the veggies under the pork. The crispy pata (pork leg) was the lightest and crunchiest I’ve ever eaten. The skin was light, almost translucent and not greasy. The peanut sauce was very flavorful so I barely had to put any bagoong on my pork and sauce.

I loved it so much that’s why I have 3 pictures of it here. I had to show off every angle of pork goodness.

We had a hard time choosing dessert. It was a toss up between pastillas panna cotta, suman at tsokolate eh or bibingka souffle. Our curiosity over the bibingka souffle won over. Bibingka is one of my favorite foods. It’s a thick, soft cake made of glutinous rice topped with salted egg, quezo de bola and grated coconut.

At first bite the souffle did taste like bibingka. I could taste the salted egg, cheese and coconut. Even the creamy, sweet, milky sauce had bits of salted eggs in it. It was very interesting and pleasant. Souffle just isn’t my favorite dessert since it’s all air and egg whites. Next time I’ll try the pastillas panna cotta.

bibingka souffle P145

inside the bibingka souffle

I’m surely bringing my other cousin and friend to eat here when they arrive later this month. There are a lot of other things in the menu I want to try. I’m glad to have discovered two great Filipino restaurants in Greenhills.

C2 Classic Cuisine Menu
vegetables, meat & poultry, rice, seafood, all day merienda, dessert