Circa 1900 Cebu

Restaurant: Circa 1900

Address: Sanjercasvil Road, Gorordo Avenue, Lahug, Cebu City 6000 Philippines

Contact Number: 032- 239 6265 / 09232795616 / 09065708735

Mode of Payment: Cash

Operating Hours:

Temporary: 6:00PM – 12:00Midnight

Starting April 20, 2014: 11:00AM-12:00Midnight

 

Dining at Circa 1900 is not just a gastronomic adventure but also an experience, showing how rich the culture and history of Cebu is. Circa 1900 is a colonial house restored into a restaurant, piano bar and a function venue featuring varied international cuisine yet paying respect to the Filipino culinary heritage by drawing influences through the use of local ingredients.

 

The staircase leads to the main dining area, the piano bar, some private rooms and the veranda. The porch is also an espresso/cocktail  lounge where you can enjoy a good drink while waiting for your  companions.

 

With great efforts to retain the original architecture and material of its era, Circa 1900 gives out a chic, classy warm ambiance.The main dining area is suitable for 23 persons while the piano bar can accommodate 20.Two private rooms can take in 14 and 9 diners. The veranda, on the other hand, can hold 16 guests.

 

 

Charmed by this beautiful place, I prepared myself for a hearty fare by one of my favorite chefs, Steve Shrimski. If you love Canvas’ Australian/International chows , then you should try Steve’s take on International food with a Filipino twist. I knew from the start that this night will be a burpy one.

 

The feast started with the complimentary appetizer, mushroom duxelle canape – bread topped with cheesy chopped mushroom. The melted cheese complimented well with the soft mushroom, giving it a subtle cheesy salty flavor.

 

Then from the appetizers menu, we had  the Double dipping and the Asian Pancake Rolls.  The Double Dipping (245php) is served with bread, croutons and wafers with Blue cheese and bacon & Sour Cream dip and roast black olive tapenade with truffle oil dip. Asian Pancake Rolls (175php), slow braised orange duck wrapped in Chinese pancake with mini beancurd fries.

 

 

And then came the salad. Roast pumpkin and olives with grilled dukkah chicken with spinach, fetta in red balsamic vinaigrette dressing. (265php) I love how the chicken is rolled in dukkah, giving it a crunchy texture and nutty notes.

 

The Creamy Seafood Bisque (285php). Rich and bold flavored soup with prawns, scallops, squid, clams. mussels and fish.

 

Since I am on a lent sacrifice, I won’t be eating pork and beef until the end of lent. So I tried two dishes from the list of  main entrées, a fish and chicken course.

Grouper Fillet, 535php. Egg battered grouper fillet with ripe mango, noodle salad in asian dressing. The mangoes gave a summery sweet hint to the fillet, yum!

Chciken Bringhe, tumeric and vegetable paella with coconut and raisins, topped with sauté chicken and sprouts, 275php. This one would be on my list of Circa favorites. I haven’t tasted Pampanga’s versionpf Bringhe yet, but I thought having the paella cake’s top toasted was genius! It gave a natural light smokey flavor to the milky, semi sweet paella cake. The chicken was tender and flavorful too.

 

 

Both bestsellers, Char-grilled Beef tenderloin and Crunchy Pork belly were also served. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to taste it because of my sacrifice for lent. But it did smell great! And seeing my friends Mark and Kristine’s reaction as they were chowing down on these entrées , it must be really good. 🙂

 

Crunchy slow roast pork beef belly with Apple and fennel compote, 350php.

 

Char grilled beef tenderloin with laing and creamy pepper sauce. Price depends on the beef used. Local beef medallions 565php | Australian Premium Grass fed angus tenderloin 1295php.

 

Desserts! No matter how much we eat,  we always make sure to leave some room for dessert. We had Maja Blanca Cheesecake (135php), Banana coconut cake with malunggay ice cream (125php), pumpkin pie with caramel poached banana(95php).

I enjoyed how light the pumpkin pie was that it seemed like it melted in your mouth. And the malunggay ice cream was a surprise as well – with that wasabi kick in the end, it made me scoop again and again.

 

 

 

And I bet you I made you all hungry, to cool you off, let me tour you at the ground level of Circa 1900, where Circa’s 2 function rooms are , a retail concept of “tabo” which means gathering of different products featuring mainly Cebuano products, a space for a gallery to display the artworks of Cebuano artists.

 

 

Aside from the impeccable food, Circa 1900 has a library of select wines. And soon will be featuring old jazz and blues to set a perfect mood to relax and escape the city’s hustle and bustle.