After two fruitful years in the White Plains area, Earth Kitchen is opening its second branch in Bonifacio Global City! Located at the Bonifacio High Street area, a vibrant and busy district, surrounded by yoga and fitness studios and teeming with office employees and BGC residents, Earth Kitchen offers farm-to-table delicious and healthy menu items.
Among the restaurants in that area that I had tried, Earth Kitchen was different in that it readily brought the rural into the urban setting with such perfect blending.
The interiors bring all the positive energy of nature into the dining space. It actually looks and feels like an indoor garden and is so relaxing to the eyes because everything is green, wooden, or natural. Most of the wood used in the decor are repurposed wood from old houses. Being in this place definitely gave me a lot of good vibes, really!
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| This looks like a yard inside the restaurant! |
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| Cozy, intimate, homey |
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| This is what I call “bringing the garden inside”! |
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| The ordering and paying counter |
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| What an artsy wall! |
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| Native-themed windows on the wall. So refreshing to the eyes. |
About Earth Kitchen
For those not yet familiar with the history of Earth Kitchen, its co-owners are Melissa Yeung-Yap, Joseph and Chef David Hizon (brothers), and Executive Chef J. R. Trani. The name originated from Melissa who wanted a restaurant that had good tasting dishes where “the Earth is the kitchen”.
Earth Kitchen was put up to support the livelihood of farmers under Melissa’s Got Heart Foundation, where one of its advocacies was natural farming. The foundation encouraged farmers to shift to natural farming for at least two reasons: 1) Chemicals in pesticides/fertilizers are bad for the health as well as for the environment and, 2) Purchasing the pesticides/fertilizers often resulted in large debts on the part of the farmers. With natural farming, they learned to make their own environment-friendly fertilizers. However, the farmers did not know how and where to sell their crops. Earth Kitchen’s creation provided them with a steady stream of clientele. Personally, this is good news for me as I try to infuse more wellness moves in my own family – moving to natural cleaning products, less chemicals, organic products, etc.
There is also a small retail area that features products from local producers, such as teas, jams, rice and coffee.
Sneak Peek of Earth Kitchen’s Dishes
We started with Smoked Tomato Soup. This is organic smoked tomatoes, cream and gremolata with garlic bread on the side. Very tasty! Having tried ordinary tomato soup, I give this one a thumbs-up for not really being too tomato-ey. The spices mixed in with the cream tempered what would otherwise be a very strong tomato flavor that some people may not like. If you like creamy pumpkin soup, you would love this one too.
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| Smoked Tomato Soup |
The Risotto Balls were breaded and fried mushroom risotto balls stuffed with mozzarella cheese. A dish of tomato sauce served as a dip. These were so yummy, I had to stop myself from eating more, knowing more dishes were coming.
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| Risotto Balls |
Next came their Watermelon and Rocket Salad, a vibrantly colorful garden mix of organic or naturally-produced arugula, edible flowers, pili nuts, home-made kesong puti (a great alternative to feta cheese!) and topped with a dressing of balsamic vinaigrette. The touch of in-season fruits around the plate added to the eye candy.
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| Watermelon and Rocket Salad |
Being a pasta lover, my clear favorite dish was the Earth Kitchen Ravioli, a delicious ravioli dish made from camote tops, white cheese, pili nuts, pomodoro sauce, basil and parmesan cheese. If you love pasta, this is a strongly recommended dish to order.
If you like squid dishes, try their Risotto Uni Negra. It’s sticky rice in squid ink, French beans and local scallops. The serving may look smaller than usual but believe me, it is quite filling and can be shared with 1-2 more companions.
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| Risotto Uni Negra |
How much more different can Spaghetti Meatballs be? Well, at Earth Kitchen, their Spaghetti Meatballs are made from organic beef and bacon (ground in-house), organic tomato sauce, and spaghettini.
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| Spaghetti Meatballs |
The Roast Chicken is made from organic roast chicken with French beans and baby potatoes.
Dessert came in the form of two flavors of ice cream (Tablea and Pastillas). The Tablea is made from homemade carabao milk. The Pastillas flavor is a clear winner in my books. It is very creamy and tastes like melted pastillas, a local dessert item I really love eating. Order this with your meals!
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| Tablea Ice Cream with a touch of crunch on top |
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| Pastillas Ice Cream (my favorite flavor!) |
For those who are trying Earth Kitchen for the first time and wondering what to order, their top 4 bestsellers are their Beef Kebab, Shrimp Spring Rolls, Watermelon and Rocket Salad, and Beef Bulgogi Soft Taco. So there.
The Chefs behind Earth Kitchen
Chef David Hizon studied at the California Culinary Academy and worked in the US for a few years before returning in 2011 to be the R&D chef of Hizon’s Catering. Chef JR was a med student until he decided one day that he really wanted to be a chef. He enrolled at the Center for Culinary Arts-Manila and the rest is history.
Earth Kitchen is open to events and exclusive functions as both branches have function rooms. White Plains can accommodate a seating capacity of 80 and 100 people in the function room; in BGC, it has a 40-person seating capacity and 15 in the function room. Wondering how much you should expect to spend when dining at Earth Kitchen? Roughly P600 per person.
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| With Chef JR Trani |
You can find Earth Kitchen here:
Website: earthkitchen.ph
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheEarth Kitchen
Instagram: @earthkitchenph
Branches:
1. Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
UG/F, Bonifacio High Street Central, 7th Ave. corner 29th St.
Mobile Tel. +63925 6888951
Hours: 10AM – 10PM, daily
2. White Plains, Quezon City
Lot 10-B-10 White Plains, Katipunan Ave., Quezon City
Tel. (+632) 577 9138, +63917 5843278