Maimee’s Garden Cafe: Tucked Inside Little Baguio

Apparently, there’s been a “secret resto” in the San Juan area for the longest time and I was skeptical.  I love secret resto’s and I should’ve known about it, right?  After all, I’ve been living in the area for only 20 years now.  Still, the only thing that matters now is that I’ve tried the place.

So the place is called Maimee’s Garden Café and it’s actually inside a house with a nice garden.  Kind of reminds me of Lemuria but a bit more home-y¹.  They have two bungalows for dining area and a few tables outside.  There’s even a gazebo that you can reserve ahead of time.  Would be nice to reserve it at nighttime.

First thing we noticed is that there aren’t so many things on the menu.  And if there’s one thing that was glaringly missing, there weren’t really any drinks. Well, aside from Nestea² and canned Del Monte drinks.  Cuisine-wise, I’m not really sure how to classify this.  They have Spanish dishes such as salpicao and gambas, but they also have Mexican-inspired dishes (nachos), American (wings), and others.

First dish was a Chicken Cordon Bleu.  I’m not a huge fan of chicken cordon bleu in general because they tend to be dry and bland.  I have to say, though, that this is one of the better ones that I’ve had.  Then again, the ones I usually have come in a styrofoam plate and with plastic utensils.  Obviously not my dish, but my mom was pretty happy with her order.

My sister got a Herb Pan-fried Fish.  Loved this dish!  A simple fried dory with special herb butter and grated cheese.  They serve this with a tartar-type of sauce, which goes really well with the fish.  At first, my sister was actually hesitant with the dip, but really loved it after the meal.

I went for the USDA Boneless Barbecue Short Ribs³.  It’s grilled beef short ribs basted in their special marinade sauce served in a soy-based dip, which I thought had a distinct Asian twist to the dish.  I’m kind of torn.  On one hand, the dish is great.  Grilled and cooked properly.  Sauce was good and everything.  I just can’t get past the fact that the beef wasn’t all that great.  It was fatty (OK) and full of ligaments and veins (not OK).  Seriously, it had more veins that my feet after playing basketball.  It would’ve been a home run dish if the quality of the beef were better.

Each dish came with herbed rice and a side of roasted baby potatoes.  Loved the rice, loved the potatoes.

Service wasn’t bad but the dishes too forever to come out.  With no exaggeration, we almost had to wait an hour.  The staff kept apologizing and updating us ⁴ that you can’t really say anything bad about this.  When the dishes did finally come out, the cook/owner personally apologized (again) and offered us a pitcher of iced tea, which we declined ⁵.  I’ll chalk this up to them having a bad day.  The ambiance does make up for this in a way.  Nothing fancy about this place.  Just a few well done dishes, which is all you could ask for.  I still think they should add a few home-made drinks to their menu, but I really can’t complain.

Maimee’s Garden Cafe: Tucked Inside Little Baguio 2011-09-27

pparently, there’s been a “secret resto” in the San Juan area for the longest time and I was skeptical.  I love secret resto’s and I should’ve known about it, right?  After all, I’ve been living in the area for only 20 years now.  Still, the only thing that matters now is that I’ve tried the …