About

Pino Resto Bar

By Jar Concengco

“Quezon City is the biggest city in the Philippines by population. Everyone works in places like Makati but goes back home to QC.” Chef Edward Bugia, head chef and co-owner of Pino Resto Bar explains. Pino is now located on Malingap St. in Teacher’s Village but started as a small 40-seater along Maginhawa Street back in 2008. “My partners and I grew up in Quezon City. I grew up on a street parallel to Maginhawa St. - on Matimtiman St. Simply, I didn’t know any place else to put up a restaurant,” he beams with pride.

Teacher’s Village in Quezon City is located on the outskirts of the University of the Philippines campus making it an accessible and popular hangout for students and faculty alike. The area is filled with pockets of independently owned cafes and shops targeting the hip millennial crowd.  

Bugia is known for making innovative and refreshing twists of Filipino classics such as Red Wine Adobong Tadyang and Crispy Hito with Ensaladang Talong. What launched Pino Resto Bar on the map was when food writer Reggie Aspiras praised their Kare Kareng Bagnet on New Years Day of 2009 on a national broadsheet. A favorite date restaurant and place for casual meetings, Pino Resto Bar has created a relationship with its community that Bugia describes as “symbiotic”.

He talks about their efforts to reach out to those in need in times of natural disasters, “Pino became a refuge for people in QC. Whenever there is a storm, we automatically mobilize our kitchens into soup kitchens. One particular moment that will remain a part of Pino’s history forever, occurred during the devastating storm of Ondoy in 2009. Pino received a call from a couple that got married during the storm but because of the storm, was suddenly without a venue for a reception.  They wanted to know if they could hold their reception in Pino later that evening. At that time, we only had parking for 2 cars and seats only 40 people! I didn’t know the couple personally, but they told me that they had dates at Pino.” The spontaneous wedding reception overflowed into Maginhawa St. that evening and cemented Pino’s place in the community.

That is the type of event that could easily make the rounds on social media and go viral these days. Since this happened in 2009, Bugia says that Pino did it not for good publicity but for good karma. Shortly after in 2010, the bigger space around the corner along Malingap St. that Bugia and his partners were eyeing for quite some time opened up for vacancy. That same year, Bugia created a 6-item vegan menu in celebration of Earth Day. Six months later, their landlord offered them the 2nd floor giving a home to Pino Resto Bar’s vegan menu and subsequently making it into a full-fledged restaurant cleverly called Pipino. Bugia’s vegan menu manages to be creative despite its limitations. It is unfortunate that Watermelon Steak – a grilled slice of watermelon served with asparagus, taro miso mash, pickled mushrooms and French beans, is a dish that is no longer served. On its current menu, however, is Pinakbet Risotto that is first deconstructed then put back together as a vegan risotto, using bagoong made with black beans to complete the dish. 

Bugia finds inspiration from local ingredients, travel and his environment. He discovered Chicken Binakol, a soup that uses coconut water to create a tasty broth, during one of his trips to Bicol. He knew he had to put it on his menu after experiencing its flavors. He credits the influx of Korean restaurants and the popularity of Korean BBQ short ribs for making Pino’s Red Wine Adobong Tadyang quite a hit. His desserts are just as creative. He makes Mango Sans Rival his own by including dried mango into the meringue batter. He adds Filipino touches to cheesecake by using tablea de cacao to create a rich, bittersweet Tablea Cheesecake. He localizes tiramisu by replacing lady fingers in the traditional dessert with coffee soaked Fita crackers and calls it Fita Tiramisu.

Pino Resto Bar is set for a transformation to remain relevant to the fresh batches of students that come in the area yearly. Bugia states, “Our newly renovated Pino is opening [in October 2019]. Our menu will be new. We have to modernize ourselves and keep up with the times.” He assures us, however, that the Pino classics that people have come to know and love will still be found in the new menu.

With a city as encouraging and supportive as Quezon City, and a creative and passionate chef like Bugia, Pino Resto Bar really does set the example of a symbiosis with the community around it - they feed and inspire each other.  

39 Malingap, Diliman, Quezon City. Telephone: (02) 441 1773.