FOODTRIP(155): Chives at Lamp Quarters Marikina

Sofia Haziran 04, 2021

During our Lamp Quarters Marikina food crawl, we first visit Chives Bistro & Market.

Lamp Quarters is one of the newest food hub opened at the famous Gil Fernando Avenue (a long strip in Marikina full of restaurants and food hubs). With the tag line, “Live. Love. Local”, the owners of Lamp Quarters want to create a venue and environment that gives opportunities for local, up and coming, talented entrepreneurs and starters to showcase their talents and craftmanship in the community.

Chives Bistro & Market is one of the restaurants in Lamp Quarters offers cuisines from Europe and Asia. They’ve incorporated French, Italian and Spanish cooking techniques with Asian elements to cater to the Filipino palate. Also, their restaurant works closely with the Helping One Person Everyday – H.O.P.E. Inc. – a socio-civic organization which helps the underprivileged children and the needy. A portion of the sales from different Chives products helps fund different outreach programs of H.O.P.E. Inc. Talk about a helping a person every time you dine in here sounds nice.

By the way, they opened their first branch in Antipolo City in January 2016 and quickly became one of the top restaurants in the area. Now, they opened their 2^nd branch here in Lamp Quarters in Marikina.

Place is spacious and I like that they have a huge glass windows as one can dine and relax while having a nice view outside. It has a mix of vintage, classy and native décors.

Here’s what they we ate:

Complimentary Bread

-This tasty bread comes in olive oil, balsalmic vinegar and oregano. It was the perfect appetizer as the bread was soft and has a buttery taste. I personally love the dip along with it.

House Salad (Php195)

“Green ice lettuce topped with crispy dilis, roasted cashew, calamari, sliced apples, tomatoes, grilled kesong puti, cracked black pepper and oregano dressed in honey lemon vinaigrette”

-A huge fan of salad, I personally love their House Salad as the lettuce was fresh and crunchy. I like the combination of the salty, sweet and a bit sour flavor as it compliments very well. And yes, I can eat this all day!

Frutti di Mare (Php250)

“Shrimp, calamari, clams, mussels, linguine, Pomodoro, pesto”

-I like that the pasta was cooked to perfection while the taste was superb. Not a fan of red sauce pasta (since I don’t like tomatoes) but this one’s an exception. The amount of sauce was good and the taste of seafood would make one crave for more.

Pork Belly Crisp (Php295)

“Bagnet style Pork belly, seasoned vinegar, pickled vegetables”

-The pork belly was crispy and cooked well though I just noticed that the meat is a bit dry inside (I personally like a juicy one) and the dip or vinegar along with it compliment the taste very well. The red/brown rice also gives a different taste to the pork belly.

Overall, I LOVE all the dishes they served to us. And I was surprised that the place may look expensive but the price is AFFORDABLE. They still have lots of other dishes to I want to try so will definitely come back here.