Placate your Palette at The Pantry

Quite a rouse it’s making in the local dining scene, this newbie restaurant has enough bragging rights to topple down any Herculean café or watering hole.

Visual and satiety stimulation intensified, imagine a room which houses the necessities of the stomach. Secreted treasures thrive in this quaint hangout that serves you a cornucopia of meats, sandwiches, salad, wine, and desserts (ice cream, cake, cupcake, & cookies). It is the brain child of the carnivore who wanted to be a butcher and the homemaker who wanted to open up her own pastry shop. Managed by Francisco “Paco” and Monique Jarque, The Pantry is their first business together as a married couple and the latest shindig in The Gallery (Mabolo, Cebu City).

Interesting choices of Deli Meat (P190) and Sausage Platter (P280), which can be shared by four people per serving, deliver on all sums. Providing enjoyable layers of texture with its fixings is the “killer BLT” (Bacon, Lettuce. & Tomato, P155) sandwich. Thuringer Bratwurst (P120) is worth enunciating to the trained ears of their attentive crew. You’ll surely heave a sigh of pleasure with the Bavarian Cheese Smokie (P85). Sandwiches can be prepared with either whole wheat or French bread. Brownilla fudge ice cream cake and Tamango Tango cupcakes will never disappoint (even the brokenhearted will overlook their fleeting melancholy).

Rejoice, all ye health-conscious foodies for The Pantry’s meats don’t have MSG, coloring, enhancers, or preservatives. All desserts are home-baked straight from the Jarque’s home (they wake up to the smell of heavenly goodness).

As your tongue explores these heaven-sent goodies, your eyes are in for an ocular feast as well. The marriage of shabby chic and masculine façade was made possible by the sought-after interior designer, Hannah Lim. Softly lit, the wine and dessert station, in its brocade wallpaper design and soothing chartreuse color, opposite the robust yet muted brick walls of the meat and sandwich section, fashions an intimate, homey vibe for the homme and femme, the young and the old. The Pantry is worth the venture!