Guevarra’s: A Filipino Buffet by Chef Rolando Laudico Inside an Old House in San Juan City

Last month, I got an invitation to feature an interesting collab by two Filipino chefs at a famous buffet place, Guevarra’s. But believe it or not, I’ve never been to the restaurant prior to my visit!

Guevarra’s is a restaurant by Chef Roland “Lau” Laudico, a.k.a. “The Rocker Chef”, and his wife, Chef Jackie. Chef Lau is also a celebrity chef and a judge of MasterChef Pinoy Edition.

The restaurant is located in a two-story heritage house built in the 1920s, which adds to the charm.

As I mentioned earlier, Guevarra’s is a Filipino buffet, offering classic and modern dishes, as well as common street food. If you’re not from the Philippines or you want to introduce someone to Filipino cuisine, Guevarra’s can be a good starting point.

If I remember correctly, there are 7 sections: Appetizers/Salad Bar, Carving Station, Hot and Grilled, Mains, Soup, Beverages, and Desserts.

Here are the food (mains and desserts combined) I tried:

Bacon Bagnet (deep-fried bacon sliced pork strips): It’s crunchy and fatty. I wish it has more salt but it’s minor.

Banoffee Shots: This dessert is decadent! It has velvety whipped cream, nice caramel and chocolate flavors, and a nice crumbly crust.

Beef Kare-Kare (peanut stew): I like that it’s rightly sweet and is the traditional kind which uses beef and ox tripe (because some uses crispy pork).
Dinuguan (blood stew): It has tender and fatty meats, albeit its lacking in dinuguan flavors.
Cassava Flan: It’s a mix of cassava cake and leche flan (crème caramel)—the best of both worlds!

The Cassava Flan is in the leftmost side. Starting from 11 o’clock: *Leche* Flan, Banoffee Shot, *Maja Blanca*, and Pudding.

Kangkong (Swamp Cabbage/Water Spinach) Dumpling: It’s sweet and nutty.
Leche Flan: It’s sweet and decadent.
Lechon (roasted suckling pig): It has crisp skin and a nice lemongrass flavor.

Maja Blanca (coconut pudding): It’s smooth and creamy, with a nice saltiness from the cheese.
Roasted Angus Beef: It’s tasty and melt-in-the-mouth fatty. But it’s bordering the dry side.

Roasted Chicken Sinampalukan (grilled chicken with tamarind): It has tender meat and a sweet and tangy sauce.

Ubod Cone: It has sweet ubod (heart of palm) filling wrapped in crisp wrapper.
Various Filipino Makis: It has Filipino flavors but it’s not for me.

As I mentioned, I got invited to feature a collab. That’s between Gueverra’s and Nutribullet entitled Taste of the Philippines. The collab brought Dubai-based Filipino Chef Dabo Pamplona, who is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Naimas Café and Bistro.

The collab introduced modern Filipino dishes, which was offered in Guevarra’s for a limited time. These are:

Bistek Saltado by Chef Dabo: This is a Peruvian-Chinese beef stir-fry done the Filipino way (bistek is a Filipino dish made with beef braised in a soy sauce-based gravy).

This dish has tender and fatty beef, with a salty and savory gravy.

Humba-Rum Chicken Empanada by Chef Dabo: An empanada filled with humba, a Visayan pork dish.

The empanada has a sweet and savory chicken filling that’s sweetened with panocha or jaggery, and also flavored with rum. Then it’s dusted with a mixture of powdered sugar and corn flour so it’s not too sweet.

Shrimp Laing Rebosado with Coconut Wasabi Cream by Chef Lau: This is a crispy battered shrimp (rebosado) with laing (taro leaves cooked in coconut milk) spiked with wasabi.

Shrimp *Laing* *Rebosado* with Coconut Wasabi Cream

Since I’m allergic to shrimp, I wasn’t able to taste and review it. LOL.

Tiyula Itum Inasal Yakitori by Chef Dabo: This yakitori (Japanese skewer) is inspired by a dish called tiyula itum, a Tausug dish blackened with charred coconut meat.

It’s tender, smoky, and I can certainly taste the lemongrass.

Like with any buffet, there are hits and misses in Guevarra’s. But I think there are more hits than misses. Overall, we had a pleasant experience at Guevarra’s. So if you want to sample many Filipino dishes, then visit Guevarra’s. I recommend it to you!

Guevarra’s

Address: 387 P. Guevarra St. cor. Argonne St., San Juan City, Metro Manila, Philippines | Buffet Hours: Daily, 7:30-10AM (breakfast; weekends only); 11AM-2PM (lunch); 2:30-4:30PM (late lunch; weekends only); 5-7PM (maagang salu salo); 7:30-10PM (dinner) | Fees: PHP599 (breakfast; weekends only); PHP899 (lunch and dinner); PHP799 (late lunch and maagang salu salo) | Contact No.: 0998-8813200 | Facebook | Instagram | Website