My trip companions Ruth & Lei were keen on visiting Liliw because they would like to have another bite at Arabela. Being inveterate foodies, the cafe came with their highest recommendations which aroused my gustatory curiosity all the more. For a while, I thought some haughty Italian owned the place. It turned out to be a venture of a Filipino husband and wife team totally devoted to the twin pleasures of cooking and eating.
Arabela is located in the entresuelo (basement) of a three-storey ancestral house. It has a low ceiling that is why if your height reaches past 170 cms, you’d have to stoop down already. Its interiors are best described as bright and eclectic as it is filled with knick knacks and novelty items culled from flea markets and antique furniture shops. Loads of foreign magazines and cookbooks are freely scattered all over the place which led us to presume that you will never be bored while waiting for your food.
Bobby and Tonet Camello are the couple behind Arabela. Asked on why they put up the restaurant, Tonet casually answered “mahilig kasi akong magluto at ang asawa ko naman ay mahilig kumain (I love to cook and my husband likes to eat).” Little did they expect that their hole-in-the-wall would become so successful that they even get offers to franchise from total strangers. On the other hand, this couple’s so nice and simple that they haven’t even thought of making more money, just continuing something they love to do.
This is the reason why I found Arabela’s fare downright cheap by city standards.We ordered the following: chicken parmigiana (P99), parmesan-crusted chicken (P99), the house salad (P78), sirloin steak (P100) and two kinds of pizza which we ordered by the slice. The servings were generous and you can really feel that the lady of the house didn’t scrimp on the ingredients in order to come up with an (almost) authentic Italian taste.
I really liked their kesong puti mini-pizza (P120) which was pita bread generously topped with Laguna cottage cheese, mushrooms, onions, green pepper, and olives.
The other items on the Arabela menu include waffles, tacos, bread and pasta in various kinds of sauces all priced at an unbelievable P50. Their hot drinks include cinnamon mocha, chocolate eggnog and hot cognac chocolate which I definitely have to try next time. A little more talking to the owner and he gave us a free serving of his wife’s fudge walnut brownies, the house specialty.This proved to be a decadent indulgence of caramel, chocolate and nuts, crunchy on the top and chewy to the bite. Muy excelente!
A meal at Arabela makes the long trip to Liliw very much worth it. Arabela is at 503 Rizal St.,Liliw, Laguna. Please call mobile number 09172041447 for inquiries.
hi ajay! my daughter, estelle, and i read your post and nagutom kami bigla. we will try out arabela soon! keep on posting your culinary finds.
ajay, drop by new :oops:blogsite: http://www.susanople.com. dat’s my url na. paki-kabit na lang. oh no! blog addict na me!:eek:
Glad you liked this culinary reportage, Toots, haha. My meals at Kusina Salud, Arabela and Tahanan ni Aling Meding certainly made my Laguna road trip a memorable one. Can’t wait to go back!! P.S. I appended your link na. Welcome to the Blogging Addicts Club!:grin:
Ajay! Kainis sobra! That kesong puti pizza is EXACTLY what I want to eat RIGHT NOW! 🙁
It’s good you are showing us parts of the Philippines that we might have never known. I’m going to keep these places in mind for our “second honeymoon” which should be soon 😛
Toe, I want to eat it too and if it’s any consolation to you, Arabela de Laguna is also far away from where I am now:oops:
Hi Noemi. Is it safe to presume that your second honeymoon will be in the Calabarzon area? :smile:Congrats in advance. I’ll be posting more places soon…
OMG! gustong-gusto kona tuloy magbakasyon ulit.:wink:
we’re not totally stranger to liliw, but OMG! we thought the place is one of those stylish footwear stores !!! will fly back to phils on thursday and will spend the rest of summer ’06 in our lil’ abode in luna st. & this time, we’ll make sure cafe arabela is a priority visit (next of course to the beautiful church of liliw:lol:)
Hi Joe. The owners (Camello couple) did mention that hardly any resident from Liliw visit their place, maybe because they find the fare too expensive already. Most of the customers come from neighboring towns of Laguna, Batangas , Quezon and of course the ones from Manila..
I love Italian food also……Just like wine , women & song…..haba, haba, haba…..
We are the niece and nephew of the owner of arabela and we are currently here in Canada. We left the Philippines last August of 2005, and we really miss hanging out in that place together with our cousins and friends. Everyone should try eating there becuase the food is very good and cheap.
i’ve been there 2 days ago. the place is nice, the food is good, it’s the best!!!
nice cozy place in arabela i love the food especially the pizza in thin crust and vanilla coffee……keep it up
I and my friend went to Liliw this afternoon and reading thru different good reviews about Arabela, we decided to have our lunch at the restaurant and try it by ourselves. But to our dismay, we were disappointed with the food, the service and the place as well. The food, I had Vongole and Seafood Marinara for my friend. Vongole really sucks, its very salty and I tried the seafood marinara that my friend had, and it was soggy. The pizza was so so. The table we had is too small for our order because the used big plates.
I have a message to you Arjay and to those people who wrote about good reviews on this Arabela to be honest. We traveled that far to find out the bad restaurant. Honestly, if these people who wrote good reviews about this restaurant were there in the restaurant this afternoon, GUSTO KO SILANG BATUKAN.. PEACE.