Hole-in-the-wall restaurants at its infancy stage is the closest to my heart. Seeing a new restaurant braving the immense restaurant industry reminds me not to be afraid of the giants. Coming from a petite girl (hi!), I think I’ve been through these challenges several times. From running in the student council against powerful opponents, battling with tough clients in the corporate world and so much more. In the end, it’s all about courage and giving it a shot.

 I was invited by my friend Mon to visit her tito’s newly opened restaurant in Kapitolyo, Karnitas Korner. While using Waze, “getting lost” in Kapitolyo and finding a small colorful sign, I suddenly missed how I started food blogging. Randomly driving around the city without reading about the restaurants online. Okay, enough of my throwback memories. Haha! Anyway. Back to business.

Karnitas Korner engaged me when I heard it is the ‘first porchetta joint’ in the city and a gourmet sandwich eatery at the same time. In this joint, expect Porchetta to be the darling of the house. 90% revolves around the mightiness of porchetta. With that said, I purposely skipped my supposed-to-be heavy Saturday morning meal for an afternoon of filling my tummy bag with porchetta.

Straight to the point menu of Karnitas Korner got me with sandwiches and rice meals below P200. Office workers in the area should be excited to hear about this… because I am! Somewhere in Kapitolyo, a new gem will be worth the visit at a reasonable cost. Tipid hits for us!

The Food:

Tex-Mex cheese sauce with porchetta bits, mango salsa and sliced jalapeños, what I imagine to be carrying in my road trip bag of chips. I revelled in the tropical hint of mango combined with the crisp of porchetta skin and nacho chips. Unique combination of Porchetta Nachos that totally worked to my palate.

What can I say? Porchetta is now the new beef on my nacho chips!

What’s in the bowl of Poutine? Fries, homemade cheese sauce, gravy, jalapeños and sweet longganisa. These fries just got my favor with longganisa in it. Karnitas’ longganisa is very light, nothing to be afraid of bad breath after-effect – the most terrifying effect I hate! On the jalapeños, it met the spice requirement of the poutine as a whole. That was an unexpected flavor, but I couldn’t think of any other better way. Don’t ask me what cuisine is this. The play of ingredients is easiest to be answered by ‘fusion.’ Haha!

My personal favorite in the restaurant, Porchetta Tacos. Two porchetta-filled tacos with herb-roasted corn slaw, crispy pork rinds, sweet chili sauce and a small can of chipotle sour cream on the side. I love the variety of flavors in one single bite – a play of sweetness and spiciness in rich savory porchetta meat. If there’s one dish I’ll come back for, it is the tacos!!

If rice is your default, you can cut down on everything else except one important dish – Porchetta Rice. The ultimate best-seller in Karnitas Korner where they perfectly showcase their oven-roasted succulent pork loin also known as porchetta. Rice dishes are served with steamed white rice, soft-boiled egg and roasted corn slaw.

To get the essence of Porchetta Rice Dish, you have grab your spoon and fork then mix everything evenly.

Took a pause from porchettas and took a turn to this Maple and Sundried Citrus Chicken. A light gourmet sandwich to take delight with its grilled chicken in maple and sundried-citrus marinade, plum tomatoes, baby arugula and roasted sesame sauce. Oh you know, some of our friends might want to take it “lightly” as if they’re on a diet. Suggest the chicken but be on duty to feed them with a giant spoon of Porchetta Rice!

Overload of sweetness! Ready your meds as you come across this brownie with caramel glaze and vanilla ice cream. I’m not diabetic (thank God!) but be in my place. Porchetta then this block of extremely sweet block of chocolate caramel brownie? 2 to 3 bites reach the sugar quota. More than that, I gotta stop.

From outside, it communicates as a simple home in the neighborhood until you look closely to its bold hand-painted freestyle artworks on the cemented walls.

Instagram-savy users like me couldn’t miss taking a photo of or with the walls.
The room can fit about 20-30 guests only, expected from a hole-in-the-wall establishment.

In these hole-in-the-wall type of restaurants, one concern to point out is the parking space. We were lucky to grab the spot in front of Karnitas Korner. Unfortunate to the 3rd and succeeding cars, you need to find a spot that’s not blocking a gate. Take note, this side of Kapitolyo is a residential lane.

Have you tried Karnitas Korner in Kapitolyo?

Share with me your thoughts! 🙂

Cheers,

Location: 25-A Phil-Am Road, Kapitolyo, Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Operating Hours: 11:00AM-2:00PM / 6:00PM-10:00PM

Contact: (+632) 639-4559

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarnitasKornerPH

Budget: PHP200++

Rate: