Leona Art Restaurant ♥ ♥ ♥

Its been a while since I posted a blog entry.  I have been busy these past few weeks due to work and personal stuff.  A lot of positive changes in my life has happened lately and I got caught up in it thus I didn't have the time to post about all the restaurants nor the products I bought recently.  Anyway, before September ends, here's a food review about a hidden gem within the famous Maginhawa St. in QC.

Last September 11, the group IBM Foodistas met up for the first time and tried out this resto. It was a very enjoyable night because we were able to meet new friends, try out a lot of the food in the menu and also got to share stories to each other. We plan to meet and try out new restos or try a new resto at least once a month and for September, we chose Leona Art Restaurant. :)

You might have heard of or seen Leona Art Restaurant along White Plains in Katipunan years ago as this is where this resto was previously located.  Personally, I used to see Leona Art Restuarant along Katipunan but didn't realize until recently that it is indeed a restaurant as its facade looked like an antique shop.  I'm not sure if their signage did have the word 'restaurant' in it too hence the wrong impression I had. >.<

The resto is somewhat small so I would recommend that you call them first to reserve should you be with a large group of friends to ensure that you'll be accommodated. :)

I tried to search for Leona Art Restaurant via Google to check its address but there are still a lot of incorrect info which are still not updated until now.  They're now located along Matimtiman St., Teacher's Village in QC.  For those of you who are not familiar to the area, this street is perpendicular to the famous Maginhawa St.  Best landmark would be to look for Ministop convenience store.  As soon as you see it, that's the exact street where this resto is located. :)

They're currently offering 2 good deals:

• Roast Chicken - Php 455/good for 5 pax (includes Mexican rice, fresh salsa, gravy)
• 3 Pizza (Pepperoni, Three Cheese, and a pasta of our choice)  - Php 499
  

and who are we not to grab those offers? Of course we didn't think twice and availed the 2! :)

Here are the list of food that we ordered that night:

Roasted Chicken w/ Mexican rice, fresh salsa and gravy
~ FTW! This is the highlight of the night.  We loooved the taste of the chicken thus we ordered this a second time.  I'll definitely order this again. :)

Ratatouille & Green Olives Pizza

~ The pizza is so-so for me.  Taste is ok, but it would be better if they made use dough made from scratch rather than those which are readily available at the market.

 Quesadilla
~ Honestly, I can't remember how this one tasted. :-/

 Chicken & Pesto Pasta
~ As for the pasta, I would prefer that they add more pesto and keep the chicken juicy and soft. :)

 Pork & Apple

(Flour tortilla basket filled with cubes of pork & apple with rice)
~ Loved the taste of this one. :)  I would suggest though that they exclude the fatty cubes.

Mozzarella Chicken
(Chicken breast with rice; sauted with garlic, mushrooms & tomatoes; topped with melted mozzarella cheese)

~ Love, love, loooved this.  The chicken was succulent enough and the melted cheese got me! haha

Maria Shrimp

~ Was not able to taste this one. :-(

Overall, it was good food at very reasonable prices.  There were a few innovative selections which are promising like the Pork and Apple meal.  I would prefer though that they lessen the inclusion of fatty cubes or if they could exclude it altogether, the better. :) Taste wise, I liked it.

Good food with great company is definitely the perfect way to end the night.  I'm happy that the 1st IBM Foodista trip was a success. To cap this post, here's a shot of IBM Foodista members with happily filled tum-tums. :)

**Photos courtesy of Hugh Winthrop Sy

Leona Art Restaurant
Address: 45 Matimtiman St., Teacher’s Village, QC
Tel: 929-7490, 400-7894