Casa Marcos

We had a classic Spanish dinner with Vicky's former classmates last night, and it was a wonderful surprise to find out that the Burgos Circle at the Fort has transformed into a gourmet's lounge area.  As it was a special night (one of her good friends and drinking gal-pals from the old days arrived from San Diego), they opted to have the reunion in Casa Marcos, which was last seen some 10 years ago, operating in Tomas Morato Avenue in Quezon City.  As I understand it, the original restaurant was operated during the peacetime days by a Spanish national, and the restaurant was located along Dewey Boulevard in Pasay (now Roxas Boulevard).  After the war, the franchise was passed onto a local businessman, and the gentleman's family moved the restaurant to Granada Street in New Manila sometime in the early eighties, before further relocating to the Tomas Morato site in the nineties.  The New Manila location started selling their pan de sal by the dozen, which was pretty much the same starter bread laid out by the staff when you dine in the restaurant, and the tradition has carried on ever since.  The current iteration is run by the third generation family members, and the old favorites are still around.  We had gambas for starters, lengua, fish in tomato sauce, 2 pans of seafood paella (still with the tutung or crunchy burnt rice at the bottom of the pan), tenderloin tips, and callos for our main meal.  The gambas was still the same as I remember it, but the callos was a bit disappointing, as the chef in their old Dewey Boulevard branch probably had a better understanding of how the dish should be prepared.  For desserts, we had chocolate cake, pudding and french-toast style pan de sal topped with ice cream.  For that, it came to something like P600 per head.  It was a memorable evening, and we didn't even notice that 3 hours had passed since we started.  It was great to see old friends in a restaurant evoking good memories.  As we left, it just occurred to me that I didn't get to taste their Sopa de Mariscos, which I remember was everything the classic soup should be!  But then, that would be for another visit... ;-)