Twenty One Plates by Tinette Villanueva-Miciano

Editor’s Note: Oh no, I’m being sucked in further into writing about gastronomy … O tempora! O mores!

Tinette Villanueva (now Miciano) was a former professor from college, and like most teacher-student relationships in UA&P, we (students + young faculty) all pretty much became a close knit group outside of class. Add the fact that Tinette was moderator for the theater org — AND it was also known fact that she cooked very well. She used to bring batches of her sun dried tomato pasta to our strat plan meetings — and now the updated version of her recipe is in the menu of her newly opened restaurant, Twenty One Plates.

She had told me that Elber had dropped by to shoot her little masterpieces. Most of my friends from college had already done repeat visits and so the guilt finally tipped me to have lunch last weekend (the longest 4 hour lunch + kwento together with LJ Serrano).

What’s unique with Twenty One Plates’ architecture is theme rooms — perfect for dates and private parties. The rooms make for perfect venues for lunch out planning sessions as you can flash a projector (bring your own projector) onto the wall of your room of choice.

As you guessed, Twenty One Plates derives its name from 21 dishes prepared by her, who has always been passionate about food! The current menu is still being tweaked — but I must say that I’m one of the few lucky ones to have known Tinette from way back so I know that there’s a lot of history in every dish: I already mentioned the sundried tomato / chorizo pasta and her recent carrot cake discovery is also really good; her caldereta is to die for and her beef bulgogi sushi wrapped in kimchi is also wow!

Below is Tinette’s famous carrot cake shot in all of its glorious cross section:

Twento One Plates serves local and foreign beers and wines. Local beer is P85.00. They also have a BYOB arrangement — they do not charge for corkage. Apart from Tweny One Plates, Tinette also runs a very successful catering service and can customize to your heart’s stomach’s content. Her bottomless iced tea is a must try (it’s not Nestea or Lipton!).

Above is the “soft opening” menu so you have an idea of what else she serves, plus prices. Again, the menu isn’t permanent yet as she’s developing new stuff.

Twenty One Plates
205 Aguirre Avenue
BF Homes, Paranaque (across Miracle Spa, beside Winners Bracket and Chi’s Brick Oven)

P.S. I realize that a good number of folks from school read this humble blog. I’m sure Tinette would love to hear wonderful testimonials from you!