GRACE PARK is Margarita Fores‘ much-anticipated farm-to-table Italian restaurant in One Rockwell in Makati. It is named after her paternal grandmother Angie Geronimo Forés’ home in Grace Park, Caloocan (the former Elpo rubber shoes compound).
The concept is inspired by similar farm-to-table, slow-cooking restos in the US (like ABC Kitchen, Vinegar Hill House, and Joseph Leonard). A lot of people have raved about the interiors tastefully done by Jorge Yulo (congrats!). It transports you to a rustic yet industrial loft, making you forget that you are in a mall.
The food is a mix of healthy and sinful comfort food, but the taste is a bit bitin. It adopts the “cleaner” Western taste versus the bolder, malinamnam flavors that some Pinoy foodies prefer.
Here is our Grace Park experience…
Related Blog Posts: Lusso’s Foie Gras Burger and Cibo Bimbi, Rockwell
MENU: Grace Park Dining Menu | Drinks Menu
We love the rustic-industrial setting that is conducive to chika chika with friends.
If you are eating on the first floor, I suggest you reserve this corner table with the shabby chic decor.
The kitchen intends to be a farmhouse kitchen, serving a limited menu based on the ingredients that are in season.
The grand staircase is a mix of iron and wooden materials from ancestral houses.
The chandelier lights up the staircase and provides a nice interior highlight.
On the second floor, reserve the tables near the front, which provides a more private space.
The only problem with cement walls is that the conversations bounce off them, so you can hear the chattering sounds all around you.
STARTERS
It was great to dine with Jin, not only because of her lovely appetite, but also because of her insights on what to order based on her initial experience — Jin Loves to Eat | Grace Park.
★ Sardine Spread (P250 +10% service charge).
We all liked the creamy, smooth taste of the sardines on the bread.
Organic Scotch Eggs (P325 +10% service charge).
The organic eggs wrapped in a layer of meat (which tasted like embotido) with fresh vegetables was a good starter too.
SOUP
Barley, Smoked Ham & Farmers’ Vegetables (P240 +10% service charge).
The soup tasted clean and healthy, and it had an aftertaste of barley.
PASTA
★ Squash Ribbons, Pistachios, Goat Cheese (P450 +10% service charge).
The squash pasta was delicious! We loved the soft, handmade quality of the pasta, and the bits of pistachios nicely balanced out the taste of the goat cheese.
★ Fettuccine, Truffle Cream, Organic Egg (P550 +10% service charge).
This pasta was equally good with its light, truffle cream flavor.
(Just wondering: Is this the start of the PastaSilog trend? 🙂 )
MAINS
Chicken Scaloppine (P580 +10% service charge).
It resembles a Milanese dish we had the pleasure of trying some time ago. This dish might be better served with veal instead of chicken, though.
★ Muscovado Beef Belly (P510 +10% service charge).
We loved the sweet roasted flavor of the soft beef belly (which had a good layer of fat). It is best eaten with the juicy cherry tomatoes to make this dish a bit more healthy.
Roasted Veg Garden (P125 +10% service charge).
The roasted vegetables from that day’s harvest menu was good but a bit dry.
Organic Porkchop (P520 +10% service charge).
The porkchop was tough; we found the corn more rave-worthy instead.
DESSERTS
Golden Cassava (P210 +10% service charge).
This was just OK — cassava with lots of grated cheese on top.
Ensaimada Pudding (P240 +10% service charge).
Sinful ensaimada packed into pudding form with sauce. Again, it was just OK.
While taking photos, we noticed that if you don’t put the cutlery in the picture, the dessert looks ordinary (and tastes like it too).
Overall, we love the solid concept of Grace Park, and the resto design by architect Jorge Yulo. 🙂 It’s a nice place for a date, a family celebration, or a barkada reunion dinner.
We recommend the pasta dishes, the Muscovado Beef Belly, and the sweet vegetables! It would be nice if the resto can feature the farms where the vegetables and produce come from.
Take note, though, that some flavors may be bitin, especially since a lot of foodies expect bolder flavors like in Lusso. For dessert, go for coffee and cakes in UCC beside it. Budget P1,300/head for a 3-course meal (starter-main-dessert).
GRACE PARK
Ground Level, One Rockwell, Rockwell Drive, Rockwell Center Makati
Operating Hours: Open 11 AM to 3 PM and 6 PM to 10 PM
Mobile: +(63 917) 513-8945
Telephone: +(63 939)-93-GRACE , +(632) 843-PARK (7275)
Facebook: Grace Park
Related Grace Park Blog Posts:
- Chuvaness | Grace Park Opens at One Rockwell
- Rajo Laurel | Margarita Fores’s GRACE PARK!
- Tales from the Tummy | Grace Park in One Rockwell
- Inquirer.Net | Gaita Fores’ new venture celebrates farmhouse cooking
Live an Awesome Life,
Founder, www.OurAwesomePlanet.com
Follow @antondiaz and Like our Official Facebook Page: Our Awesome Planet 🙂
If you have tips on awesome food and travel destinations, please email me at anton@diaz.ph.
Full Disclosure: We paid for our meals. I wrote this blog post myself, and it expresses my own opinions. We only feature awesome experiences in the blog.
I have no business relationship with any company mentioned in this post or any organization promoting it. As a policy, I don’t receive compensation from food and travel places we feature in the blog.
P.S. How’s your Grace Park experience? Please share them in the Comments section.
Hi, Anton.
We tried Grace Park last week. Sad to say I was a bit underwhelmed by my first experience. First off, our main courses were served one at a time. And by the time the last entree was served it was already more than an hour after we ordered =(
The pork chop I had was not only tough and dry, it tasted bland. While my companions’ meatballs dish was on the salty side.
Maybe I just had high expectations because this is Gaita’s restaurant but, I hope my next visit will be a more pleasant one.
Andie
The dishes look a little overpriced, especially the pasta dishes. But since you’re recommending it, maybe it’s worth a try.
-charmtan.com
Enjoyed the Grace Park’s interiors but not the food. It was so-so!
We had Muscovado Beef Belly , 2 kinds of pasta (spinach fettuccine and another pasta with white sauce and goat cheese) and salad.
Basing my opinion from your pics, the interior looks like it’s trying for something but never got even close (your term ‘bitin’ is apt). Looks more dingy than ‘shabby’. The kitchen looks very disorderly, not to mention unsafe (look at all those jumble of cables hanging down from the open shelves, and items precariously stacked on those same shelves!). The lighting is terrible. As for the food, your review suggests to me you didn’t like it. For the price range you mentioned, a better experience is to be expected. I’ve read in your blog and those of others, that Ms. Fores is a locally well known chef and very successful restaurateur. This new restaurant may fail to uphold that reputation.
Isn’t the yolk of a free-range organic egg supposed to be orange, not the pale yellow shown in one of the food photos above?
I find this concept trying hard and interior is awful,the stickers on the glass reminds me about halloween. I have tried the food too nothing special about it, also that egg is not free range!
Onie
thanks for this
Hi, Anton how are you? Thanks for sharing this one. I know the Geronimo clan and they are legitimate resident of then Caloocan, Rizal (now Caloocan City). I was born and grown up in Caloocan. Grace Park is a well-known district for the rich people and businessmen that’s why most of the factories are located in Grace Park. The main road there is Rizal Avenue and most of the street names are numerical.
Anyway, I will try this restaurant also when I visit in Philippines later. I love to visit the old fashioned restaurant. If it is an old fashioned restaurant, their dishes must be cooked in a natural way meaning not instant or short cut method. I like the old style of their kitchen. Also, they should not use any kind of instant ingredients and they should use organic ingredients if possible. I know that there are many people who got sick because of the instant food also. If their dishes are organic, then it is good for our health and to the seniors also.
I read all the comments especially for those who visited in the restaurant. The management should improve their dishes and the ambiance of the restaurant also so that they can get more customers. I understand that one especially for the newly opened restaurants. The management should give the comment or suggestion form to the customers so that they know which of their dishes or the part of the restaurant must be improve so that they can get more customers. Have a nice day always.
Agree. If Margarita claims to be in the list of the world’s 50 best resto, the i say she’s a fraud. Compare the food pix from the last (50th place) on the list of the World’s best Resto versus her food so you can see the difference.