PINOY FOOD AT ADARNA: DISSAPOINTING

119 Kalayaan Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City (63 2 9268712; website). Daily 6pm-10pm.

We were looking for traditional Filipino cooking and it was a toss-up between Cafe Juanita in Burgos Circle (we weren't sure if the original branch in Bgy Kapitolyo branch was still open) and Adarna in Quezon City where we eventually ended up.

It's a charming 1960s house along Kalayaan Avenue previously owned by entertainment mogul Vic del Rosario. The tables are made of wood, capiz doors and windows are used as dividers, several Filipino antiques and antiquities are scattered around the restaurant. One function room dedicated to Philippine cinema and music decorated with black and white photos of matinee idols and singers like Didith Reyes; it seats 50 pax and has a minimum charge of P7,500. next door is dedicated to Philippine beauty queens and on display are newspaper clippings of Manila Carnival (the precursor to Bb. Pilipinas), antique embroidered slippers and a traditional Filipino gown that looks like it will crumble to the touch.

The decor -- and the food -- takes you back to a simpler period in Philippine history when households were big and it was the woman's job was to cook for the family.

I was craving for menudo and misua, but they didn't have either in the six-page menu. We ordered fried vegetable lumpia for appetizer and for the main course we had beef caldereta, tilapia cooked in coconut milk, embotido and diced tofu curry. We could have ended with the lumpia as the rest were a disappointment. The embotido was charred, the tofu was bland (no trace of turmeric) and the beef was so tough I had to give it a pass.

I was missing the flavor of the dishes, which sadly didn't come with the smoke that covered us in kitchen smell all throughout the evening. The exhaust system is non-existent. The service, however, was impeccable. The owner's taste in music was not: we had to listen to Bee Gees et al the whole night.

Pity that we had a disappointing meal. I remember it to be better three years ago. Some things do change and this one has. For the worst.