Pares Francia; Eye- catching Name, Well Designed Resto

Pares Francia 
Eye- catching Name, Well Designed Resto

I was driving at Penafrancia Avenue on our way to Magsaysay

when an eye- catching restaurant signage caught my attention. 

 

Pares Francia, the restaurant’s name, was a work of a genius.

It made me step on my brake, and made us dine there right away.

 

Coined from a Filipino word “Pares” for pairs,

a common restaurant offering in the Philippines

where rice is paired with a viand as a budget meal,
and “Francia” a colloquial Nagueno shortcut for

Penafrancia Avenue, where the restaurant is located.

Pares Francia is an unpretentiously brilliant paradox of

the fine dining capital of the world that is Paris, France.

 

It was a well designed, open air restaurant-
that gives an informal fish- port ambiance,

…as the interior designer extensively used old wooden
crates for wall and ceiling cladding, and brilliantly  
converted metal fish buckets to ceiling lights.

 

We ordered some of their rice- paired or ‘pares’

dishes like Paksiw na Pata ng Baboy, which we

found inedible as it was too sour and fat laden.

The rice paired Lumpia Shanghaiwas okay,

…and so was the Tocilog.

The Pork Barbecue can be ordered by piece, and although there 
is nothing extraordinary about it,  this is one dish to order for 
a decent dinner in this restaurant the one that  I could endorse.

Their Loglog with Egg was otherwise excellent.

The broth was full of flavor, and brimming with

the rich, savory taste of slow cooked meat and

the noodles were firm and not overcooked.

The staff however should be taught about proper sanitation as they 
do not know how to segregate clean from used  drinking glasses.
C’était dégueulasse! I would say if this were in  Paris,  France but this
 is Pares Francia, still this unsanitary practice has to be corrected.

 

It would be safer to order bottled water in this restaurant.

 

The toilet was unlighted, there was no free flowing 
water and used an old paint can  for water storage.

Pares Francia has an eye- catching extraordinary name,

 food was okay and affordable  but they need to upgrade their  
toilet and train their staff on cleanliness and proper sanitation.