Lunch at Earth Cafe

At one end of Silangan Gardens, a small café sits in a corner, with white garden chairs strewn around the area. The place is Earth Café, owned and managed by husband and wife team, Ricci and Irene Gurango. In case Chef Ricci’s name is familiar, he was one of the members of the band Mojofly. They used to run a personal dining place, Laya. Last year, they decided to close down Laya and moved it here in Pinto Art Museum.

Laya is a private kitchen offering exclusive and intimate dining on weekends only. But for lunch and afternoon snacks, there’s the in-house all day Earth Cafe serving meals that changes every week.

The culminating part of my Pinto experience is lunch with my friend Maritess. We chose to sit down at a table at the end of one of the galleries.

For starters, we had the lemon grass and ginger cooler, refreshing, soothing and not too sweet.

I wanted a light lunch and opted for the Thai Tomato Basil soup. It was light, perfectly seasoned with basil… While Tess frowned on the bits of tomato skin, I love the texture it gives on the soup.

For the next course, I had the free-range chicken in Tarragon cream sandwich. It came with a side salad of greens and sliced carrots. Tess chose the free-range chicken and mushroom patty sandwich. Tess and I seldom see each other and when we do, we forget other things except talk. That’s why I can’t say much about our sandwiches. J but I enjoyed what I ordered. It’s something that I would make a point to look for the recipe and try at home

the bill came in small wooden chest. :)

We didn’t have desserts. A sweet tooth and dessert person that I am, I chose not to have one because it was already time for us to go on with our appointments – Tess to fetch her apo from school while I need to go back to Valley Golf to pick up M. Dessert would make a nice excuse for me to go back to Pinto Gallery soon.

Nature + art + food + photography = love

I first got to know about Pinto Gallery when I saw it from my gradeschool classmate’s Facebook photos, made a mental note to come and visit when M would be playing golf in Valley Golf in Antipolo.

A few weeks back, I was able to hitch a ride with M to Antipolo City. After a quick breakfast of arroz caldo, I was on my way to Pinto Gallery to meet Maritess, my gradeschool classmate and friend. I wasn’t able to print a map and instead, relied on her text message instructions. But it wasn’t really hard to find.

Pinto Art Museum lies inside Silangan Gardens, a one hectare piece of land owned by art patron Dr. Joven Cuanang. He is a staunch supporter of Philippine art and culture. Pinto Art Museum showcases artworks of promising and established artists that Dr. Cuanang has collected since 1986.

my first stop was at the bathroom

The rustic Mediterranean inspired galleries nestled inside Silangan Gardens were designs of Antonio Leano. I got the chance to meet and chat with him while I was looking around the souvenir shop.

Although I find some artworks gloomy, the place is quite so relaxing. Trees, terra cota sculptures, garden chairs abound. One particular tree got my attention because it was growing in the middle of a stair step. They didn’t cut down the tree when they were building the stairs.

the chapel




interiors, chapel

I promised to be back soon as I haven’t explored the back side of the garden beyond the swimming pool. Nature + Art, a perfect combination for a soothing morning photo trip.

Pinto Art Museum is located at

The Silangan Gardens,
1 Sierra Madre Street,
Grandheights, Antipolo City
Open from Tuesdays to Sundays from 9AM to 6PM.