Jonas Pares

Reviewed Locations: Congressional Branch near Cherry Foodarama (Quezon City) and Robinson Forum Branch (Mandaluyong City)
House Specialty: Pares
Last Date Visited: October 25, 2015

I feel fortunate to be born at a time where typical filipino food in Manila tastes like the way it should be. If you were born before the 90's and you reside somewhere near the border of Manila and Quezon City in Laloma or Sta. Cruz District chances are that you have tasted this classic dish called Pares in its original form which the Quezon City pares joint Jonas was one of the pioneering restaurant that served this dish in their original Retiro branch.

It is called pares (or "pair") because the dish is served in a pair of bowls each containing the delectable savory braised beef and fried rice. They often use the brisket part with some litid (ligament) and in Jonas, they add plum sauce mixed with the usual spices in their braise sauce to add a deeper and more interesting savory flavor, It is garnished with chopped green onions and fried garlic. And a small bowl of soup is added to form a culinary "holy trinity" for the common man. Pares, in those days were a favorite meal of taxi or cab drivers as attested by their parked cabs forming a sort of taxi fort enclosing the pares joint every lunch time. The meal was cheap, satisfying, and it was delicious.

That was a long time ago. Nowadays Jonas has evolved from a rickety sit-in mom 'n pop karenderia type to a modern airconditioned casual dine-in restaurant which I assume must have alienated their original patrons. Along with the ambience comes the update on their pricing. Their pares meal is now out of reach from the common man. Their new demographics are now well off students, salary workers, and the 80's nostalgic niche market.

Now don't get me wrong, I mean this in a good way. Jonas has managed to avoid dying in a very competitive food/service market here in Manila by doing what they do best. That is to serve their pares dish using their delicious original recipe unlike KFC or Mister Donuts (yup kids, KFC used to taste way better than it should be... another post perhaps). At the risk of being this blog post mistaken for a paid or sponsored article (Foodspots will NEVER do that), I am glad that Jonas management decided to maintain the quality of their food and just adjusted their target market accordingly. Their business will die if they start to water down their recipe for the sake of competitive pricing. Too many competitors that can easily kill them in a pricing war. So what else can they do?

Now back to the food. Aside from their famous house specialty, they also have their well know chicken mami, siopao, and siomai. Several additional items such as fish fillet and chicken spring rolls are also available but I have yet to try them out because everytime I visit their branch I have this unresistable hankering for a meal of pares.

It's not that often that I have the chance to go to Jonas. Last time I ate there (October 2015), their pares still tastes the way it should be. Delicious! My tongue is not spoiled by too many sweet food and softdrinks. I browsed some blogs earlier and it's a pity that some people think that pares should taste something like beef tocino with lots of syrupy sauce. Pares should taste SAVORY with just a hint of natural sweetness due to the braising process not because a ton of sugar and cornstarch was added to the sauce.

The wonderful braised meat had minimal fat, tender and recognizable enough not to be suspected as throw away parts bathing in a dark deep brown hued braise sauce. The fried rice is still awesome with all those wonderful ingredients included in the mix. I also tried their unforgetable siopao which is best eaten together with the chicken mami. The siopao bun was fluffy and tastes good on its own. The dimsum filling was fatty just like old times. On it's own, the meal was very much worth it getting out of your way to go to Jonas if we are just talking about the taste.

Now comes the downside. At 134 pesos for the pares meal (excluding drink), it is too pricey compared to their competitors whose prices range from 70 to below 100 pesos. Not entirely a bad thing considering the quality that you'll get. You get what you pay for. But people looking for something that they can eat while they are waitng for pay day will will just go to the more affordable places. Aside from the price is their serving size, they used to serve pares with a FULL bowl of rice and the beef was a bit more that their current serving size. The serving never fails to kill Food Spots' foodie hard on the moment everytime we see the big bowl half filled with fried rice. You can always buy extra rice or dimsum like what I did. I ordered a siopao but I still need an extra glass of water so my stomach will feel satisfied. But I do get their point that what they are serving is real food compared to the usual fast food establishments. And no mystery meat here. All in, a customer is expected to spend an average of 200 pesos for a satisying meal. Cheap by restaurant standards but too steep for casual fast food types. Therein lies the marketing dilemma of Jonas, their set up is more like a school canteen style fast food joint but their price range is like from an affordable restaurant/ high end fast food. And their house specialty is usually associated with the word affordable. They are somewhat in the gray area in the Manila food scene. And it is a good thing that there are enough people that patronize Metro Manila's quirky foodie gray area.


Service: Very neat pares joint. Anyone can just literally slide in and have lunch with no hassle. Eat and go. As it is a pay as you order restaurant, you do not have to worry about slow waiters when you bail out.

Menu: Everything looks good. Jonas is like a virtual time machine. Curious what real food taste like in the 80's? Order some pares and enjoy the trip.

Value: Too pricey for a casual dine in establishment. Not everyday food for the rest of us.


What Food Spots say about Jonas:

RECOMMENDED
We urge everyone to try it out!