Foodie Rating: Four Stars.

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Le Bistro describes itself as a restaurant that offers "special sustainable food menu which ensures that food products support earth-friendly initiatives and help sustain local farmers."

It's nice to know that there are those in the foodie industry who are thoughtful enough to support locally grown produce.

Pardon the goofball in the picture.

At first glance, Le Bistro seems like one of those posh-but-jumping-into-the-organic-vegan-health-savvy-whatever bandwagon types of restaurants, which seem to be all the rage in the A-B market these days.  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but love for restaurants promoting a healthy lifestyle (believe me, Pinoys should learn to eat their vegetable more than ever), but somehow I'm not sure whether these establishments are really fighting for a cause, or are just riding the fad.  However, browsing through the restaurant's website, I discovered that there is a chance that this foodie establishment is the real deal.  Sure, they may cater to more to the elitist demographic than to the masa, but it looks like that they are also helping other local industries in the process.

So enough about bashing the non-jologs society.  Let's get on with the food.

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Louie and I were only able to sample a couple of their dishes as we were pressed for time back then.  Truth be told, picking the right food to order was quite a challenge, because 1) We were planning to share the dishes so we can sample more food, 2) Louie does not eat vegetables (boo), 3) We should finish eating in 45 minutes, and 4) Mahaaaal ang pagkain doon hehehe.  So after a loooong time poring over the menu, we decided on ordering one sandwich dish and another pasta dish.

I was pleasantly surprised that we both enjoyed the food, despite the fact that the dishes were not prepared the traditional way.  For one, they used bell peppers on their cheese steak (whereas the classic recipe for the cheese steak does not include bell peppers), which gave a pimiento-y touch to the sandwich.  The shoestring potatoes remind me of the ones in Pik-nik, but this has a spicier, less crunchy touch to it.  And the malunggay pesto tasted, well... like ordinary pesto.  A bit too much garlic for my taste, but pesto, nevertheless.

Although we both shared the two dishes, nabusog kami pareho... lalo na sa pasta.  Which is a plus, because they were able to deliver a filling experience at a modest amount of serving.  Mahal lang talaga.  All things being said, I'd go back to this place to sample their other dishes, when an occasion calls for celebration.  Besides, it isn't everyday that you are able to dine in a restaurant that offers good food AND enables you to help the local farming community as well.