Cover A juicy steak from Harry's Bistro
A juicy steak from Harry's Bistro
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Inside Harry’s Bistro: Elbert Cuenca’s newest Makati restaurant
“Who’s Harry?” is the question people would always ask restaurateur Elbert Cuenca about his latest concept, Harry’s Bistro. “In truth, it started as a mere placeholder name, but it didn’t take long for us to grow fond of it and find more reasons to go with that, the biggest of which was that Harry was the name of my late dog,” Cuenca explains.
A fitting moniker, it seems, considering that Harry’s was built using the beautiful parts of past establishments that Cuenca holds dear. The location is where his French concept, Metronome, used to be along Bolanos Street, Legazpi Village. Now, it almost seems like he held on to the spot for something that was predestined to happen.
Harry’s story began, it seemed, when Elbert’s Collective drew to an end. “When we chose not to renew our lease in Salcedo Village, we were required to hand over the restaurant in a bare state,” Cuenca explains. “Demolishing the beautiful space we had just built a couple of years back was a very heartbreaking exercise. I swore to never go through that again.” During the same period, Metronome was still unable to find a buyer to take over the restaurant facilities—with everything still intact—after a year and a half of searching.
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Above Potato pave at Harry’s Bistro
Above Crisps and jamon at Harry’s Bistro
Potato pave at Harry’s Bistro
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Cuenca’s landlord at Metronome was gracious enough to cancel his lease on the condition that Cuenca find him a new tenant. Eventually, he was given notice to vacate, but clearly, Cuenca was not willing to let go of the space. “The only logical thing to do was move the concept of Elbert’s Collective to the Bolanos Street space,” he declares. Along with his long-time collaborator, designer Noel Bernardo, they did a minor renovation, giving the interior a totally new look and feel without committing to anything major. “Old bones with new skin, I like to say,” Cuenca grins.
While doing a French bistro seemed the logical next step after Metronome, Cuenca decided to go with what he and his brother, executive chef Adrian Cuenca, are known to be good at. “With the absence of any French DNA within our entire team, I soon realised that perfecting classic bistro fare would be both a challenge and a hard sell,” Cuenca confesses. “It dawned on me: stick to what we were already experts at—the dishes we had long mastered from years of experience from the former Elbert’s establishments, which was the original intent of Elbert’s Collective.” Cuenca’s old friend (“We go way back… we regularly consult each other for restaurant matters.”), Miguel Vecin, also came in as kitchen and operations consultant, developing a small plates menu for Harry’s.
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Above The interiors of Harry’s Bistro
The interiors of Harry’s Bistro
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The menu remains anchored in uncomplicated food, dishes that are easily connected with the Elbert’s brand and recognisable to both their regulars and new guests. “I like to describe my brother Adrian as a re-creative chef. He likes to take classic recipes and reproduce them as originally intended by tradition,” Cuenca explains. “If this were music, Harry’s is a great cover band playing the greatest feel-good hits that never get tired. It is our hope that these hits conjure good memories and feelings.” While this is not a French bistro, they use the word “bistro” loosely here to describe the level of dining rather than the particular cuisine. This allows chef Adrian to showcase favourites from their shared childhood: old-school recipes that he fears will disappear if people stop serving them in restaurants, and simply food that their guests love to eat.
Their beef stroganoff, which first appeared on the lunch menu of Elbert’s Steak Room, for instance, offers a peek into the Cuenca siblings’ childhood. It is loosely based on the beef stroganoff recipe that their home cook, Alice, lifted from the Betty Crocker cookbook. Supervised by their mother, Alice made substitutions and adjustments to the recipe based on what was readily available.
Above Croqeuttes at Harry’s Bistro
Above Fish and chips at Harry’s Bistro
Croqeuttes at Harry’s Bistro
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“The Betty Crocker recipe listed canned beef broth, a bit of ketchup to give a tangy kick, and a little finely chopped garlic added at the end,” chef Adrian explains. “The home recipe evolved over time from using stewed strips of beef for frugality and a mix of evaporated milk and vinegar to substitute for sour cream (which wasn’t available all the time in grocery stores) to using seared sirloin and Magnolia sour cream.” Their restaurant version has been elevated, of course, with the use of premium seared tenderloin, real sour cream, demi-glace, that unique tangy kick from ketchup still there, and a hint of garlic, served with handmade tagliatelle.
The chicken Kiev was a dish chef Adrian had always wanted to serve at Elbert’s Collective, but due to logistical issues and space constraints, he decided against it in the end. However, with Harry’s larger kitchen, he is finally able to capture those after-school memories of meals at Manila Polo Club, slicing into stuffed chicken breast while the melted herb butter oozed out, flavouring mashed potatoes or white rice. “Chicken Kiev is an old-school dish that needs to be popular again. It is disappearing from menus over time because of a focus on health. Some millennials and most of Gen Z haven’t even heard of it,” chef Adrian opines.
Above Confit de canard at Harry's Bistro
Above Beef stroganof at Harry's Bistro
Confit de canard at Harry's Bistro
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A classic that is sure to never go out of style, though, is spaghetti Bolognese, and chef Adrian admits that his is constantly a work in progress. “At Elbert’s Collective, we were using white wine and chicken stock. We now use red wine and duck stock at Harry’s Bistro. It's difficult to have a final definitive version because there is always a new discovery in flavour when tweaking the recipes. The version at Harry’s is even better because of the use of the French stove; it is simmered at a very low temperature for at least four hours.”
Above Chicken Kiev at Harry’s Bistro
Above A cheeseburger with a martini at Harry’s Bistro
Chicken Kiev at Harry’s Bistro
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Cuenca’s resounding theme throughout all his Elbert’s concepts is simple—serve food that offers no explanations. Harry’s Bistro is his penultimate expression of that thesis. Cuenca’s plans for Harry’s are simple: expand internally, offer a prix fixe and sandwich menu, then perhaps Sunday brunch once a month. Conservative and well-orchestrated moves calculated with the knowledge gained from decades of experience, filled with both successes and defeats. “Failure is life’s greatest teacher. Elbert’s Steak Room is an example of how lessons learned from failure can translate to success. This 19-year-old restaurant is the antithesis of my first failure, Restaurant 12. Although I never look back with regret, I will always do a post-mortem to figure out where things went wrong and what I could’ve done better. Harry’s is the restaurant where I am able to put all those lessons into practice.”
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Photography: Sonny Thakur
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Jaclyn Clemente Koppe is a food and lifestyle writer, as well as a consultant to some of the country’s beloved food and beverage brands. Her passion for food and drink is only surpassed by her devotion to her family, most especially to her soulmate, Pepa the poodle.
