On April 26, 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, the Basque town of Guernica was bombed by insurgent German air raiders causing massive destruction and civilian deaths. Five days after the tragic event, Pablo Picasso created the Guernica, a huge black and white painting that symbolizes the inhumanity, brutality and hopelessness of war and the effects of such cruelty to innocent civilians.

Eighteen years later, a wall-sized replica of Picasso’s famous anti-war painting can be found strategically mounted in Guernica’s Restaurant in Ermita, Manila. Owned by Señor Jose Hormachea -- a well-known jai-alai player from Guernica, Spain – Guernica’s was put up in the name of Picasso’s painting and in honor of Hormachea’s beloved hometown.

Passing on the tradition

When Hormachea retired in 1973, he sold the restaurant to his faithful clients, Romeo Bauzon, a businessman and Antique dealer from Urdaneta Pangasinan and his wife Inge Horn-Bauzon. And in order to continue Guernica’s tradition in cooking authentic Spanish cuisine, Hormachea assisted in their initial overall operations and passed on his family’s secret recipes. Under the Bauzon’s management, Guernica’s became an instant favorite of Spanish mestizos and town locals.

Come March 2008, after more than 25 years of serving good food and entertainment, Mr. and Mrs. Bauzon went into retirement and transferred Guernica’s to its management employees who were with their restaurant for more than 20 years. Thus, Guernica’s Restaurant became Patio Guernica and moved to a new location, which is just a stone's throw away from their previous one. It is currently manned by Rusty Apostol, Loida Lobo, Armi Alba, Rod De Jesus, and Anthony Bauzon.

“We moved to a smaller place because the rent for the big house in Remedios Circle was pretty steep. We wouldn’t want to forego the quality of food and services just to make up for the lease,” explained Rod de Jesus, Food and Beverage Manager and one of the owners.

However, they are presently expanding the business through a co-management franchise partnership in key locations in Metro Manila, one of which is the newly opened Patio Guernica in SM Mall of Asia.

“At first, we were quite anxious to go on franchising because we weren’t sure if the franchisees can maintain Guernica’s reputation in Spanish cuisine and fine dining quality. So we decided to create a partnership; the franchisee will take care of the investments and we do the restaurant operations,” he added.

Living up to its name

Although Patio Guernica has gone through a lot of changes in ownership and business enhancements, the restaurant itself still lives up to the same romantic ambiance, Spanish inspired setting festooned with rustic antique pieces, and their authentic Spanish dishes that locals and tourist have known and loved.

“I think I should mention that the Guernica painting is still with us,” he mused. “And of course we still offer the same dishes from the old Guernica’s menu like the Callos, Lengua, and Paella. We just added a few steak dishes to appease the Americanized taste of some of our guest.”

For starters, one could try the Ensalada de Chef, fresh greens tossed in your choice of dressing served with prawns, smoked salmon, Jamon Serrano, chicken, and cheese. Another must try is their Tapas Sampler, composed of calamares fritos, shrimp and mushrooms sautéed in olive and oil and garlic, and meatballs made of lamb lathered in a tangy tomato sauce – a rather filling pica-pica dish perfect for sharing.

And who can forget Guernica’s Paella ala Valencia? The quintessential Spanish rice dish slow cooked with olive oil and a generous serving of mussels, clams, chicken, and chorizo. The rice is moist and flavorful whilst each topping holds its own tang without entirely overpowering the dish.

All else considered, the newly opened Patio Guernica is doing pretty well since the new management took over. However, some of their loyal clients are still not familiar with their new address. “Guernica’s has been in Remedios Circle for more than 25 years, but we are confident they’ll find their way back to us somehow, “he said smiling.

Patio Guernica is located at 1658 Bellagio Square, Jorge Bocobo Malate, Manila.