A Cafe in the City

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Cafe City 1888 by UCC

Lower Ground Floor - Annex II Building

SM City Fairview

Quirino Highway cor. Belfast Avenue, Quezon City

08 October 2010

The daughter of one of mom's colleagues worked as a manager of Cafe City 1888 in SM City Fairview, so there were times when they would go and eat there.. and every time they do, my mom would just rave about their foods. It has been one of their favorite food places, that when mom decided to celebrate her birthday here (only for office friends), I started feeling curious about the place and asked mom if we could eat there, too.

Our food trip there happened a few weeks after mom's birthday, but it was just us three as sister wasn't around. From the outside, it looked a bit small...

... but there was a much wider dining area at the back area, and they also had an al-fresco area for diners who smoke.

Cafe City 1888 is a food shop by UCC and was a concept of Hubert Young. I tried to get details about the place, but I couldn't access any of UCC and Hubert Young's websites, so I guess I will just leave it at that. Anyway, since this is the sister company of UCC, it has been a good choice for mall goers to visit if the nearby Starbuck's Coffee is full of people.

Aside from coffee, they also have some breads and pastries, but what made this place a hit to people is that coffee lovers can have their coffee, while their companions can have hot foods if they wanted to. As for us, we went there to eat dinner, so we had:


Carbonara. My choice. It was creamy, it was rich, it was heavenly. I loved that the bacon bits weren't totally toasted, so I still enjoyed the good flavor of the bacon. If there will be any complaints, it would have to be the bread - it wasn't toasted good.

Lengua in Mushroom Sauce. Brother's choice. The sauce was good, the lengua was cooked well, and even if it looked as if the sauce was flooding the lengua, it was all good because it blended well with the dish. Brother liked it, but I am not fond of eating lengua, so it was only so-so for me.

Hamburger Pita Pockets. Mom's choice. It was quite an unusual take on hamburger, but it was really good. The sauce had the right blend of seasonings, but I didn't like it that they stuffed the common hamburger thingies deep in the pita bread. As it turned out, mom had to eat all the meat first before realizing that there were veggies under.

Hawaiian Pizza. We also went to taste their pizza, and this one I didn't like. Well, for one, I am not into thin-crust pizzas, and although this had onions and bell peppers (two things I love in my pizza), I didn't appreciate that they used chunky tomato sauce. We only got to eat one slice each and took home the rest.

Mango Cheesecake Coffee. Mom's drink. Mom loved it, but I didn't... yes, mainly because am not fond of mangoes. However, if you like coffee, and you like mangoes, for sure you'd like this.

Butterscotch Cookies and Cream Coffee. My drink. Now, this I really love! It was like drinking a beverage and eating a dessert at the same time. Lovely!

Actually, brother had his own drink - two hot cups of coffee, but I couldn't find the image in the folder. Asking brother about it, he said the Caffe Latte he ordered tasted good, but the drip coffee included in his meal was good in itself, too. I guess what he meant with that is that - even if you get the drip coffee, you can still have a comforting coffee.

Cafe City 1888's foods might be good, but it was something that really didn't make a very good impression on me. It will definitely take a while before I eat here, but even if I don't, I won't miss it.

*** Jenn ***