Saturday, December 22, 2012

Kain 1: The People's Cafe

It's been a real long while since I last went out and (ad)ventured on my own. Sometimes I really wish I had a bicycle with me, like in the olden days, but the streets of Manila is a jungle of speed demons known for running down small-framed two-wheeled contraptions.

So after a short afternoon of journeying around the Metro, I took the time to sit back and have a good cup of ale... err, coffee in a tavern cafe (ok ok enough with the D&D stuff) inside the just-slightly-well-to-do-man's shopping place in the locale - Starmall (Shaw Boulevard).

click to jump!



It's a place called "The People's Cafe".

That dude just broke the greatness of this establishing shot. :(
I wonder why the owner named it as such. It sounds like some commie camp front lol (especially with the back door leading to the stairs to the second floor which does not belong to them). Anyway, there seemed to be some good reasoning behind the term "People's", which came to my senses later on.

It's situated in some dark corner spot in the ground floor, in front of Mang Inasal, near an entrance facing EDSA. It's a small cafe that gets little attention, but seeing that (I like going to places that aren't famous), and hearing my mother's recommendation of it, I decided to give it a try.

The place is homey, but not-so-Starbucks-y. There's an assortment of food and weird combos that might sound funny at first, like... pasta and coffee... cheese steak sandwich and coffee...
There are hieroglyphs on the wall... oh, wait it's the menu.
The latter which I tried. And hey, was I surprised. It was actually good! At least the sandwich itself, lol. The fries are nice, at least they don't taste like fastfood-immortal ones. They taste like how fried potato should.

I never knew beef, cheese, bread and coffee can mix well together. 
The sandwich itself while not as big as an ArmyNavy serving (actually parang kanto-sandwich-size lang) is tasty, with the beef not overpowering the cheese and vice versa. Also, it does not look like a sandwich... or at least how I imagined it should. It's a good blend. I thought about putting ketchup on it, when my hand decided to pick mustard instead... for reasons I myself cannot fathom. Good thing it didn't ruin the formula lol.

It's a great place for the financially Starbucks-incapable with an appetite bigger than brand recognition. For a measly Php20 you can get a cup of standard brewed coffee, cappuccino for Php40, and the sandwiches range from Php50 to a hundred bucks. Your wallet will be happy. Maybe that's why it's called "The People's Cafe" - its items are priced for mere humans... like me. Magnates and moguls can go somewhere else haha.

As I sat down and waited for the thing to come down my gut, drinking the erstwhile cappuccino I ordered along with it, I took a look around and saw great oldey stuff.
So it was this guy who sang that song...

Why does this remind me of Han Solo and Princess Leia? lol.

Of course it's not so "contemporary old-timer" without the Jackson 5 and Warhol-inspired image of Lady M. Monroe.
Great snack I had there. I hope they'd stay in Starmall so I can still have some peace and quiet in the middle of this crazy Ben-hur city...

No comments:

Post a Comment