Advocafe

Walking in the polluted city was a miserable experience. My sweats are like heavy rains that never stop pouring on my steamy head; my damp hanky is an evidence of my exhaustion. I feel tired, dizzy and my feet are already protesting to stop and have some break.

Gladly we found an interesting store in a small street of Malate. The store was name ADVOCAFE, it was only one of its kind in the area. The store was uniquely designed to describe it’s own purpose. According to their facebook fan page “it (advocafe) serves as a marketing center for organic products, and a facility to raise peoples’ awareness on the life, culture and rights of the indigenous peoples in the Philippines”. This innovation creates a connection between the people in the city and people from the farthest part of the country.

Outside the store you can already see there wide options of bread and pastries. I can’t take off my eyes on the stall; aside from the very delectable display they are very much inexpensive. The ambience was different as we enter the store. Although the establishment is small the room was filled with interesting displays. One wall of the walls demonstrates the advocacy of the store.

The other wall displays the beneficiary of the store, it also showcasing the artistry of the different tribes in the country. They designed the interiors using indigenous materials like bamboos, sawali, banig and other native mats. The room is very ethnic looking but in a modern way.

Jelyn ordered a Chocolate Brownies [35.00php] and paired it with refresh Calamansi Juice [25.00].

 Ron ordered a big crème puff [35.00php each].

I bought a sliced of Mango pie[55.00php].

 Well curiously we exchange plates to experience others delectable pastry dishes. Jelyn’s chocolate brownies are soft but not chewy. Brownies should be moist and sweet but apparently this kind was less sugar and more of the nutty flavor. The nuts in these brownies are not evidently seen by the naked eyes,  they grind the nuts as small as course as possible. This is good for people who wanted to enjoy brownies with less amount of sweetness. Ron’s huge chocolate cream puff was an outstanding. The chocolate shell of the cream puff is perfect, not too soft but not too hard. The custard and vanilla combination makes the cream puff sweeter. Truly a satisfying treat! And now for my piece of Mango pie. Look can be deceiving ika nga, I’m very entice by the appearance of this beautifully made pie. It was the most eye catchy among the all the pastry displayed on the warmer. And surprisingly, it was the not so good one. L sad to say… the pie was made of flaky crust, layered with egg pie filling and top with three mango slices. The taste is like a regular egg pie with a little kick from the mango slices. I would just like to comment on the consistency of the pie, it was too hard, my fork can not evenly slice it slowly. Too bad, probably the egg yolks are over whipped.

Most likely the best to taste in this café is there coffee but I’m not a coffee lover. Maybe they bake pastries that will compliment with the taste of the native Filipino coffee. But it’s alright, the good thing in this café is that we help our natives while we enjoy our small pleasure…. Eating!

I hope ADVOCAFE will go on with there advocacy and continue to inspire other people to do the same thing.

Food Score:3/5    Place:5/5    Service:4/5

located in Groundfloor, Ramon Magsaysay Commercial Center, Malate, Philippines