Foodie

Chapter 3:

Candlelight Cafe

June 12, 2016, Lipa City, Batangas – Last Saturday night my sister and I went to a local café along J.P. Laurel Highway Barangay Marauoy, Lipa City, Batangas. I dragged her into going there because I have heard some interesting things about the place from friends and the internet. I have wanted to go there for a very long time, actually for a year now. It is only recently that I have mustered the motivation to do just that. I have to be there!

The place is called the Candlelight Café. Its homey artsy style will surely catch your eye as it did to mine, because it is a unique small café by the road, truly one of a kind in the area. I believe, it is one of the pioneers in the café business in Lipa, having been built before the likes sprouted in the recent months.

The café offers not only food and drinks, but also that whimsical ambiance of an art haven. Outside is a mural of the beach-side, while the inside is a place for books, few other artworks, another mural and some candles, which I believe they sell as well. I believe they also hold poetry reading and art workshops in the café as well. The food items are being sold for only Php 99.00 to Php 200.00 only. Juices, smoothies, coffees and teas are sold for Php 99.00 to Php 125.00 each. You can also choose your own tea herb by the counter. However, during our visit their coffees and chocolate drinks were not available.

The menu offers breakfast and rice meals, pastas, pica-pica dishes, salads, sandwiches, fresh fruit juices, smoothies, brewed coffee, coffee drinks, teas and frappes. For the breakfast meals they have Omelet, Pesto Pandesal, French Toast, Sunny Potatoes and Pancakes (plain, banana, choco). The prices range from Php 99.00 to Php 145.00 each. Rice meals include: Adobo Caravaggie, Humba ni Luna, Cezanne Chicken, Chicken Matisse, Fish Fillet Manet. Prices for the rice meals range from Php 139.00 to Php 210.00. They only have three pasta dishes which include: Pesto pasta, Mortenese and Rigatoni. Prices range from Php 150.00 to Php 195.00. For pica-pica or their appetizers, they have Sachos (Php 125.00) and the Kandinsky Fries (Php 150.00).

My sister and I ordered the Green Salad which is “a healthy treat of organic vegetables served with tuna and pandesal”, Pesto Pasta which consists of “sundried tomatoes and fish on spaghetti noodles”, and Kandinsky Fries which is “probably the best fries in Lipa served with beef, cheese and onions”. For drinks we ordered the Strawberry and Mango smoothies. We were also given the delicious lemon water.

The green salad was served with a dressing on a separate bowl. My sister enjoyed the organic taste of the salad. I truly loved the best fries in Lipa, which was their Kandinsky Fries. It was a bowl-full of glorious fries with dressing, and not your average crunchy fries. It was a bit soft, so maybe if you are not a fan of soft fries, you can request it to be cooked longer. However, for the pesto pasta, I was looking for that green leafy tasty sauce, but I did not have that. Maybe I should have read their description of the food first. I just wish they served it with a slice of lemon just to balance out the flavors I guess. The smoothies were fine, a bit sweet for my taste, but I still enjoyed them.

Overall the food and the experience were good! The people were nice and accommodating. It was a relaxing night, but we came in past seven in the evening and the place closed a bit past eight. I wished to witness the poetry reading they have there but some other time maybe. It was worth the visit!