*ALL PHOTOS ARE TAKEN BY ME or AIAH*
The Ugly Mug
IG: The Ugly Mug Ph
Facebook: The Ugly Mug
Location: 36 J. Fabella St, Mandaluyong
The Ugly Mug was one of the recommendation of Budz from Kombi Brew(read part 1 here) which she said offers a dessert (or snack) known as "cruffles".
As I listen to her and Aiah discussed what cruffles is (and their conversation in general re: cooking, baking, making drinks, and anything food-related), I realized how uncultured and stupid I am when it comes to food. I thought I am fine because I can make adobo and sinigang that are bomb (the measure of great Filipino cooking, imo, lol) and can cook anything decently as long as I have the recipe but I guess there's more to that. I'm not really familiar how rich and/or cultured people do it so I need to Google some shit from time to time. I was totally spacing out while they talk and I guess that's okay.
Anyway, going back. The name of this place is probably not an appetizing name for a café (no judgement), but there are a lot of shops who have the same name. This one though is literally a 10-20 minutes walk away from my place and I did not even know that it existed.
Unfortunately for me, Aiah invited me on a bad timing to try out this cafe: I just had my braces adjusted. For the life of me, I felt like every nerve in my head was tingling that time and I just want to lie down and get a teether so that I can bite into it. Nevertheless, I still went with him and try to comfort myself with their green tea drink (shown above). We also tried their dark chocolate cruffles.
Sorry for the vertical photo, tee hee
It's a little bit on the expensive side FOR ME but it tasted good (at least from the few bites I had because I wasn't able to chew nor even bite into it). I think we paid around P130.00 for one of this. Aiah has been here before and he ordered the one with strawberries on top. He said that it was good.
Some fine photography skill from Aiah
I told him that we should defo go back to this place so that I can truly enjoy their cruffles (which btw, from what I understand, the idea of the cruffles came from the trip of the owner to South Korea, so yeah). Aiah was the one speaking again to the owner and the people there why I try to play with the cold drink in my mouth to ease my pain.
I know, what a compelling blog. Haha.
Grateful Café
IG: Be Grateful Cafe
Facebook: Grateful Cafe
Location: #27 Apo, Mandaluyong
Care to have the feel of Southern California? Well, this is the café for you.
The ambience is warm and it definitely gave me a sunny vibe (even though we went there at 6pm and it's already dark) and if they were trying to give the "beach life" to their customers, I surely felt it. I was trying to put a finger on how the place made me feel and it reminded me of the setting for the film, Ingrid Goes West. I know that it was in LA where everyone moves when they are trying to be an influencer or be close to the influencers so yeah, Cali. I was really surprised to learn though that the owner (the husband; they are a couple) worked in LA. I think I got that right from the get-go.
The cacti gave it away
Although I did not appreciate how Aiah took me to some really difficult places to bike in just to get to the place, it was worth it. There were steep slopes and I was annoyed with him because I can probably go there using a different route but he opted to run around Mandaluyong like a madman. This place is close btw to Red Cross Boni.
I did not know that this place is fancy so I was just wearing a shirt and my hiking shorts. Probably not important but if you go here and want to do some photo ops, wear something good. Don't be like me who got budol again.
me not fitting in just like always
I was starting my diet again (to get the abs back, lol) so I just chose their Dirty Match drink and for the food, their cheesy toast.
Aiah ordered their Aligue Pasta which was really mild. It was okay for me but he wants it to have the "kick". Probably spicy and with a more pungent smell.
 |
| Pretty big serving, btw |
There's my dirty matcha drink (and the tablet that we nearly stole, lol)
Aiah ordered their egg coffee (which from I understand is the Viet "Cà phê trứng") which takes a long time before it came out from the kitchen. I tasted the froth and it's not something that I would like but apparently, it is famous and tourists would order it in Vietnam, even waiting for 45mins to an hour, just to get this coffee. He also ordered their Affogato which I only found out to be coffee and ice cream. Of course, I don't know about that because I am a troglodyte.
Affogato and the cup and saucer that I wanted to
take home with me
Their egg coffee on top of a really cool coaster
This place is a little bit on the pricey side but Aiah tried to reason with me. He said that their coffee is cheaper than Starbucks and the meals might be expensive for me but they taste good and they offer a hefty serving so I was appeased, lol. They have service charge btw.
At the end of our meal, Aiah talked to the owners (of course, he did). The couple shared that they started this business during the quarantine and that they offered their success to God. The wife was inspired to share the flavors they encountered when they travel the world. She's also a good cook with her specialty being the "adobong puti" (this was shared to us because Aiah and I were talking about how my German boyfriend cooked adobong tagalog for the first time with coconut milk. He tried to follow the instruction of this one YouTuber who isn't even Filipino).
The meals can be tweaked in your preference if requested. You can request for it to be spicy or whatever. Just so you know.
All in all, that was a good night. The one shot of Jägermeister that we got from RM-16 bar in Kapitolyo before we head home helped as well.
Till next time. Tschuss.
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