By Lawrence Casiraya
BACOLOD CITY, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL — Bacolod City is sweet tooth heaven for people who love desserts. A trip to one of the most colorful cities in the South would not be complete without at least bringing home a box of assorted pastries — piaya, barquillos, butterscotch and my favorite napoleones, to name a few — as pasalubong.
Great dessert is best paired with an equally great cup of coffee (or for non-coffee drinkers, a sip of tea or hot chocolate). In a city that is a culinary wonderland like Bacolod, there’s no shortage of must-try places for coffee lovers.
In her blog Dessert Comes First, food writer Lori Baltazar says Bacolod is the place where her “sugar dreams” came to life. During a recent food trip to the city, she stopped by Kuppa for breakfast and coffee.
Kuppa serves the House Blend, a mixture of imported and local beans (which she described as “bright, low acidity’) and Charcoal-roasted coffee (described as “slightly earthy, very mild”). As for the food, their breakfast dishes were a disappointment for the food-obsessed writer.
For those looking a nice ambiance to go with their coffee, Café Uma is a must-try. The place is conveniently located along Lacson Street, a main road in the city littered with hotels and restaurants.
Café Uma (“uma” means farm in the local Ilonggo dialect) is owned by local chef Jose Mari “Jomi” Gaston, who also runs Trattoria Uma, a fine dining restaurant. Gaston, incidentally, is a sort of a local food celebrity as he hosts a culinary show on TV5 called “Promdi”.
In her blog Lagawan, Negros-born Audrey Rose Mecabalo describes Café Uma as upscale and pricey, although food is served in large portions. As for the coffee, she raved about her “bowlful” of cappuccino.
With its cozy and relaxing ambiance, she described Café Uma as a great place to hang out and chat with friends. A mural on the wall serves as an attraction that will surely pique the interest of those who want to know more about Bacolod’s history.
For those seeking a place that has more character, La Corona Café is the place to go. Blogger Market Man describes it as “oozing with charm and possessing a patina that only time and honest good food can bestow… it is the genuine article.”
A no-frills (meaning, basic interiors, no air-conditioning) place to get a good cup of coffee or hot chocolate and, at just P22 per cup, probably only a fraction of the price of coffee in the two above-mentioned coffee shops.
La Corona’s charm, however, lies amid its austere appearance. Regular customers are said to have their own mugs (with their names written at the base of the cup) waiting at the counter, which speaks of the kind of reverence afforded to it by devotees – it even has its own Facebook page. It could be Bacolod’s version of Starbucks — even before the actual Starbucks set foot in the city.
Kuppa
#1 Tindalo corner Hilado Aves.,
Capitol Shopping Center, Bacolod City
(6334) 433.6562
Café Uma
15th – Lacson Streets, Bacolod City
Website: http://www.cafeuma.com
Email: info@cafeuma.com
Tel. No.: (63) 34-7099966 ; Telefax No. (63) 34-4323853
La Corona Café
Burgos Market
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