Anthosia Café
Eclectic and Affordable
Anthosia Café is
a very popular coffee shop in Naga
that used to be located in Panganiban Drive, but we
failed to dine there
since it was always full as it was
a tiny restaurant with just very few seats. It suddenly
disappeared last year and we thought they closed shop,
Last weekend, we rediscovered its new location
in Mayon Avenue,
after driving aimlessly for hours
looking for a vacant parking space so we could dine.
We were pleased that they have an ample parking,
…and located in a bigger facility.
The interior had an eclectic Filipino motif,
…with a grubby mix of old furniture,
… old-fashioned wall decors,
…classic books and records,
…and assorted works of art created by local artists.
The café’s incongruent decor creates a sully
ambiance and makes you feel like you’re in a
cluttered and unkempt swap meet store depot.
The menu had an old fashioned touch, and written in comical
Pinoy idioms, which carries a description of the dish for
guests to understand what they are ordering.It was a hot and
humid evening, so we ordered refreshments right away.
The waiter suggested trying Kapé Anthosia, apparently
their best seller. It was surprisingly good. The coffee
perfectly blended with the creamy white chocolate and
had a delightfully nutty aftertaste of hazelnut. For only
seventy pesos, it could make Starbucks run for its money.
The Caramoan
lemonade was very refreshing. It was
sweetened just the right and had a nippy sting of ginger.
The same thing with Sarong
Banggi that also had the
delightful ginger sting added to the zesty lemon tea.
We came for dinner so we ordered their rice meals
which at that time only two dishes were available.
First was the Tapsilog,
that had tasty bits and pieces
of beef tapa lying in a generous serving of garlic rice
which we found a little oily but otherwise delicious.
Second was the Bacon Silog, that got
me drooling, as they used
chunky, thick cut yummy bacon, but the fried rice was a letdown
as it was dripping wet with oil making it unpalatably greasy.
The restaurant serves decent pasta dishes and we
ordered
Maria Pasta Suplada.
According to the menu the sauce
is a concoction of tamato, basil, cheese and one intriguing
item;chili love. Whatever that means nobody really knows,
but interestingly it was delicious and this is one dish that
I could recommend for anyone dining in this coffee shop.
The Hasta Pasta
Siempre is a toned down version
of Alfredo Pasta with white sauce, generous toppings
of parmesan cheese and just like the suplada pasta,
it also had an interesting ingredient called herb feel.
It was okay but there is no wow factor on the dish.
I got curious with the Halik Mo Lang Burger so I ordered
one.
It was served with a huge, juicy and tasty burger patty,
with a
generous layer of chunky, thick cut bacon, topped with a
fruit
jam and bathed with rich and creamy melted cheese. It was so
good as the sweetish jam neutralized the otherwise naturally
salty cheesy sauce. I would have raved about this burger had
it not been for the (supermarket) quality of the bun used that
could not hold on a bite as it gets soggy with all those
toppings.
The Pan de Oriang, is
a heart shaped pizza, named after
Gregoria del Pilar, wife of popular Filipino folk hero,
Andres Bonifacio. Available either in white sauce called
dayaday, a Bikol
word for kind, or red sauce called padaba,
local term caring. We ordered a combination of both called
salawahan, a
Filipino term for a nasty, deceitful two- timer.
It reminded me of Shakey’s thin crust pizza, only better as
it
was not as salty and not as greasy. It tasted very, very
good.
If I had to quantify and grade my review on this first time experience
in Anthosia’s Café, I would rate the drinks as (A+), and the
burger an (A), but I could promote it to (A+), should they find a
bakery that could supply them a better and firmer hamburger buns.
I’ll rate the pizza and pasta a (B+), rice meals a (C),
the service an (A) and the ambiance a (B-),
But it's difficult to find a superlative grade for the price
as we spent only a little over 700 pesos for everything-
...an exceptionally matchless bargain these days.
