Anthosia Café: Eclectic and Affordable

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.