BLACK CANYON COFFEE, TUSCANY, MCKINLEY HILL
Black Canyon Coffee is a large coffee house chain originating in Thailand. It now has more than 300 branches worldwide. While most of the branches are in Thailand, they have branched out to international locations in Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Dubai, Cambodia, China, Laos and Indonesia.
The Black Canyon Coffee branch at the Tuscany on McKinley Hill is the first restaurant on the row. You can’t miss it! There are currently two Black Canyon Coffee branches in the Philippines – the other one is in SM Southmall.
The vibe is similar to the coffee chains we are all familiar with, but aside from cakes and coffee, I was glad to see that Black Canyon coffee actually served meals, too! And not just the usual meal offerings – my curiosity was piqued when I perused the menu and saw that they served Thai-inspired meals, and even had award-winning dishes!
The place is cozy and not as loud as other coffee places – it’s a great place to get coffee while waiting to meet a friend, and it’s also a great place to stay and catch up. Prices are reasonable, averaging around P200+ for a dish.
They also have a second floor, so they can accommodate a large group.
They also have some merchandise available for sale:
THE FOOD
Aside from coffee and beverages, Black Canyon Coffee also has an extensive food menu – most of the food is Thai International Food – they have soups, appetizers, salads, spicy salads, curries, pasta, rice meals and even steak! These are all given a Thai twist.
Black Canyon Coffee Philippine’s head chef for the first couple of years was a Thai national. He trained the current chefs. When he went back to Thailand, a Pinoy chef took over. The current Pinoy chef also trained in Thailand to make sure that the food maintains quality and flavor consistency.
My favorite drink at Black Canyon Coffee is their Black Canyon Iced Coffee (P140). It is my default drink order. It is actually not made using regular espresso – instead, they use freeze-dried coffee granules imported from Thailand to make this drink (all their other coffee drinks are espresso-based).
As expected from a Thai-styled iced coffee, this sweet and creamy, but the sweetness and creaminess doesn’t drown out the coffee. They even sprinkle some more coffee granules on top for an added coffee punch!
For lunch yesterday, we ordered their award-winning Tom Yum Goong, their award-winning Pad Thai, the Stir-Fried Chicken with Cashew, and the Fried Fish with Katsu Rice.
The food is served quickly, all within 10 minutes! I wouldn’t consider Black Canyon Coffee fast food, but more like quick food.
We started with the Pasta with Spicy Prawn Soup (Tom Yum Goong, P238.00) – a Winner of the Tom Yum Thailand Championship.
It is served in a deep bowl (the serving is definitely more than what you can see in the picture). It is a spicy but flavorful soup with fusilli (spiral) pasta, mushrooms, onions, shrimp, and flavored with kaffir lime leaves (the leaves are just for flavoring and not eaten). The pasta helps to temper the heat.
This is delicious and I would totally recommend it if you want something to warm you up in this cold weather. It is spicy enough to clear a stuffy nose, but not so hot that you will be crying and begging for water. 
Next, we had the Thai Style Fried Noodle with Prawn (Pad Thai, P232.00) – Winner of Pad Thai World Championship.
The noodles used are wide, flat, rice noodles which were tender but springy! The flavor of the Pad Thai is a nice mix of sweet, salty and sour. Pad Thai sauce has a tamarind base but you don’t need to worry about it – all you need to know is that it is delicious! An egg is scrambled with the noodles, providing a little richness, while the bean sprouts add some crunch and flavor contrast, and ground nuts add some nutty flavor and texture. A squeeze of lime ties all the flavors together.
This is my favorite quick food Pad Thai in Manila because, a. it is delicious, b. it is easy to get, c. it is reasonably-priced. It is a little bit on the sweet side, but I like it that way.
I ordered this Stir-Fried Chicken with Cashew Nuts (Gai Pad Med Ma Muang Himmapan, P226.00) because I have a thing for chicken with cashew nuts and dried chilis. I wasn’t disappointed!
It was fragrant and smelled so tempting! It has toasted cashews, is just slightly spicy from the dried chilis, with a good amount of fried boneless chicken pieces, all covered in a sweet soy-based sauce. It has strong sweet and soy flavors, perfect with rice!
Lastly, we also ordered this Fried Fish with Katsu Fried Rice (P238.00) – crispy-fried fingers of cream dory fish, drizzled with Katsu sauce and mayo. The rice is Katsu rice – fried rice flavored with katsu sauce imported from Thailand.
The Katsu Rice was flavorful enough on its own, you can even eat it just by itself. The fish was fried perfectly – don’t you just love the crunchy sound of fried panko batter?
SUMMARY
I like Black Canyon Coffee. I like that it is a coffee shop, but unlike the usual coffee shops, also offer a good selection of reasonably-priced full meals, and that are served quickly. I also like that they offer Thai food – one of my favorite cuisines. This makes it easy for anyone in the area get their Thai food fix – you can even do so while having coffee with friends!
It’s not fine-dining, but the food is pretty good, considering that it is a coffee shop and the price is pocket-friendly. Serving sizes are generous. My favorite dish there is, of course, the Pad Thai! Please make sure to try it!
WIFI is available.
Prices are VAT-inclusive, subject to 5% Service Charge.
Black Canyon Coffee
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackcanyoncoffeeph
HOURS:
Monday – 10 AM – 10 PM
Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sat – 7 AM – 11 PM
Friday – 7 AM – 12MN
Sunday – 12 NN – 9 PM
