It has been awhile since I had lunch with my friend J, and today we decided to try Cafe Capreal, located at Ma. Clara cor. Banawe Sts. in Quezon City since it is nearer where J works. It is a casual cafe with parking out front, with the vibe of a neighborhood coffee hangout and feels a bit more personalized than a Starbucks. The vibe is relaxed but service is very good.
We ordered the Kani Mango Salad (P165), shown above. We also ordered Chicken Quesadillas (P195) and Salmon with Pesto Cream Sauce (295). We also each had a glass of Bottomless Dalandan juice (P75).
The Mango Kani Salad was delicious and not nakakaumay. The Chicken Quesadillas was also pretty good. Not too heavy, but flavorful and filled with cheese, mushrooms, and onions. They didn’t scrimp on the chicken. Yum!
The Salmon with Pesto Cream was also delicious! Who would have thought you could get a wonderfully cooked salmon dish for P295? It was perfectly seasoned. The salmon was fried — it had that golden brown and delicious thing going on, which I loved. You can’t see it because it’s smothered under the sauce but trust me, I love it. No fishy taste (malansa). The pesto cream was not bland yet not too salty, and they were generous with the pesto cream sauce, which I am grateful for, well, because the sauce was delicious! While ordering, the waiter kept recommending this dish as their bestseller, and am I glad we followed his suggestion!
Since we stayed all afternoon talking and catching up, we ended up ordering a cup of Brewed Coffee (P60) each, and a slice of Sansrival (P70) cake to share for our er.. dessert/afternoon merienda. Sorry, no pics of the sansrival. I thought it was just a run of the mill sansrival so I didn’t bother to take pictures, but I was wrong! The sansrival was actually pretty good! It was decently priced too. We got the corner slice so it had lots of the buttercream frosting. Normally buttercream frostings make me gag because they taste so hydrogenated, but this one didn’t! I actually loved this sansrival. The buttercream was perfectly balanced with the slightly crispy yet slightly chewy meringue, and it was not too nutty. You know how other sansrivals are too hard, too oily, too nutty, or served too cold (frozen!)? This sansrival was perfect and served at the perfect temperature.
I hope to come back to Cafe Capreal soon. All their food is delicious and decently priced!
