Kandle Café: Coffee Shop Fundamentals

MR EGOY AND MS EGGY (P310)

Finding the perfect coffee shop can get a bit tricky because of all the factors you have to take into consideration. Are you just after a quick cup of coffee, or are you looking for food to pair it with?

Are you looking for something other than microwaved pasta dishes and toasted sandwiches?

Would you be working on something best optimized with wifi connection and socket availability?

Your coffee shop choices are guaranteed to dwindle as you go through each question; or often times, you would have to forgo one aspect in favor of another.

KAMOTE FRIES (P90)

One coffee shop you can count on to complete your coffee shop checklist would be Kandle Café. You’ll quickly feel at home with its quirky interiors and warm and friendly service. Armed with a wifi connection, the cafe is perfect for those multi-tasking to get some work done.

ARROZ CALDO (P180)

The best part about their selection is that most of their dishes come at huge for-sharing sizes at wallet-friendly prices.

PRAWN SOUP (P175)

A prime example of its reasonable pricing can be seen in its soup selection. All its soup choices come at per-bowl prices, but are actually enough to be shared by three to four diners. Its Prawn Soup resembles a traditional bisque but is made creamier and richer as it’s topped with a light truffle cream sauce. No need to dig for shrimp pieces in your soup as the restaurant neatly serves these in a grilled skewer. The smoky charred flavor of the shrimp helps elevate this dish further.

A similar type of plating can be seen in its Arroz Caldo. Serving up what has to be the creamiest Arroz Caldo I’ve tried; Kandle Café still manages to make this comfort food staple feel and taste familiar despite all the upgrades it made to this dish.

MONGGO SOUP (P175) (Before)

Its Monggo Soup would have to be the most interesting soups in the bunch. Apart from being served fine-dining style (wherein the soup is poured at table side), Kandle Cafe opted to serve the mung beans in a blended form; in contrast to its usual chunky bean form. The taste was undeniably there; but it definitely created an entirely different experience in eating this traditional Filipino dish.

MONGGO SOUP (P175) (After)

LAMB (P305)

One of its most popular dishes would be the Mr. Egoy and Ms. Eggy squid ink pasta dish. Its egg-centric dish utilizes a sous-vide egg and a crumbly salted egg sauce as toppings to its noodles. Small chunks of bacon help add flavor to the dish. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really impressed with the dish. It was bland and I was really bothered by the coarse texture of the noodles.

I believe that its Grilled Lamb is more deserving of the spotlight. Aside from being served at a generous portion, the lamb was tender, perfectly cooked and came with an addicting and tasty gravy sauce. Pair this with a cup of rice or a bowl of their Kamote Fries, and you’re good to go.

PORTERHOUSE (P490)

Hailing from the same grilled selection would be its meaty Porterhouse. Although it comes at a hefty serving like the Lamb, the Porterhouse failed to pack on the flavor despite coming served with a generous serving of gravy.

SALMON (P450)

The Salmon seems to be the sole exception to the restaurant’s for-sharing servings as it came with a barely there portion of the salmon steak. What it lacked in size was fortunately made up in quality. The meat was kept juicy and its skin crisp. It also came with an addicting caramelized onion-topped potato side dish.

BLACK CALAMARES (P380)

If you’re looking for a meal filler, the Black Calamares would definitely do the trick. Similar to the famous black-hued appetizers of the now-closed Hamaru restaurant along Visayas Ave., these appetizers definitely bring about a visual flair to them. Wonderfully crunchy, these lightly battered squid fritters come paired with a fiery chili mayonnaise dip that seems to resemble Korean staple dip gochujang. Not only does this dip complement the calamares visually, but it gives the squid the flavor boost it needs.

CHEEZY HOT CHOCO (P160)

Kandle Café’s drinks selection extends beyond your coffee shop basics as it adds Affogato and Toffee Latte in the standard coffee shop chalkboard mainstays. Honestly, I’m an Americano/Cold Brew type of gal, but for some reason, the Cheezy Hot Choco jumped at me from the menu; thinking that it was a novelty (and completely forgetting about my teenage obsession with Happy Lemon’s Cocoa Rock Salt and Cheese). Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed since I was expecting a new gastronomic experience from it; but it was actually a pretty good replica of the Happy Lemon classic, so I couldn't complain.

Kandle Café

113 Mother Ignacia Avenue, Quezon City

Dates of Visit: July 28, 2018 and August 25, 2018 with Lily Chua and Jared Chua