The Breakfast Table: Celebrating The Most Important Meal of the Day at Maginhawa Street

In a hunt for a restaurant in Maginhawa for an early breakfast, we turned up at The Breakfast Table at the corner of Maginhawa and Makadios Streets. Certainly, like what their menu says, breakfast is the most important meal of the day so we were really expecting to have a good one here.

Ratings:
Food: 3/5, average, a little more serving would be better.
Place: 4/5, lovely place with blue and white theme which feels like a Greek resto.
Prices: 2/5, for me, the serving size does not justify the somewhat high prices of the food. We've tried better breakfast for a cheaper price.
Service: 2/5, unnecessary long waiting time to clean table up, or deliver the bill. I'm sure the waiters just woke up on the wrong side of their beds that day. ;)

The Food
They have their "build your own" breakfast in which you can choose what food item you would want to include in your order. The food is priced individually and for me, this seems like a good alternative to the usual meal packages.

photo from zomato.com

However, due to my craving for adobo and fish that day, we ordered the Adobo Omurice and the Sardine Omurice along with Papa Diddi's Hot Chocolate.

Adobo Omurice consists of toasted adobo chuncks and adobo rice enclosed in an omelette made with two eggs. It also has a small salad on the sides. What I liked about it are the adobo chunks in the adobo rice, they are kinda tiny though. This for a price of Php 175.00

Adobo Omurice

The Sardine Omurice on the other hand, has Spanish sardines and mildly spicy rice in an omelette made up of two eggs, plus a petite salad on the sides. It tastes decent but I find it not worthy for its price - Php 165.00.

Sardine Omurice

What I liked best though, is their Papa Diddi's Hot Chocolate. It is so rich because it is made from tsokolate de cagayan as indicated on their menu. Its thick and rich chocolate flavor is perfect for any breakfast meal. Good value for the money for this one for just Php 60.00.

Hot chocolate

Next time we visit, we'll try to build our own breakfast meal.. and by the way, they serve Australian grass-fed beef here. :)

The Place

Their color scheme of blue and white reminds me of a Greek restaurant. The interior really looks neat and the decors are nice. There are bottles on the wall, a shovel converted into a lamp shade, hanging plants, and their high ceiling makes the place feel less cramped.

We arrived for an early breakfast so there are still several parking spaces left on the building, but from what I heard, or experienced in Maginhawa, parking could be a problem during peak hours.

The table setting is quite nice. Their place mats are made from torn jeans and the pockets are used to hold the utensils.

Tips For Wandering Peasants

•  It seems that the best way to experience this restaurant is to make your own breakfast. This way, you can really choose what you want to include in your meal.
• If you're a late riser but loves breakfasts, just go here, they serve breakfast all day long.

Location

189 Maginhawa St. cor. Makadios St., Sikatuna Village, Quezon City, Philippines


Useful Links and Info
Facebook Page
Menu (from zomato.com)
Contact number (from their Facebook page): +63 2 433 3597

READ MORE>>>

Galli Village Cafe: Paella Treat at Maginhawa Street

We got a voucher from CashCashPinoy for a Galli Village Cafe meal for PHP 299. The deal is for a Paella set meal for two which consists of Albonidagas Soup, Paella Valenciana, two iced teas, and two Leche Flans for dessert.

Ratings:
Food: 3/5, average, their specialty, the Paella Valenciana is decent
Prices: 3/5, prices are ok, leaning towards affordable which it should be since the restaurant is near college campuses.
Place: 4/5, small cozy place, it was hard to find a parking slot in the area, though.

The Food
When we arrived and presented our voucher to the waitress, we were told that waiting time for the order is around an hour. No problem there since that's already pointed out on the voucher, and we have tried paellas from other restaurants such as Dulcinea, and the cooking time is at around forty-five minutes.

Albondigas soup

We started off with Albondigas soup as an appetizer. The soup tasted plain but it was a welcome break while we were waiting for our main course to arrive. It contained flat noodles, a meatball and a creamy soup.

It was for another thirty minutes until our paella arrived. In between orders, I had to check the car since we were parked on a street far from the restaurant, and we are well aware of the numerous car theft incidents in Quezon City.

The Paella Valenciana that we had was good for two persons, and when they said good for two, they really mean it was good for two. On the platter, there were two pieces of shrimps, three small tahong (mussels), a hard boiled egg, which was sliced into four, and two or three tiny portions of pork. It didn't come with a sliced lemon, though. They said they didn't have any and asked us if we wanted calamansi as replacement instead. We didn't take the calamansi because it might not give the same flavor as the lemon usually does to a paella.

For the taste, the Galli Village Cafe's paella is fine, but a touch of lemon could have made it better for us. There's nothing special about it, though and they could do for a little more serving of meat on that platter. 

After the main course, we had Leche Flan for dessert. Their Leche Flan is not that sweet, which is good, but it's not that soft, too. It was soft on the inside but not so on the edges. It's texture kinda reminds me of a cooked tofu

Leche Flan for dessert

The Place

For a restaurant located in a cramped village near college campuses, Galli Village Cafe is small but the owners designed it to be cozy. If you eat outside, you'll be greeted by large plants in pots that would make it feel like a garden dinner.

Inside, there are vibrant paintings, wine bottles mounted on the wall shelves, elegant-looking ceiling lamps, and a cashier podium decorated with artificial vines and hanging wine glasses. It sure was a relaxing ambiance for a dinner.

Tips for Wandering Peasants 

• Paella is a hard dish to prepare, better to call ahead for reservations and ask them to prepare the order to rid of the waiting time. 
•  always do your best to search discount vouchers online, but don't expect too much when it's time to redeem them. They are discounted for a reason, but not all though.

Location

Maginhawa Branch: 154 Maginhawa St., Sikatuna Village, Quezon City

Galli Village Cafe Makati Branch:

G/F YMCA Hotel, 7 Sacred Heart St San Antonio, Makati

Useful Links and Infos

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GalliVillageCafe

Contact numbers:

Maginhawa Branch (open daily 11 AM to 10 PM) : (02) 434 6716

Makati Branch: 09063501704

Menu (as of May 2015):

READ MORE>>>