Madge Café: Where "The" People Meet

I remember a good friend tell me that there’s this ‘kapehan’ or café at La Paz public market. Like all public or wet markets in the Philippines, the market is a place of trade for all kinds of products ranging from basic commodities to those commonly found in department stores. They have stalls for almost anything and the best part of it, they have Madge Café.

I don't know if there's a secret ingredient. People just keep coming back!

For nearly 20 years now, I’ve been passing the same pavements of our public market and it never occurred to me to actually try to check what’s going on inside where Madge Café had been situated for years. From the outside, it looks like that typical coffee shop where senior citizens meet up and reminisce and talk about their lives and the current issues in politics. I found that a little boring as a child and I always thought about why they always hung around those places.

Judging from their outfits, I think they came from exercise or jogging.

This was what I was talking about. I overheard the guy in yellow's a doctor.
Cool, huh? Haha.

But after 22 years now, I find ‘hanging around with friends’ the best remedy to a tired mind and body. We usually hang out in coffee shops. Thus, my addiction for coffee. Yes, I’m addicted to coffee but not really the exaggerated type. I just like smelling and tasting [of course!] coffee. I don’t know where my craving for coffee started but it has really made me wacky. I hear the word, smell it or even see a mug and I’m immediately reminded of coffee.

Since I don't know what to order, I asked if they had native coffee. The polite waitress said 'Yes' and so I said I'll have one. She asked, "How would you like it? Strong or mild?" I said I'll have it mild while looking at the owner at the bar counter mixing coffee and milk with her mugs and a wooden dipper. I wasn't sure of the outcome and so I just patiently waited. I drank it when it arrived and it was like having espresso but I like it better in Madge. Must be the mixing and the wooden dipper. Haha!

This is a pandeciosa. I'm not certain about the spelling.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, back to our topic on Madge Café…

Daily Buns Café and Bakery

Oblivious to all the bustle and hustle of the city life, a café and bakery sits along the frequented street of General Luna. Daily Buns Café and Bakery is a home to patrons of coffee, pizza, pasta, pastries and all kinds of bread. It’s a place where you can unwind and just get away from all the stresses and noise of your daily life while enjoying sips of coffee served hot or frozen [just the way you like it] and the food of your choice.

They have a variety of foods to choose from.

It’s a great place to meet up for appointments or simply enjoy nonstop chit chat with friends without having to spend too much on a single food. The ambience is simply cozy and not ‘at all’ intimidating. The staff and crew are always smiling, making you feel very comfortable. They have another branch at Diversion Road which I would [hopefully] visit some other time.

For now, here are a few shots of our visit to the place, just trying some food out:

What Boredom Does to Individuals Like Me

Boredom can be mortifying. [Yes, as in like it deaden the body.] I'm stuck at home with my family with nothing else to do than our usual weekend routine of eating, sleeping, watching tv and chit chatting about my cousin's seemingly adventurous love life. He's our number one entertainer but he's kinda busy talking on the phone with a potential lover (like for half of the day!) and so we silently eat our food when he's hooked on the phone, hoping he'd quit it so we would have something to laugh about. He's gay by the way and he's proud of being one. He's handsome and you'd never mistake him of being gay at first glance maybe because he does not cross dress and walk the way most gays do after a successful coming out.

Sick and tired of doing nothing at home and forcing food repeatedly into our seemingly bloated bellies, we decided to go out and buy some supplies needed at home. My brother and I were left with nothing else to do but eat (for the nth time!). Do we have the right to clamor when all we have to do is eat while waiting for them to finish doing errands? My mind's telling me yes, but I guess we don't have a choice.

I had coffee and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm not sure if I can live without having
a cup of coffee in a month or so.

The face of boredom! Sleepy and bored.

See? Rafa's sleepy too!

Dropping by at Book Latté

Getting to Know Iloilo's First Library Cafe

Rewriting notes at Book Latte

It has almost been a year since Book Latté [the first library café in Iloilo] has first opened its doors for its first couple of customers, but I was oblivious to all the fuss and stuff going on in town. So, I never really knew anything about it until a friend told me so, and it wasn't like she intended to inform me. 
After hearing the unfamiliar words, I asked again and she told me about the place. All my new friends at our new area started to gather around me one by one eyeing me as if to say 'Where were you when it first opened?!'... Ha ha ha. My defense: Maybe I was having my "me" time while the rest of Iloilo hustled all the way to the café.
So out of sheer embarrassment, I decided to drop by the place with my friends with me. Here are few shots.


P.S. Please bear with me. I'm with two camera-shy babies, Anne Jo and Neil...

Took the first bite

Americano

I forgot this one but I think it's a marshmallow tower? Haha.

Neil: You take this
Anne Jo: No, I'm not starving. You take it.
[Why didn't anybody ask me to eat the last piece?]

This was how it looked like after I munched off the first one.

Book Latte would like to be known as a revolutionary coffee shop. It is a coffee shop complemented with books. Members can borrow and take home books or simply read while enjoying the coffee of their choice. They have over 1,000 books, magazines, periodicals and other informative materials to choose from.


Signing up entitles the member to:

• 10% discount on coffee and other beverages 
• Borrow anything at their impressive collection of books, magazines, etc. 
• Have an access to learning materials perfect for research and study
• Free Wi-fi for 2 hours
• And exciting perks offered exclusively to members                        

Rates for membership are at Php180 yearly for students and Php 220 for non-students.
*You can read books while staying at the cafe but if you plan to take them home, certain rates apply.


Take note of their ELITE MEMBERSHIP!
This kind of membership is not gained by paying for it. Borrow more than 15 books in a year [with good returning records, of course!] and have access to the latest books-- those which couldn't even be found in local bookstores yet.
How fun can this get? For book lovers out there, here's a good place to hang around with friends while enjoying a book you've been dying to read. Practical wise, it only takes Php180 a year compared to buying books at nearly Php 400 each. 


And you know what's so good about it? It isn't as boring as the typical shhh-keep-quiet! library.