Cafe Mary Grace

Stepping inside Cafe Mary Grace in Serendra feels almost exactly like stepping inside a papemelrotti shop. It has the same shabby chic inspired decor which lends a very homey feel to it. One thing I instantly liked about this place is the bag hook they have under their tables...brilliant!!

The place has a feel of an over grown bakeshop so I wasn't really expecting anything fancy. The menu sounded really good but then again 90% of menus do. That's what menus are supposed to do after all, ensnare your senses and force you to buy the food. The Mary Grace menu does that...the difference with other places is this..the food really does taste good.

Let's start with the drinks. Ruy and I decided to buy two glasses of iced tea instead of a pitcher in order to try more flavors of the iced tea. They have four flavors all in all: Peppermint and Fruit, Apples and Cinnamon, Hibiscus, and Red Tea Concoction whose name escapes me now. Ruy had the peppermint and fruit while I had the apples and cinnamon. Ruy thinks my tea tastes better and I'd have to agree.

Next comes our salad, Fried Kesong Puti with Calamansi Vinaigrette. One bite and I was in love. I am a calamansi lover and I think it's not used enough in our dishes. This particular dish substituted the calamansi for lemon and the result was spectacular. Ruy liked it although he's not raving as I am cause he's not a fan of sour things. He said that he's looking for something salty as the fried kesong puti only served to counter act the tangy dressing. He said anchovies would have been nice.

For our main dish we had Salmon and Cream Pasta and Fili Beef Steak Sandwich. The pasta was okay although it had a lot more cream than salmon. The two main ingredients also didn't seem to have been part of one dish. The reason I wasn't satisfied with this dish is because I've had better. The dish I had in the past had salmon pureed and mixed in with the cream. This resulted in a really tasty dish. The one in Cafe Mary Grace tasted like cream until you get lucky enough to bite into a stray piece of salmon...which wouldn't happen often. The steak sandwich was TINY!! I can't get over how mall it was. It's almost the just the size of one pandesal from Pugon. The taste was pretty good but be prepared to order something else if you plan on getting this.

Caramel Ensaymada -- Was good...but definitely not worth the 88pesos I paid for it in my opinion. Ruy kept on harping about buying 2 Krispy Kremes instead...I wouldn't go that far cause the ensaymada is a whole new pastry and adds a different satisfaction. I actually really enjoyed the ensaymada until I found out how much it costs. hehehe.