Where to Go for a New and Different Dining Experience in Batangas? With all the restaurants found in every nook and corner, restaurants have to offer more than just good food. Good food is tops but it is a plus to eat great food in a place where there is welcoming and interesting ambiance. In Lipa City, Batangas, four café restaurants show us what concept restaurants should be. All of them are worth visiting more than once.
Purple Beetle Café
Store Hours: 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM Price Range: PhP80 to PhP185
The café is fun- and art-filled; and it shows even in the food presentation. (Image: Purple Beetle Café Lipa City)
This artsy coffee place in Lipa City is bohemian and also vintage. What could be more vintage than a real Beetle car turned counter? The walls of the café have their own stories to tell—a mural painting, a wall dotted with the owner’s paintings, and a statement wall. People might think that dining at Purple Beetle Café is expensive because of its artsy interior and intricate food and beverage presentation. But with most items priced at just PhP80 to PhP185, their offerings are considerably affordable. Mentioned must-order items are lasagna rolls, cream cheese and banana French Toast bread, beef cheese wedges, cheeseburger with bacon and egg, buffalo chicken wings, and their Oh-frappe varieties especially green tea, hazelnut, and nutella. While food is still the main repertoire in Purple Beetle, the owners make sure that the café lives to its form of being fun-filled and art-filled. It’s the customers’ call. You can read books, play board games, doodle and paint using their art materials, or simply admire the Beetle toy cars on display. You can also buy some boho stuff like headpieces and dream catcher. Purple Beetle is a lifestyle brand first: a bohemian and vintage online shop (http://purplebeetle.com.ph/) before it became a café. The name is inspired by a purple beetle toy requested by the owner’s daughter for her birthday. From there, the lifestyle brand was born and then the café followed suit. Read: Rediscovering an Old Favorite: Test Kitchen Caffe and George & Rita
Candlelight Café
Store Hours: 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM Price Range: PhP99 to PhP210
This mural at Candlelight Café gives an illusion of bigger space and a path leading to secret garden. (Image: The Candlelight Café) Candlelight Café is not just another coffee shop. It has food, art, and of course, coffee too. And as the name suggests, candles are the centerpiece of the coffeeshop. Lots of them. Established in 2011 also at Lipa City, the vibe of this cafe is romantic Europe but not haughty because it also exudes a small-town café feel. The olfactory sense is sure to indulge in the smell of coffee and the scents of candles upon entrance. But there is more indulgence in the murals that seem to lead to a lovelier place, in the unique artworks in an arranged mess—most of which were done by the Lipa Youth Art Club, and in the stash of books displayed in the café. Check our list of coffee shops in Batangas or browse the Dining & Leisure Category of theShoppersGuide Directory for specific shops. Candlelight Café offers the usual coffee shop food repertoire but with names patterned after literati. Examples include the Adobo Caravaggio named after a baroque Italian painter; the Chicken Cezanne named after post-impressionist French artist Paul Cezanne; and the Miro Plate (egg topped with salmon slices and capers and salad) named after Spanish artist Joan Miro. Also popular is the Mortenese pasta, an original pasta creation whose name was derived after the owner’s last name. Their juices also carry artists’ names like Andy Warhol (guava juice), Frida Kahlo (lemonade with mint leaves), Picasso (mango juice with pomelo, grapes, apple, and watermelon), and Basquiat (guyabano).
And true to its romantic European feel, the café also holds poetry and music sessions on a candlelit evening. The café was named as such because of the owners’ passion for candles and coffee. Mr. Morten and Dr. Marichu Carstensen also own a candle export business called Doc’s Candles. Read: Best Buffet Restaurants ala eh Batangas
Casa Marikit Ristorante Italiano
Store Hours: 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM Price Range: PhP370 to PhP1,500++
Casa Marikit's interior (Image: Casa Marikit) Casa Marikit is Lipa City’s Italian trattoria. The restaurant is literally tucked away in its location—not along the JP Laurel Highway, but is still strategically accessible and located near Fernando Airbase. The ristorante is faithful to the concept from the food to the interior and structure. It has the quaint country charm—bricks, mosaic, and a fireplace. It is a place for ladies who lunch, couples who date, friends who catch up, and families who celebrate milestones. It exudes an aura that makes the customers engage in a leisurely lunch or dinner of homemade dishes.
The food in the menu are, admittedly, difficult to pronounce as they are, of course, Italian names, but the travail one has to go through in pronouncing and waiting are all worth it. It will be immediately erased by the complimentary bread with pâté and tomato-basil-garlic dip. One can also while away the time, waiting for their order, at the antique gallery or at the courtyard. In the menu are insalata (salad), pasta, pizza, and steak. The rib-eye steak is authentic Angus beef priced a little over PhP1,500, just like any Angus beef served in other restaurants. The pasta and pizza are priced at around PhP500. Most of the food items are good for sharing and worth a second round of serving. Casa Marikit is named after the owner’s youngest and only daughter. Marikit is a Filipino word for beautiful. Last January 12, Casa Marikit has temporarily closed its shop for expansion and is set to open sometime in March 2017.
Hugot Café
Store Hours: 1:00 PM to 9:00 PM Price Range: PhP50 to PhP115
This is a typical day-to-day hugot line that can be found in Hugot Café tables. (Image: Hugot Café Lipa)
Hugot Café is the hip and hot, it café ATM that is brewing a la bitter and bittersweet. Every corner in the café is screaming with hugot lines. The term “hugot” is a Filipino word, which literally means to draw or to pull out and which, in pop culture and social media, has become associated with emotions that need unsheathing. True to form, the names of the food and drinks in their menu are hugotinspired. They serve, for instance hugot shake coffee crumble that’s called pafall; doubledutch that’s aptly called twotimer, and waffles that can be a loner (one piece) or a couple (two pieces). The café is not all hype as the food and drinks are just right in terms of affordability (PhP50 to a little over PhP100) and taste. The coffeebased drinks, for instance, are not too sweet but also not too bitter. The writings on the hugot wall and the interactive hugot corner are a hit; and are targeting those who can relate the most, those who are single, in a complicated relationship, friendzoned, heaandrtbroken, left behind, or twotimed. And for those who want more hugot lines, you can read spoken word artist Juan Miguel Severo’s hugot poem entitled “Kapag Tapos na ang Lahat” (“After All Is Done”), prominently occupying one side of the wall in the café. But this is not to say that the café is only for those who are going through despair, bitterness, heartache, misery, or any negative state of emotion. Contrary to the hugot concept, the general ambience is full energy and good vibes.