An Afternoon at Caffe Bene

I have always been a Korean enthusiast. Anything Korean is my game – makeup, TV series, and most especially, food. Blame it to all the K-dramas I have watched that I always crave for spicy rice cakes, bibimbap, jajangmyun and all their desserts! One of their famous desserts is Bingsu; it is a Korean version of Halo Halo, but with less sahog. I know that there are lots of Korean caffe’s in Manila and the first one I get to try is Caffe Bene. If you watched Secret Garden, this is the cafe that they always go to.

Okay, there’s nothing really special with how Caffe Bene looks, I was actually expecting it to have this Korean vibe going on inside, but yeah, it’s just your typical cafe – they do offer gelatos, tho. 

You will be given a buzzer (in the photo) that will light and vibrate when your order is ready (yeah, I know that you know how that works, but whatever). Caffe Bene have different pasta and sandwich available, and these were what we decided to order.

Ham and Cheese Sandwich

Beef Bologne Pasta, Php185

Perhaps it’s my fault that I expect too much of Caffe Bene, because honestly, these foods that we ordered does not worth its price. Yes, they are good, but not a hundred-and-fifty-something-worth of good. So the next time we want a sandwich or pasta, we will just go to 7-eleven (the level of taste is the same after all).

What we really came for is the Bingsu. 

Cookies and Cream Bingsu, Php340 ; Strawberry Bingsu, Php320 - both Huge

The Huge size is literally huge! Four persons can even share one huge serving. We tried the Cookies and Cream and Strawberry Bingsu. The cookies and cream is super matamis and made of Oreo cookies while the Strawberry has strawberry jam that makes it a perfect combination of sweet and sour. It also has a scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream surrounding it – which is pretty good, btw. The same goes to Strawberry Bingsu (no whipped cream); both have red beans in it, but the Strawberry has more. We also tried their gelatos (green tea, yogurt, raspberry and vanilla) and they are good too.

I didn’t get the chance to try their drinks, but so far their cold desserts are the best choice if you ever found yourself in Caffe Bene.