Dropping by at Drip Cafe

Sometimes, you need a breather after a day's work or a day's worth of fun before going home (either way, it is still kind of stressful, right?)

Even if it means staying at some coffee shop in its last minutes of a day's business.

So after we had a fun food trip day in Quezon City during the fourth of July (rarely do I get to enjoy holidays, so I really have to make the best of them), we decided to do a stopover at the Shangri-La Plaza mall in Mandaluyong for coffee even if we knew that it was in its closing hour.

And because of this, we were becoming frustrated because almost all of the establishments were shutting their doors for the day but we just kept on looking. We were at the mall's newer (and posher) East Wing so even though it was probable that we'd end up at some swanky cafe, we had no choice!

At last, we found a place that was still open to customers: Drip Cafe, the coffee shop arm of Commune Home, a furniture store here in the Philippines that's internationally renowned.

At first, we were kind of confounded at the time whether it was a furniture shop or a coffee shop, because of the display of sleek high-end wooden furniture that could be readily seen from the outside. Maybe both.

These days, non-food stores that also offer food and drink (just like in the case of Marks and Spencer's and Bench with its Bench Cafe) are becoming a trend these days to attract more customers. And Commune is no exception.

Because this small furniture shop-slash-cafe looked really forbiddingly tony, at first we hesitated to come in, jokingly thinking that we would accidentally cause damage to its high-quality artisanal pieces of furniture. But we proceeded to get in and luckily, we were still welcomed by the staff. Anyway, we just came here to cool our heels and to have some coffee and snacks.

And because this place is primarily a furniture shop which secondarily functions as a coffee shop, we did not expect its menu to be vast, and we were right. Just coffee, a couple of some finger foods and cakes.

Surprisingly though, the beverages were reasonably priced naman.

Iced Americano (₱110)
Its flavors were deep and gave away some fruity hints (think of berries). The level of this coffee's strength? It packed a wollop! I wonder what kind of beans they used here.

Americano (hot, ₱90)
My companion's order.

Drip Nachos (₱240)
It looked really pretty with all those purple corn chips! The flavors were balanced and we could tolerate the thick wasabi paste. In fact, I liked it. However, considering the price, I expected something else from these nachos that could have made this more substantial, such as some ground beef. Good for sharing, though.

Churros (₱130)
Four pieces of long churros dusted with confectioner's sugar and traditionally served with a chocolate dip. We loved good classic churros and we were pleased by Drip Cafe's offering -- crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. Not oily, too!

Shangri-La was close to becoming empty but we seemed to be oblivious to this fact as we were actually quite enjoying our stay there. Until one of staff members came to us and politely asked us to leave. Hahahaha! It was okay, or else we would get locked inside the mall.

I find Shangri-La's operating hours kind of unusual -- most of the metro's biggest malls open at 10 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. Not "The Shang," though -- it opens an hour late and closes and hour early!

But that is a minor inconvenience. Otherwise, we enjoyed our stay at Commune/Drip Cafe.

Their food and drinks were okay. As for the ambiance -- at first it was kind of stiff as we were inside a furniture store. We did not know which of the tables we should sit on, or which of them were actually for sale. But that stiff atmosphere eventually melted and turned into a more chill ambiance. Although looking at a long wooden table at one end of the store, sometimes I felt like we were called to a board meeting. Kidding! But we were not told off when we placed some of our food and drink on that long wooden table for a rather nice food photography, so I thought they were okay with it.

Overall, Drip Cafe inside Commune furniture store is a perfect little place for catching-up with your friends and loved ones over good coffee and snacks.

Drip Cafe is situated on Shangri-La Mall's highest floor, so it's pretty hard to find. But that makes this cafe (which was once located in Banawe, QC) truly a hidden gem especially for coffee lovers. You can, of course, check out Commune's gorgeous artisanal furniture pieces -- I feel that these are perfect to deck and complete a ritzy condominium space.

Drip Cafe
Commune, Level 6, East Wing
Shangri-La Plaza
Ortigas, Mandaluyong City

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/dripcafeph/

Instagram:
@dripcafeph

Zomato:
https://www.zomato.com/manila/drip-cafe-ortigas-mandaluyong-city