Wild Indigo Kitchen & Cafe (Quezon City)

The list of the food hubs in Metro Manila is growing, and so is my curiosity to know more about them. I live in the outskirts, and the places that I'm interested to visit lie far away from my comfort zone. But no matter how far it would take me, I want to satisfy this curiosity as much as possible. :)

Before my visit to Wild Indigo Kitchen & Cafe, I had never been to Banawe. In fact, I am not really a North person. To me, Quezon City will always be a network of labyrinthine streets and alleys, a dense and convoluted urban jungle that whoever's uninitiated sets foot upon it is guaranteed to get lost and perplexed.

But that won't even stop me from indulging my love for eating and my penchant for discovering (potentially) great places to have a grub and a drink. Oh yes, I would still let my guard up whenever I am in Quezon City (for instance, whenever there's a blogger event I am invited to), but I won't let this paranoia spoil the fun in discovering restaurants and cafes that seem off-the-(b)eaten-track. And that's the exciting part of it. Plus, if the food is really good -- that's the most rewarding stuff.

Instagram is the best social media platform to discover new food places as it randomly curates suggested and recommended posts that cater to the users' browsing habits. It was there on Instagram where I first spotted Wild Indigo --I even went on to PM the staff about the address. When I discovered it was in Banawe, I did begin to have second thoughts -- I was not familiar with the street.

Never did I hear of Wild Indigo before, not even a mention of it from the more famous food bloggers and so-called "influencers" (many of them have become my friends on Instagram and Facebook). But their food and drinks looked too tempting to be ignored.

Wild Indigo Kitchen & Cafe, in fact, is a relatively new cafe which opened its doors early this year. Its Instagram-worthy food and drinks have already won its own share of patrons -- and yet it is still very much under the radar to most people.

That day, July 4 (which also happened to be Independence Day in the US) was the perfect opportunity for us to swing by Wild Indigo. Commuting from Rizal to Banawe was mostly smooth as we used the most available and fastest way to get there.

Luckily for us, it was almost late in the afternoon so the day was not that hot. Thanks to Google Maps (and my past experience in working at a company in Quezon Avenue, and that was long, long ago), we were able to find Wild Indigo.

Walking into the restaurant for the first time, we were greeted by a bright pink cursive neon sign on the wall.

Beside the entrance was a small playpen -- a ball pit filled with blue, green and purple balls for the kids (and the kids at heart). I wished I brought my younger niece there!

There were different types of seating options. There were the standard table-and-chairs sets for dining as well as long tables, a couch and a coffee table.

We sat by the window so that we could have a better lighting for the #foodporn picture-taking. The table we were sitting was adorned by stalks of lavender and an assigned table number.

Judging from the menu that we were perusing at the time, you will never run out of choices at Wild Indigo. If only we had bottomless stomachs, we would have wanted to try everything from their menu! But we were mere mortals, hehehe. They had mains, sandwiches, pasta, desserts, coffee drinks (hot and iced), fruit juices, milk teas, frappes and even cocktails.

Many of this cafe's dishes and drinks are adorned by dainty touches of indigo-colored butterfly pea flowers (hence the name), which are edible. As you may have guessed, Wild Indigo also offer beverages using those flowers (I would have ordered that too).

Of course, we didn't want to miss their famous smoothie bowls. Ah I know, smoothies and smoothie bowls are notoriously heavy, but we would like to try two variants (instead of one smoothie bowl for sharing). Also, smoothie bowls are usually expensive, but we found Wild Indigo's smoothie bowls comparatively affordable.

Within 15 minutes all of our orders arrived. First came the drinks and last came the mains.

What we had:
MAINS

Chicken Pesto Cream (₱260) - My lunch date's dish. I thought it would be better with pasta, because of the aromatic pesto. But otherwise, it was really good. I loved the vibrant green color of the pesto cream. Chicken was cooked and seasoned well.

Salmon Steak in Lemon Sauce (₱350) - While I'm not currently on a diet (and would like to return to eating meat anytime), lately I have been eating a lot of fish and I don't mind! This dish did not disappoint. The acidic and aromatic lemon-and-butter sauce was the perfect complement to the goodness of the salmon, highlighted by the delightfully salty and crunchy salmon skin. There was a harmony of flavors on this dish! While this was one of the most expensive stuff on the menu, I thought the price was reasonable. All of the salmon sold at many supermarkets here are imported, anyway. And come on, the salmon steak was so big that I had to share portions with my lunch date. Yes, this dish was also good for sharing.

Only I was a bit distracted by the fish's little bones (I thought it was a filleted salmon steak) and small pieces of pointed rosemary leaves (that were incorporated into the sauce). So to those who would like to order this salmon steak meal... look for the little salmon bones first! And then don't forget to chew slowly and carefully. But otherwise, it was delicious. I loved it. You have to order this... it was reasonably priced and had good servings.

Each dish had a small heap of salad smothered in yummy roasted sesame seed dressing (Kewpie, we thought).

DRINKS

Rose milk tea (₱120) - This milk tea tasted good as it looked good. The fragrant hints of a blooming rose would linger in your mouth. It was like having a breath freshener! If you're thinking that such a "perfumed" drink would make you gag, not this one. It was also sweet, milky of course, and delicious.

Dirty Charcoal frappe (₱120) - At first, this frappe was a bit too sweet to me. But as I was finishing it, that was where I began to discern the dark, truly "dirty" taste and the goodness of the activated charcoal, most of which settled on the bottom (I never stirred it enough). I love frappes but they usually make me feel guilty afterwards. But not this one! I knew I was enjoying something creamy, decadent but also beneficial for me. It was like I was detoxifying in a less boring way. ;)
Smoothie bowls (aka "Nicecream").

Purple Dream (₱180) - I didn't get to taste this smoothie bowl, because my sis quickly emptied it without letting me to try it. But that was okay! I guessed she liked this smoothie bowl a lot!

Dirty Charcoal (₱180) - I had decided to order activated charcoal-based stuff from the menu. Aside from the Dirty Charcoal frappe, I also had the Dirty Charcoal smoothie bowl. It was so good! I loved the crunch the most, from the nuts, seeds and grains. Combined with the dark notes from the activated charcoal and the natural sweetness from the bananas, this smoothie bowl was "nice cream" indeed.

The coconut shavings added a more interesting and flavorful texture to our smoothie bowls. We thought the size of our smoothie bowls was just right -- these were hefty to the belly already as they were packed with natural fiber.

Their smoothie bowls are 100% vegan -- they have no dairy stuff and any other animal matter, so they are guilt-free goodness.

Our day at that time was mostly swabe -- from commuting to and from home, to our dinner here at Wild Indigo. We didn't even have to wait long for our food to come to our table. Service was quite fast and dishes were presented so tastefully. Plus, we enjoyed an unexpected discount so thank you to the staff!* May pamasahe pa tuloy kami pabalik ng Quezon Ave. :)

When I came back, I tried a couple of their items:

Butterfly Pea Horlicks Milk Tea - Until now, I don't know what Horlicks is (not familiar with imported brands), but I love malted sweets and drinks. No wonder I enjoyed this drink! But the owner himself had "forewarned" me that this was going to be an acquired taste -- turned out he didn't like anything with malt. But a big and loud SHOUTOUT to Wild Indigo for crafting this delicious, malinamnam and even filling beverage. I hope they won't erase this off their menu.

Spaghetti Bolognese (that's what I called it) -- I had the chance to avail of their ₱99 meals. Good classic spaghetti, I liked the al dente bite of the pasta.

Brazo de mercedes -- I would have wanted the matcha flavor, but alas, it was not available. While I'm not actually a fan of brazo de mercedes, I loved Wild Indigo's rendition of this because it had the creamy custard. Despite that, it was not too sweet, thankfully. Probably, this is the best brazo I have ever tried by far!

Wild Indigo also has free Wi-Fi connection. We kind of felt guilty because we lingered there a bit longer than we should (and even after we were almost done with our food) and we spent the remainder of our stay there browsing on our phones!

Kuya from the waiting staff was kind enough to take our posterity shots when decided to settle on the couch for selfies.

The premium taste and wholesomeness of their food and drinks, easy-going ambiance, free Wi-Fi and good and fast service more than made up our for our long (but otherwise mostly smooth) commute from Rizal to Quezon City. Wild Indigo Cafe & Kitchen is truly a hidden gem in this bustling city... but it should be more than that! I am glad to have known and discovered this place. :)

If distance is not an issue, I would have gone back there already and tried (and enjoyed) other stuff such as their Butterfly Pea, brown sugar milk tea, as well as their sandwiches, pastas and desserts. But our experience enough truly guarantees a return. Hopefully soon! :)
 

Wild Indigo Kitchen & Cafe
100 Banawe Street corner N.S. Amoranto Street,
Quezon City

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

Instagram:
@wildindigokitchencafe

Zomato:
https://www.zomato.com/manila/wild-indigo-kitchen-cafe-banawe-quezon-city/info