My Bittersweet Cafe: Wildflour Café + Bakery

At night, the lamps light up and you are drawn in to its faint glow.

It was love at first sight with Wildflour Café + Bakery One look and you know you're in for something good. I had several attempts of spending my breakfast there, but circumstances happen and it was moved back further and further in my calendar until finally, the day!

With its modern urban-industrial interior: a combination of white brick walls, dark wood furnishings, blackboard menus, black paint detailings, high glass ceiling and bare incandescent bulbs hanging down with warm luminous glow, this makes it a nice place to sit in and have good coffee or wine. They have a different menu for breakfast diners and the dinner socialites. On mornings you will see expats coming in with their kids or friends having their meals before going on to work after a brief cup of coffee. The feel of the place becomes noticeably different at night, it's almost like it transforms itself to this cool lounge, you will see professionals in their coats drinking their wines and laughing the night away.

Should you want privacy, better go there between 8-9 a.m. as the place is full most hours of the day.

Dining in cafes makes for a good morning.

Belgian Waffle with Vermont maple syrup, bananas, caramelized walnuts (P340.00)

I am still to find a proper-tasting Belgian waffle besides White Hat's...as all other breakfast place I've tried so far taste a like flat pancake disguised in a checkered pattern to look like a waffle. This one, though dense and kinda chewy—like a good waffle should—it lacked that degree of richness for me. It didn't hit the perfect spot, but it did came close...almost there. Maybe because it was too big or its coating wasn't caramelized enough...still, I was full by the time I was done gobbling.

Their caramelized walnuts didn't have a hint of caramelization on it...it tasted more like roasted nuts. The banana used was cavendish, and it tasted exactly like banana. The Vermont maple syrup was nicely jazzed up with liquor. It tasted like a combination of butter, maple syrup, cinnamon then flambéed in either rum or brandy. The syrup saved the waffle from that lack-of-taste.

The wait staff were also really attentive, pouring to fill my glass with water at every opportunity. I left chugging down almost a liter of water! If you see that green bottle there, by the time I stood up there was only a cup of liquid left...oh well.

Hazelnut Hot Chocolate (P150)

Nutella goodness in a cup.

What my food lacked in sugar content my drink made up in all its sweetened glory. Their Hazelnut Hot Chocolate was chuck-full of Nutella goodness...it was very thick and rich that when I think about it, I should have dunked my waffle in it and I could have had instant churros for breakfast.

You know you're drinking real chocolate because when it cools down, a thick layer of curdled fat would float on top and you would feel it stick to your lips like oil. This is the kind of drink that jet-starts your day not with a caffeine jolt but with a whack of sugar overdose. It was really a comfort cup, the kind you would want to snuggle to on cold-rainy nights...if only it wasn't too sweet, then I wouldn't feel so guilty about consuming more than a single cup.

I get the idea why this new Café + Bakery is being raved about by a lot of foodies and most of everyone who've been there. It may be one of those places where you should spend a little more to experience, but unlike my other regretful breakfast affairs, this one was alright.

Side note: I wasn't able to take a photo, but their baguette was both beautiful to the eyes and the palette. I suppose Wildflour has every right to claim itself as both a modern cafe and a certified bakery.