Store of the Week: Caffe Dolce - A Coffe Shop, Vegetarian Restaurant and Chocolate Desserts Place Rolled into One

Caffe Dolce

One afternoon after a very long day at work, two of my really good friends from PSI invited me to join them for dinner. It is one of those days we just wanted to hang around. We did not plan ahead. It just happened. Rob who is always serious and hard at work is free that night. Jen just came home from a day-long of training and well I'm just available.

Jen was the one who suggested Caffe Dolce because she saw it on her way home. She actually forgot the name but it was Rob who have dined in Caffe Dolce with his mom several times. This will be my first time in Caffe Dolce.

Lounge at Caffe Dolce

Caffe Dolce is a coffee shop found along Banawe corner Del Monte, Quezon City, which offers a vegetarian-friendly menu. This was very surprising for me because this is my first time to be in a coffee shop which happens to be a vegetarian restaurant too. The ambiance in Caffe Dolce is filled with flowers and doilies. If I may so, the place looked quite girly. 

Waiting Area Adorned with Flowers at Caffe Dolce

If you enjoy vegetarian food or if you want to eat a lot but you worry about your calories then you will love Caffe Dolce. It's vegetarian food selection is delicious. Their vegetarian pizza and soup was divine. And the tea was the brew that kept that night's conversation warm and enjoyable. I really love that fruity tea especially the tea pot. It is even in my wish list.

Desserts at Caffe Dolce

But the best thing about Caffe Dolce even if its all healthy and vegetarian is that they have chocolates! Now that is something you don't usually see in vegetarian restaurants. So as much as I would love to keep on telling you about the tea (which is my second most favorite thing in the world after chocolates), this is Chocoholics Philippines and I would like to focus now on the chocolate selection I saw at Caffe Dolce. 

Chocolate Dream Cake

The restaurant is coined from two Italian words "Caffe" and "Dolce". Most of us are familiar with the word "caffe" which is similar to the Filipino word "kape". Now Dolce is closely related to the phrase La Dolce Vita which means "the good life" or "the sweet life". Dolce is an Italian adverb which means "gently and sweetly". The two Italian words combined together literally means "sweetly (and gently) coffee". Caffe Dolce is a coffee shop with free wi-fi serving chocolates, tea, coffee and vegetarian food. How dolce is that! 

Chocolate Lava Cake

After a heavy meal, everyone craved for Caffe Dolce desserts. Rob and I decided to share a Chocolate Dream cake while Jen ordered a Blueberry cheesecake. The Chocolate Dream cake was sweet but not overly sweet. It wasn't the dreamiest chocolate cake I've tasted (and I have my fair share of chocolate cakes which brought me to heaven and back) but it will satisfy your sweet tooth craving for the night. Although the Chocolate Dream cake did not take my breath away which is what I expected from a dream cake but I figured there are a few selections I wouldn't mind going back to Dolce Vita again like the Chocolate Lava Cake and the Swiss Chocolate Cappuccino cake. 

Swiss Chocolate Cappuccino at Caffe Dolce

I also liked their Chocolate Mocha with Oreo Drink which Jen ordered and I just tasted it. But it was too heavy for me already to order a chocolate drink while enjoying a heavy meal. Maybe I would prefer one if I was just meeting a friend for a drink. By the way, that is the only chocolate drink in the list of beverages of Caffe Dolce. Most of the drinks offered, well go figure - are coffee-based.

La Dolce Vita with good lifetime friends

My next Caffe Dolce visit will be with a pot of tea and a slice of chocolate cake, a laptop, free wifi and bff's. And that would be one of the best days of my life. This 2011, I am very blessed to have such great friends and more great ones to come! Happy New Year everyone!