Everyone in my family has his own preference when it comes to cafes. Sam adores Starbucks, I like Figaro, Speedy is a Kopi Roti fan while Alex thinks that Dome Cafe serves the best cappuccino next to Vieux Chalet. We all agree on three things though—Seattle’s Best is an okay choice (when nothing else is available) while Mocha Blends and Gloria Jean’s suck.
For the girls and I, the cakes and pastries that go with our coffee is a major factor. That’s why it isn’t hard to convince Alex nor I to go along with Sam when she’s having one of her craving-for-Starbucks days. Starbucks serve the best cakes among the cafes we’ve tried (not counting Bizu Patisserie, of course, because it isn’t a cafe-cafe). I don’t consider Starbucks coffee to be the finest though. Next to Starbucks’ cakes, I like Cafe Bola’s cheesecake made from local kesong puti. But if I could really have my way, I wish I could enjoy Figaro coffee and Starbucks’ cakes together. Yeah, right, wishful thinking.
Because Starbucks has the most number of branches in Metro Manila, when we want coffee and cakes, we almost always land in a Starbucks branch. But the day we watched Spider-Man 3 at Shangri-La Plaza, we went to Dome Cafe. I hadn’t tried Dome Cafe before; it was Alex and Speedy who had gone there before and Alex couldn’t stop talking about the cappuccino.
So, it was cappuccino for Alex, Speedy and myself. Sam had an Oreo Cookie Smoothie. The cappuccino was good, better than Starbuck’s, but Vieux Chalet’s is still the best for me.
I had a slice of rum cake with my cappuccino. Okay, I have to be specific about this. With a well-made rum cake, the rum is uniformly distributed so that a single slice becomes so heavy after the cake has soaked in all the rum it could manage to absorb. Dome Cafe’s rum cake was dry in places. I could actually distinguish the spots that were wet with rum from the dry spots. And the spots without rum were really quite dry.
Speedy had a slice of carrot cake. As is usual with us, we shared our cakes with one another so that everyone got to try all. Was the carrot cake any good? Yeah, if one hadn’t tried better carrot cakes. I like texture in my carrot cake—meaning, lots of chunky walnuts and crushed pineapple. Dome Cafe’s carrot cake had too much bread and the nuts were too finely chopped—and too few—for my taste. Sobrang tinipid.
Alex’s New York-style cheesecake was the best among the three cakes we ordered. I have no complaints about it.
Sam’s chunky chocolate cookie was large and there were chunks of chocolate. Beyond that, it was just a cookie. I could make better ones.
PhP 912.00 pesos for all of that is expensive considering that the desserts weren’t really that good. But then I consider how comfortably we were seated and I could forgive the price.
Unlike Starbucks—and this is really the thing I hate about Starbucks—there were no large crowds at Dome Cafe. I really hate it when we enter Starbucks and all the tables are occupied by people who take three hours to drink a cup of coffee. In short, the tambay crowd. The just-to-be-seen-at-Starbucks crowd. At Dome Cafe, we drank our coffee and ate our cakes leisurely, in peace and quiet, while leafing through a good selection of magazines from the rack.
The staff was courteous and didn’t speak with the faked twang so distinctive among members of Starbucks’ crews. Our orders were taken cordially without the lilting tones used by Starbucks people to feign a mixture of pleasure and light-heartedness. No trying-hard atmosphere at Dome Cafe, in other words, and I liked that.
Yay! Finally, someone vocalizes my opinion on Starbucks. Granted, the banana line for the summer is really good, but having every barista hit on you while you’re waiting for your mediocre espresso-based drink gets pretty old after a while. It’s really convenience brought about by massive proliferation that gives them business.
< / bitterness >
Hi Miss Connie! You remind me of my friend who hates the crowd at Starbucks. She claims that they are “trying to be elite”. Bwehehe. However, their cakes and fraps are worth it.
By the way, when will you be able to post a new baking recipe? My mom finally decided to buy me an electric oven and I am so eager to learn how to bake (I was actually thinking of ordering the how-to videos in Chocolate Lover because I don’t have time to take classes).
Hi Gaby, ah, I have a million things to say about those fake twangs. I don’t know what it is with the staff of American food chains. Just because the mother company is American, they think they need to mimic (very poorly at that) American slang?
Jaecel, you echo my daughters’ line, “Mommy, when are you going to bake?” hehehe I will, today.
Hi Gaby, ah, I have a million things to say about those fake twangs. I don’t know what it is with the staff of American food chains. Just because the mother company is American, they think they need to mimic (very poorly at that) American slang?
Jaecel, you echo my daughters’ line, “Mommy, when are you going to bake?” hehehe I will, today.
I like the Starbucks here in our area- it has a drive thru. We just want to take our coffee and go. I agree, they don’t have the best coffee BUT if I find myself ‘jonesing’ for coffee anywhere, I could go to a Starbucks and expect a consistent quality.
The best coffee for me is the one that my lola makes, from picking of the red berries to roasting. I know how much work she puts into it which makes it more special, naku lalo na kung may fresh kakanin.
My daughter is the only one who gets the baked goods, she likes the black bottom cupcake.
Your chocolate crinkles blows those cookies away.
Hi Sassy! Try coffee bean and tea leaf. We love their cakes and tea latte. I’m wondering now who provides their cakes and pastries, I’ll try to ask when we get to go next time.
KK, and my kids love the Oreo cheesecake.
Hi Queen B, I wonder if Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf has a branch near our place… But thanks for the info. I love trying new places, really.
KK, and my kids love the Oreo cheesecake.
Hi Queen B, I wonder if Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf has a branch near our place… But thanks for the info. I love trying new places, really.
hi connie,
my husband runs dome. they are in the process of improving desserts,
i sent him the link. thanks for your valuable feedback.
I got this link forwarded by my wife and i would like to thank you for reviewing Dome Cafe. We are currently upgrading existing & creating new cakes, desserts and coffee/chocolate based iced drinks, it shouldn’t be too long before we will launch them.
For further comments and suggestions please e mail us at
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so we could take immediate action.
Thanks again and i hope to see you at one of our cafes soon.
Kind Regards,
Jeroen van Straten
AGM – Dome Franchise Corp.
Hi cecile, oh, then we will definitely be back. My daughter Alex is nuts over the cappuccino. And I loved the ambience of dome cafe.
Hello Jeroen, upgrades and new desserts sound great! Looking forward to them.
Hi cecile, oh, then we will definitely be back. My daughter Alex is nuts over the cappuccino. And I loved the ambience of dome cafe.
Hello Jeroen, upgrades and new desserts sound great! Looking forward to them.
may i know the branches of dome cafe? do have one in rockwell powerplant mall?