Cabalen and Cafe Mary Grace

It was my mother's special day and my sister and her bf were in town to celebrate it with us.

We had homemade beef burgers and kesong puti sandwiches for breakfast, got ready and then it was off to Cabalen for lunch.

We availed of their eat-all-you-can Filipino buffet. Drinks were not included in the buffet, I just had house water while my mother had Sago't Gulaman, my sister had Green Mango Shake and her bf, Buco Shake.

There were 3 choices for soups that noon, Kalabasa, Sinigang and Bulalo. I had Kalabasa. It was good.

There were many rice, noodles, salads and viands choices but as I'm allergic to shrimps and I wanted to stay away from pork and I just had beef that morning I just chose Beringhe, Pancit Canton, Chicken Adobo, Dinuguan (just the sauce, which btw was very good), Tofu Sisig, Crispy Kangkong, Breaded Dilis (not that good, were a little cold) and Grilled Bangus. For desserts they have Kakanins like Maja Blanca, Palitaw (good), Biko, Leche Flan (which they will give you upon request), Fresh Fruits (Banana, Pineapple), Ginataang Halo-Halo, Minatamis na Saging and Halo-Halo.

As I love Gulaman and Sago, I had a lot of Halo-Halo and filled them mostly with Gulaman and Sago. I had the traditional Filipino Halo-Halo with evaporated milk and also the Thai version with coconut milk. I love Halo-Halo so much that I just had one plate of the buffet and filled the rest of my tummy space with desserts (mostly Halo-Halo).

We walked off the calories by shopping for clothes, accessories, food and home and bedroom accessories. We were so engrossed with shopping that we forgot to stop for dinner and only remembered it 30 minutes to the mall's closing. We chose Cafe Mary Grace.

As soon as we sat down we were told that our orders will be their last orders for the day.

My sister chose Carbonara, Mango Bene and Sangria, while me and the rest had the Mushroom Cream, Chocolate Cake, Black Velvet and Soda (as when we were giving our Peach Tea orders, we were told that the kitchen's already closed:-( )

The mushroom cream was so good, as in really, really good, that my sister even regretted ordering the Carbonara. Thinking about it, I might have one again this week :-)

As the mall's already closed by the time we finished our pasta. We just had the cakes to go.

At home when I ate the chocolate cake, I found it dry and the caramel filling too strong (almost taste like coffee), but when I had it again the next day, the filling was just the way I want it ( subtle caramel taste), the ganache fudgey and the cake a little bit moist.

My sister loves the service at Cafe Mary Grace Robinsons Place Manila. She said that they were courteous, know their products and give recommendations ( they even asked our mother if she suffers from palpitations when drinking coffee, as their coffee is very strong, and thus they recommended decaf for our mother) and very accommodating.

Happy Eating!