UCC Cafe Terrace finally opened its first branch in Cebu last April 25th 2009. UCC stands for Ueshima Coffee Company, a Japan-based coffee company (not just a coffee shop) which has earned a good reputation in its home country enough to become a household name. In Manila, lots of positive word-of-mouth have made the various incarnations of UCC (Vienna Cafe, Park Cafe, and Cafe Terrace) a must-try culinary destination for their high-quality coffee selection, delectable dishes, and tantalizing desserts.
First thing I noticed when I walked into the place was the smell and the ambiance. The place smelled good, you know that smell, that Japanese-clean type of spotlessness mixed with the subtle aroma coming from the kitchen. The interiors were well-lit with non-jarring incandescent-like lighting that gave the place a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere. It all came across as a seamless integration of coffee shop vibe and hotel lobby elegance. I liked it. Another vibe that the place gave off to me was “this could be expensive” lol. And non-cheap it was, but we’ll get to that later.
UCC’s service was excellent. The attendant was very articulate when we asked her about the items on the menu. She was able to knowledgeably answer all of our queries and accurately take down all of our orders. Even more impressive, our food only took a little over ten minutes to get served. I expected it to take a lot longer since the place was kind of full. As the night went on, more and more people arrived… and a lot of them were noticeably of oriental descent haha… just an observation.
On to the food. We ordered Japanese Seafood Salad, Chicken and Mushroom Risotto, Seafood Casserole, Seafood Risotto, and the Black Samba for dessert. I don’t think I have to go over each item one by one for a detailed review because the dishes collectively were very delightful.
They were served at just the temperature, hot enough to be sumptuous yet not burn our tongue. Here’s a testament to how good the food was: we finished it all (except for the dessert) in about the same amount of time it took for it all to get served after we ordered, a.k.a. a little over ten minutes. We were stuffed, all six of us and we didn’t even get to the dessert yet.
The dessert we had that night was good, but it tasted like La Marea’s famous Warm Brownie Cup. Not that that’s a problem coz we love the warm brownie cup haha. On a separate ocassion I was able to taste one of UCC’s crepes (though I forgot which one exactly), and it was yummy! Not too sweet, made just right. A friend was also able to taste their very expensive Blue Mountain coffee which cost him around P389.00. Yikes! He said it tasted very good, but he won’t be buying it again anytime soon haha.
I admit the items on the menu are very expensive, but its good to treat yourself to something of this level of quality every once in a (long) while. Be prepared to spend somewhere between P300 – P600 per person (depending on which items you order) for a meal with beverage. If i remember correctly, the beverage selection started at P80 upwards…
Photo Credits: Berg
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Just in time for the rainy days, lunch delivered to your offices….
July 27th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
i likey
August 7th, 2009 at 11:40 am
yum!
March 14th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
yes, that looks super yummy, i like ucc