Cozy Afternoons at Cafe Xocolat

If you are ever in the Katipunan area, and you find yourself looking for a place to:

1. treat yourself to some nice comfort food
2. spend a lazy afternoon catching up with an old friend
3. just chill out and curl up with your laptop or book while enjoying a nice cup of hot chocolate

... then Xocolat is the place for you!

I can't believe I've never blogged about this place. This is definitely one of my ultimate go-to place, and why shouldn't it be? A small, cozy cafe converted from the sala of an old house, Xocolat definitely has that homey feel that makes me want to stay here all day. In addition, with the friendly staff, eclectic decor and of course, the consistently good food, I kind of wonder why I haven't just moved in already (well, they're not open 24/7 for one).

Xocolat's comfy vibe makes it the ultimate chill-out place

The food... oh, the food. Obviously, for a place named after the world's favorite food, Xocolat offers excellent chocolate. Their signature beverages and cakes are some of the most decadent chocolate offerings this side of town. Because of this, you'd think that those exotic creatures called people who don't like chocolate won't have any reason to come here, but actually, Xocolat offers so much more. The menu is a labor of love, carefully crafted to bring you all the best comfort food.

So before we skip to dessert, let's go over some of their unbelievably delicious dishes!

By way of appetizers, Xocolat has a few salads to spike your appetite. The Oriental Chicken Salad is a delightful mix of sweet and savory, from the fresh veggies to the crunchy wonton chips, grilled chicken strips and tangy mandarin slices, all dressed in a soy-honey sauce.

Oriental Chicken Salad

Their pasta line-up is also excellent, led by their signature Xocolat Chicken Pasta. The "xocolat" in the name isn't just referring to the cafe, it's also in the chicken! That's right! The grilled chicken slices are covered in a cacao rub, which gives a complex, slightly bitter flavor that complements the creamy pasta perfectly.

Xocolat Chicken Pasta

The Grilled Chicken Pesto is for the less adventurous, but the sauce is still perfectly herbacious. (It's a word, right?) It also comes with grilled chicken (no cacao, this time) and toasted ciabatta for you to mop the plate with afterwards.

Grilled Chicken Pesto

Pasta Alfredo is creamy and light, with a bacon and mushroom sauce. A standard, but well-made white sauce pasta.

Pasta Alfredo

Other than the pasta, Xocolat also has a range of rice meals such as this Pork Belly with Cacao-Bagoong Sauce. This, my friends, you have to try. The pork is fried to perfection, a juicy slab of tender and crispy goodness. The bagoong sauce also adds an interesting savory twist to the usual liver sauce that comes with lechon kawali. The meat is covered in crispy greens and also comes with a small ramekin of buttery Potato Gratin (my favorite part of this unbeatable dish).

(I also find it interesting that the rice comes in a little cone shape. Granted, it doesn't make the rice taste any better, but it's a nice twist to the usual boring cup of rice that comes on the plate.)

Pork Belly with Cacao Bagoong Sauce

The Spiced Xocolat Chicken is like a pimped-out chicken adobo, with a rich aromatic marinade of soy sauce and assorted spices. Served with an additional portion of the sauce, this dish is so flavorful (maybe a little too flavorful?) that one cup of rice isn't enough!

Spiced Xocolat Chicken

What best to have with your delicious Xocolat meal than a nice beverage? Xocolat serves some of the best hot chocolate in town, but they also serve a nice iced version, the Iced Hot Xocolat, that's creamy and chocolatey.

Iced Hot Xocolat

They also have many other beverages such as this comforting Hot Milk Tea Latte, a milk-infused mug of comforting tea, that came with a little tea ball, a tiny melt-in-your-mouth cookie to go with your drink.

 Hot Milk Tea Latte

And finally, time for dessert! Xocolat takes pride in their signature cakes, the chocolate cake amusingly named That Xocolat Cake, and its partner, the red velvet This Red Cake. Indeed, This cake and That cake are both equally scrumptious, with fudgy chocolate icing for That, smooth cream cheese frosting for This and moist rich chocolatey cake for both!

That Xocolat Cake

This Red Cake

Some of their other sweet temptations include the Tablea Cake, the dark indulgent cake made from indigenous cacao, and the Oreo Cheesecake, which was fairly good, albeit too dry.

Tablea Cake

Oreo Cheesecake

To end my post, I'd like to recommend this amazing concoction from Xocolat, the Frozen Hot Xocolat. Unlike the usual beverage, this hot chocolate is frozen solid, and you pop the whole thing in your mouth as it melts into a gooey icy glacier on your tongue. How awesome is that!

And that's it for this post! If this is the first time you've heard of Cafe Xocolat, then this is the perfect time to go visit! If you've been there before, don't you want to just go grab a cup of hot chocolate, sit back and have a lazy afternoon at Cafe Xocolat?

Cafe Xocolat

Casa Xocolat, 172 B-Gonzales St.,

Loyola Heights, Quezon City

Branches: Libis; Greenhills

929-4186, 927-1990
http://xocolat.com.ph