I think it's the strawberry shortcake, chocolate truffle cake and the colorful teacups that keeps me from going back to Mary Grace Cafe. Everytime someone wanted to catch up and have a chitchat and have no idea where to meet, my mouth just utter Mary Grace. I've been to the North Edsa branch but I guess my favorite is in Greenbelt....just look at that...chandelier?
Home to the Ensaymadas and Cheese Rolls (making mental note to try them next time), is just a cozy place to chat and fill the tummy with warm and hearty meals. Most of the time the cafe is packed with families and mature people but! there's always a place for a person like me who is very kiddish at heart but just wanted to thrive in some almost home cooked meals (nothing can beat mama's cooking) and delish strawberry shortcake plus I feel like I'm in a teaparty game when almost everyone is ordering a pot of tea...their tea sets are just so colorful and the cafe's setting is just so homey and dainty.
Of course, I didn't take much photos of the place but at least I have decent pic of the food (thanks to my friend's phone). Let's start with pasta!
Pasta Amatriciana with Italian Meatballs is a tomato based pasta with meatballs ahahahaha, I don't know how to describe food I hope that from the pic above you already have a big idea of what it is. I like that the meatballs are not the supersized ones, enough to be stuffed in my mouth and I can taste the different flavors of the herbs and seasonings and the meat (in the supersized meatballs, all I can taste is the meat) and also like that the tomato sauce is not too sour and just have the right balance of saltiness and sweetness (I like sourness in my tomato based pasta but I'm a Filipino and most of the time spaghetti is served sweet in our culture). I also already tasted the Mary Grace Mushroom Cream Pasta and it's good when it's still hot but as it turns warm to cold, it loses it yumminess and creaminess (the cream sauce turns clumpy when already "cold").
Next, Pizza which is baked and served fresh from a brick oven. Is it just me or the pizzas baked from brick oven have more flavor? Probably because of the smoke and the wood used? Maybe! Aside from the slight smoky flavor, Mary Grace's pizzas are not super pretentious that I can taste every bit of the ingredients. I can taste the sausage, olives, tomato and onion in The Italian Sausage pizza (above photo) and the crust is not overpowering (I mean some crust are just jampacked with butter, oil and some enhancers...I like them but sometimes simpler things are better).
And the cake that won my heart, Strawberry Shortcake which is heaven on earth! The chiffon cake is soft and airy yet still moist and the strawberry and cream is light and just have the right sweetness...it's just oh my God I can eat a whole cake without feeling guilty (I hope I can have an instant 1K pesos right now and buy one). The next favorite cake from Mary Grace's list is the Chocolate Truffle Cake which is more packed/dense and moist so even though I'm chocolate lover, a slice or two is enough for me.
I'm salivating right now and wanted to go out and dine in Mary Grace Cafe but self control must suffice...and I'm listening to The Killer's The World We Live in and Brandon just said "Pray for peace and SELF CONTROL".





