Skip to main content

Eats All at SM Southpoint : San Jose Cafe

I can still vividly remember my first orders at San Jose Cafe when it opened years ago - Watermelon Slush and Chocolate Cake. It was just an on the spot order for the sake just ordering something and I expected nothing special about them. But I was wrong...
SM City Iloilo invited members of the Iloilo Bloggers for a gastronomic adventure showcasing SM Southpoint. 
The newest hang-out of the Ilonggos is an al fresco wing of the biggest mall in the region consisting of local and home grown restaurants and cafes as well new local and "imported" players in the food service industry. It's time to discover what SM Southpoint has to offer ...
Photo credit: The Appletizer

The Chocolate cake was very indulgent - moist, full of flavour and easily ranked as among the best I've tried. And the Watermelon slushie was so thick and fine (and full of the good taste of the "sandiya/pakwan") that I asked for a spoon instead. 
During our food trip at San Jose Cafe at SM Southpoint, the Chocolate Cake was again my top favorite. Good thing it was placed in front of me so its just easy to reach out and enjoy one of my fave chocolate cakes.
A Baked Mango Cheese Cake was also an arm's length away from me so it was just easy for me to counteract the chocolatey taste just in case I've had enough. But the mango and chocolate created quite a nice taste combination that I sort of combine them in the end.
How about some Chocolate Sylvanas? Hoping they could have a mango flavored one soon.
Also served were their specialty hot drinks - Caramel Macchiato and Moringa-Lemon Tea, perfect to ease our tummies from our foodtrip
They also have Tsokolate Tablea with homemade biscocho for a dessert that you can actually drink.
And I was surprised that they also serve Kutsinta which is not usually on the menu of most cafes and dessert shops.
And I thought that was just all for the night - coffee, chocolate, cakes and other desserts. But I was wrong. Again...
Three of their specialty pasta came right in succession on our table. There's Spicy Chorizo Pasta which ignited our "tired and weary" appetites and the Sausage Pasta which also had its own tamed fiery flavor.
Our of the best-sellers - the Bangus Pasta, gave us a lighter take on the pasta yet it still had its own spicyness. 
San Jose Cafe  also serves sandwiches to those who want a not so heavy meal. We tried their Chicken, Tuna Delight and Bacon & Egg Sandwiches. Of course, obviously we all enjoyed the latter and even wanted more.
To cap off the night, we decided to energize ourselves so all had some cold drinks - smoothies, frappes, detox juices and more.
Detoxing, we had some had Pink Guava and Hibiscus juices to get rid of the day's excesses.
And some Cucumber-Lemon too!
But there's are really some temptations around like the Northpole Mocha - their best-seller!
 And the perfect-ender for the night - Halo-Halo Smoothie! It's your favorite halo-halo taking the form of a rich and indulgent drink with all the works - ube, sweetened coconut and bananas, nata and others.
I will end this SM Southpoint series with my Top 3 picks based on my personal taste. This is just limited on the food served to us during the food tasting and is not representative of the whole menu.

My San Jose Cafe Top 3 Picks

  • Chocolate Cake
  • Halo-Halo Smoothie
  • Sausage Pasta / Bacon & Egg Sandwich

Popular posts from this blog

An Ilonggo favorite - Valenciana

Found in almost all occasions like fiesta, birthdays, reunions and others, Ilonggos really love valenciana because most if not all have grown accustomed of having it in special gatherings at home.  A complete " go, grow and glow " dish because it has the carbohydrates, protein and vitamins and minerals in just one spoonful, Valenciana is really an " occasional dish ".  Here's the recipe for Valenciana

Ultimate Ilonggo Favorite: KBL Kadyos, Baboy, Langka

K.B.L. or Kadyos, Baboy, Langka is the ultimate favorite dish of most Ilonggos. It is also one of the most missed native dishes as kadyos and the souring ingredient, batwan , are hard to find when outside of the Ilonggo region.  Basically, it is boiled/stewed pork dish owing its "deliciousness" to the combination of the soft and tender pork, the tamed sourness of  batwan  and the  malinamnam na sabaw .  One of the "secrets" of the malinamnamn na sabaw , is the fact that the pork, whether just the plain meat or pata (hocks) are first grilled or broiled. This gives the broth a rather smoky taste that makes it more appetizing.. Learn how to make the Ilonggo dish KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, at Langka) with the recipe below. Ingredients 1 kilo Pata (pork hocks) or pork cubes, GRILLED and sliced into bite size pieces  1 unripe Jack fruit, cubed 2 cups pigeon pea (kadyos) 6-8 pieces batwan fruit  (or tamarind powder) 1 piece por...

Lamesa Grill Iloilo's Halo-halo All-you-can for only PhP 99

Lamesa Grill Iloilo welcomes the early arrival of summer (and it's only February) with the ultimate cooler - halo halo! And what better way to enjoy this colorful melange of sweetened fruits, beans and other ingredients than creating your own mix and going back for more! Lamesa Grill's Halo-Halo Buffet brings in more than 30 ingredients you can mix and match plus enjoy to your hearts and appetite's delight. Happening daily from 2-5pm and for only PhP 99, one can enjoy the all the works for personalized halo halo. Take you pick from sweetened fruits like langka, saba, ube and kamote to fresh mangoes, melon and buko to canned peaches, pineapple, avocados and lychees. There's also nata, sago and gelatin to give color and texture to your creations. Giving a crunch to your halo-halo are rice crispies, pinipig, corn flakes and peanuts. One can also find sweetened garbansos, red and white beans. Finally garnish it chocolate filled rolled wafers and marshmallows! You can opt t...

Easy Century Tuna Recipes

If you're looking for simple, easy  and delicious Century Tuna recipes online, congratulations, you've found it right here! How about spicy tuna sisig or tuna sinigang ? Maybe stir fried tuna with pickles or just yang chow fried rice .  I love Century Tuna from its flakes in oil variety, the spicier the better, but when I discovered the versatility of its solid variant, it became an obsession. At first I was just into the usual tested recipes; pasta and sandwich filling, but then it got simpler – I just eat it straight from the can! Usually with a piece of bread or an apple. I just add a few drops of vinegar to spice it up a bit. Then came the experiments. Yup I got tired of that habit that one day, I decided to test my skills in the kitchen. Serendipity, you might call it yet most of them turned into good recipes that I have shared now and then. Satisfying my Palabok cravings had me experiment on this recipe on the spot. With Century Tuna in lieu of the us...

An Ilonggo favorite: Pancit Molo

Named after one of Iloilo City’s districts, Pancit Molo is one of the more identifiable pancit dishes in the country. It stands out uniquely among the noodle dishes mainly because of its non-traditional pancit look. It is a derivative of the Chinese wonton (filled dumplings) made into a soup.  One of the first questions always asked is "Where's the Pancit?". With pancit as a sort of "prefix" to the name of the dish, first timers always for the noodle-like component of the dish. It's then explained that the pancit is actually the molo ball wrappers which is basically of the same mix as any pancit/noodles. Pancit Molo is more of a household specialty and the recipe varies from household to household. From the meat filling mix to the soup, there could be a hundred and one ways of making pancit molo. Pancit Molo Filling I suggest to make this days before the actual cooking of pancit molo so that the flavours will be full....