Binondo is well-known for its rich history and old buildings with great architectural designs. My friend even tells me the history of some of the buildings in the area (I have my own tour guide) that’s why I know a bit of its rich history. Aside from looking back from the past, we also love experiencing the authentic Chinese cuisine that has already been there even before we were born and glad that we can still enjoy it at an affordable price.
So, this time we’ve decided to try Grand Cafe 1919 since we’d always talk about how the old building was restored to become an elegant cafe in Binondo.
We’ve always wanted to dine-in here since we used to take photos of the abandoned building way back before it was restored.
As we are still full from what we ate at Rosanjin Japanese Restaurant, we have decided to get desserts instead.
They have a lengthy menu which makes it a bit hard to choose and they have a shelf where you can see the cakes that’s not on the menu. So, we asked what’s their bestselling cakes and the staff answered that it is the Oreo Cheesecake and Taro Cake. So, we ordered it along with the Caramel Cake.
Oreo Cheesecake – among the 3 cakes that we had, this is the most delicious. I am not saying that I would rate this 5/5 but its taste and price is quite reasonable. Nothing fancy, just reasonable.
Price: Php 150
Table for: 1
Food Rating: 3.5/5
If you want to experience the cafe without spending more than Php 200, I would recommend that you order this.
Caramel Cake – hhhmmm… There’s caramel on every layer of the cake. The cake was, hhhmm.. so-so… It was like a sponge cake with thick (not the fluffy type) yet soft cake covered in caramel. That’s it.
Price: Php 150
Table for: 1
Food Rating: 2.5/5
I would suggest that you go to Goldilocks or Red Ribbon instead and buy their caramel cake there, more economic.
Taro Cake – well, I asked the staff what is the composition of their taro cake, the staff said: “parang Brazo de Mercedes po na may taro”. Because she said that it was like Brazo de Mercedes, without any hesitation, I ordered it. Then, boom. I can’t find where is the “parang Brazo de Mercedes” part. It was more like a sponge cake (again, thick not the fluffy type) with taro on the center. Again, there’s no hint of anything like Brazo de Mercedes. I felt like I was fooled. They should have known how to explain it better.
Price: Php 120
Table for: 1
Food Rating: 2.5/5
Overall, our experience at Cafe 1919 cannot sum up for its totality since we only ordered their cakes.
Ambiance: 5/5
Service: 3/5
Value for Money: 3/5
Overall Rating: 3/5
The ambiance was sure, great. I love it. Elegant. Very Tita. Very Madame. Perfect for formal gatherings. They even have private rooms where you can hold your private meetings. The service was good, downstairs. But when we decided to go upstairs, the service becomes slow. There is a button on your table to press and call their staff effortless but it would take them ages to get to you given that there were only a few people dining in at the time we came. Even taking our bill, took ages. Good thing we wanted to relax a bit more since we still have a long way to go.
Location:
Store Hours: 7:30 am to 10:30 pm
Contact Number: (02) 842-97068 / 0956-497-6223
Facebook Page: Grand Cafe 1919
Instagram: @grandcafe1919
After having dessert and taking a rest, we continued our journey around Binondo.
Disclaimer: We paid for our food and this review was written with an honest opinion based on the author’s experience.
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