Monday, October 22, 2007

UCC Vienna Cafe

UCC Vienna Cafe

Specialty: Japanese

Location: Mall of Asia
Telephone No.: 556-0446

Location: 26th St. Forbes Town Center, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig

Telephone No: 845-1365, 884-2477


Location: 8757 Paseo De Roxas cor. Sedeno St. Salcedo Village, Makati

Telephone No.: 810-4388, 810-2210

Location: Central Westgate Center, Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang, Muntinglupa

Telephone No.: 771-1549, 771-1550

Location: Rockwell

Telephone No.: 895-4088, 897-3223

Service Charge: 10%
Price Range (Meals): php 199 - 499
Rating: ★★★★


Founded in 1933 in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, UCC has taken over all aspects of its coffee business. It has since expanded to several countries and it has several branches in the Philippines alone.

The menu is dominated by Japanese dishes and unlike Tokyo Cafe, this place cooks their dishes the way we expect Japanese dishes to be. They don't have ramen and sushi here though. Instead, they feature the ever so fragrant curry rice, gratin, pasta, pizza, and risotto too.

UCC Blended Coffee
Price: php 109
Rating: ★★★★
We cannot make a review of UCC without tasting its coffee. So do you want to know what it was like? Imagine a coffee with a fragrant aroma, strong flavor bitter and a full body with a smooth wine-like texture. The flavor dramatically softened when I added the cream. Maybe I shouldn't have done that.

Iced Yin Yan Cha
Price: php 139
Rating: ★★★

For those people not liking strong blends, there is the Yin Yan Cha. Light bodied coffee served with ice and tea. Somehow, the mildly sweet tea flavor overpowers the light bitter coffee taste. Good for those who dislike bitter coffee taste.

Hamburg Curry Rice
Price: php 289
Rating: ★★★★

This is Japanese curry rice done right. I have long tried to find a local Japanese restaurant with an authentic-enough curry rice. This is one of the best I've tried. It smells right. People who have dined in Japanese curry houses know: If the smell doesn't stick to your clothes, it's not smelling right. A huge hamburger patty with curry sauce mixed with cashew nuts, sliced carrots and potatoes, raisins and pickled ginger.

Chicken, Mushroom and Cheese Risotto
Price: php 319
Rating: ★★★★

Risotto rice coated with curry sauce mixed with chicken stripes and mushroom bits topped with sticky mozzarella cheese. This is a heavy dish. Take this only when you are really hungry. There is a strong mushroom and curry flavor although it's a bit oily and there's not enough chicken.

Bacon and Sausage Penne Gratin
Price: php 279
Rating: ★★

Big mistake on my part. This was not the gratin I expected. This looks more like normal noodles rather a casserole dish. Penne noodles, bacon, sausages, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. Eat while still hot. The noodles tend to stick when the cheese cools down. Not bad but a bit too expensive for its ingredients considering the quantity.

Conclusion
Expensive but worth it for some dishes. Great service, soft chairs and excellent dishes. I do not recommend eating here on a regular basis. It is much too expensive! Once in a while would be nice... a very long while. Its nice and quiet since there aren't a lot of people dining. For its apparent lack of customers, you might think they would persuade people to stay. We were almost thrown out when we were taking too long to order and I was taking pictures of the menu. I really need to get a moleskin notebook.

3 comments:

Ace Maverick said...

you're making me drool :P

The hamburger curry is one of the best, I remember we also had a dish that had soft pork flakes and it was very very good. Their risotto is good as well ^^

more reviews on jap and italian restaurants please! :D

Arnold said...

Ah no dessert review!? How could you not include any crepes or parfaits!? >.<

Thanks for doing this review though, i miss UCC's taste kaso its just soooooo expensive

m9dhatter said...

Haha. I thought about having a dessert. But you see, we were just two people having curry rice, risotto and pasta (that pretends to be gratin) at 3pm in the afternoon. We could only consume so much food. Unless you people would share the bill, we could only accommodate as much as three dishes. We are getting large as it is.