What is the DOME CAFE Experience?

Dome Café is presently located at the ground floor of the Shangrila Mall in EDSA.  To those who are familiar with it, their original location was in Makati City.  In the course of their initial expansion, they opted to move house and found a new home in their present location.  Been in the business for 15 years now that speaks a lot on what they do deliver to the public.

Dome Café is known for its comfort food offerings.  From pasta to sandwiches, from locally known breakfast offerings to internationally recognized food offerings, from hot and cold beverages and cakes, they have something for you to enjoy.  They are ready to serve you a “late” breakfast (since the mall opens at 10am), lunch, dinner and even in-between’s.  Their service is good, if they are ready and forewarned.

The Food

Served to us that day for review were the classic or trademarked dishes of Dome Café, since 2016 will mark the coming of their new dishes.  From starters till desserts/cakes, we had a taste of what Dome Café is all about. 3 starters, 3 pasta, 2 gourmet sandwiches, 5 hot kitchen special and 3 cakes plus a drink of your choice will make you think that Dome aims to truly leave a mark; it did left a mark for me both on the positive and the negative side of the scale in terms of taste and service.

For their starters, we were treated to Mozzarella Sticks with Tomato Salsa, Spiced Sausages and Chicken Fingers.  If you are big groups with a healthy appetite then make sure that you have a double order of the Mozzarella Sticks; the rest can be shared accordingly.  They said it was good, I can’t really make any comment since I was one who wasn’t able to taste it.  What I can commend on is the status of the Chicken Fingers – it was still juicy even if it was fried!  The teriyaki sauce that came along with the chicken was a little strong for me.

 

Chicken Fingers

Vigan Longganisa, Seafood Aioli and Tomato Basil with Grilled Chicken Pasta were the one served to us for review.  They said the seafood pasta was good but then again I cannot say for they made used of an ingredient that is medically confining for me.  Between the vigan and the grilled chicken, I will advise you to get the one with the grilled chicken because of the portions of meat that came with the pasta – it could be due to the fact that it was a food review but you can never say.

Tomato Basil with Grilled Chicken Pasta

Known for their sandwiches, Dome Café takes great pride in serving perfectly made sandwiches unto your plate.  I was not surprised that they served us their Chicken Pesto Sandwich along with their Dome’s Classic club Sandwich for it is truly a must have sandwich whenever in Dome.  The Chicken Pesto Sandwich is light but filling.  With a light pesto spread and the chicken is so tender that it is not a challenged to bite into it. With a light salad that accompanies it, it is one full meal, I would say.

Chicken Pesto Sandwich

The fish selections from their Hot Kitchen Special are spot on in density (soft and toughness)! It may lack some flavors that we are familiar with (like vinegar for the Bangus Belly), the accompanying dips and lemon slice makes up for it though it won’t hurt to add in another slice of lemon to the Fish & Chips.  The meat offerings are another matter.  Out of the three meat offerings that were served that day to our table, two of them were giving us a slight challenge when it comes to slicing and chewing.  I don’t know if they were “caught in their unguarded moment” when we came in that they weren’t able to prep it the right way but I hope those served to other customers that day were tender enough.    

I am a foodie! That is why I know what I eat and sets a certain standard in terms of what is table acceptable and not.  The cakes that Dome Café has are at least worth your time and taste.  It may not be perfect BUT it has the right flavors that you will expect in a certain cake.  Let us start with their Carrot Cake. What may look dry is actually moist and loose.  The frosting is not that sweet but definitely creamy.  The Blueberry Cheesecake is smooth and firm, the only thing not right is the sugar crystal that I get to feel when I get to bite into the crust.  For chocolate lovers, you may enjoy their Chocolate Cake offering for it has a bitter sweet chocolate flavor and the cake itself is moist.  The caramel syrup is actually not strong in taste; it is like the syrup is simply for decoration not for added flavor which is quite right for this cake creation.

As for the drinks, it is like being in milkshake heaven for the cold selection.  It is smooth and slightly thick and quite strong in the coffee and chocolate flavor.  Reasonably priced, you will just wonder as to why one is priced higher even when compared to known coffee shops.  Try the Dome Twister to know why.

I can’t wait for their new food offerings in 2016 and truly see the Dome Café service that I am familiar with.