Buglas Coffee Bar: Small Nook for the Big Appetite

I used two drink two cups of brewed coffee everyday but had to give it up when I got pregnant. Everytime I smell the aroma of coffee, I have to fight the urge to drink. So when Betsy asked me to have a Team Tikim review of Buglas Coffee Bar, I almost said no. However, she reassured me we will be trying out their food so I agreed.

Buglas Coffee Bar is a little nook at Lacson-Rizal Sts beside Chinabank. It’s easy to miss since the canopy in front is covering its signage. Also, use the sliding door and don’t mistake the door to the right as the entrance to since I made that mistake the first time I went there.

Buglas Coffee Bar is very welcoming with its country style interior with tables and chairs made from tree stumps. They have a WiFi too so you can bring along your laptop or tablet and spend a leisurely afternoon with a steaming cup of coffee. Let me warn you that the basement has a comfy daybed with lots of pillows which can lure you to doze off.

The young couple Jose and Rai-Rai Gasacao opened Buglas Coffee Bar last June 2011 after several years of working in Singapore. They are both coffee drinkers so a coffee shop just came naturally as a business choice when they decided to stay in the country.  To prepare for the business, they attended an intensive training at the Philippine Barista & Coffee Academy.

The prices of their coffee-based drinks and rice meals are very easy on the pocket thus they gained a lot of loyal customers who are mostly students and office workers.  Jose who’s the one in-charge of brewing and blending has already developed around 60 coffee-based drinks. He also tries to educate their customers especially the students on the intricacies of coffee-drinking. Cappuccino, hazelnut latte and almond mocha iced coffee are what the students usually buy.

Patrons also come to Buglas Coffee Bar for their huge cheeseburger aptly named El Grande (P330). It’s a bandejado-sized burger good enough for 8 people. If you have the appetite of a karga-tapas (sugarcane worker), then you might want to accept their challenge. If you can gobble down an El Grande in 15 minutes then your daily coffee for a month is on the house. So far, no one has won the challenge.

I’ll stick to the smaller version of the El Grande but still have the same grand taste, the Cheeseburger Supreme (P70). Its patty is 100% pure beef and charcoal-grilled. We also tried their Mexican Burger (P80) and we loved its mild spicy flavor and smoky aroma. Both are served with unsalted fries.

Buglas’ Nachos with Cheesy Beef Salsa (P55) is geared towards the students’ budget since they use wonton wrapper instead of the usual chips but the taste is not compromised.

Buglas also serve breakfast, lunch and dinner with rice meals. Their Yang Chow Rice is a hit among the students and we know why. We love its spicy flavor and it’s a steal at P55 since it’s served in a much larger bowl compared to the ones at the fastfood. You may also choose from chicken or pork Yang Chow. Their Pork Backribs (P85) has tender meat drizzled with a mildly sweet barbecue sauce and already come with rice. Other rice meals include sisig, pork liempo, burger steak, fried chicken, and sausages.

To end a delicious and budget-friendly meal, the couple served us with our local rice coffee or sara-sara. It’s the Ilonggo’s local brew and the other ethnic group in the Philippines I’ve read who has their own version are the Ilocanos.

Sara-sara is made by roasting rice grains and grinding them. To prepare the drink, it’s simply boiled in water and filtered using cheesecloth. Jose swears using cheesecloth in filtering sara-sara is better than using coffee filter.  You can serve it black, with milk or sugar, just the way you do with coffee. Sara-sara has its advantages over coffee, it has no caffeine, has a different inviting aroma, and it’s cheap. Buglas sells it for only P25 per cup and foreigners such as Koreans are one of their regular buyers of sara-sara.

If you haven’t tried Buglas Coffee Bar yet, do give them a visit at Rizal-Lacson Sts, Bacolod City. They’re open at 9am – 11 pm and delivers to nearby locations. You may call them at (034) 426-8600 or visit their Facebook  Page.

If you’ve been to Buglas Coffee Bar, please share with us your experience at the comments section. Please help guide our visitors by giving your ratings with 5 stars as the highest.

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