Pinoy Food & Other Cuisine :: Food PhotoBlog and Events |

I detest indie, scenester-types but I enjoy hanging out at Cubao X despite it being the artsy-farts haven of Metro Manila. The shops have all sorts of interesting knickknacks and antiques, and the food is slightly cheaper than the restaurants at the nearby Gateway mall.

One of my favorite restaurants at Cubao X is a quaint cafe called Cafe Halo that specializes in organic and vegetarian dishes. I had only been there once and I wasn’t in the mood to eat then, but I remembered the place because of its cozy interiors and an excellent cup of coffee that only cost 40 pesos. After a shopping expedition at a Cubao ukay-ukay store last Saturday, my friends were complaining of hunger and wanted to eat dinner at Cubao X. I saw my opportunity to try the food at Cafe Halo and suggested that we grab some grub there.

Cafe Halo has a very healthy menu; their appetizers, salads, rice meals, pasta, and all-veggie meals contain homegrown vegetables or seafood freshly shipped from General Santos. My friends got tuna steak (P110) and tuna salpicao (P100); I ordered a Spanish sardine pasta (P85) and a cafe latte shake (P40). I suppose my only complaint about the place is that the service was slow. We were the only customers there, but it took about twenty minutes for our food to arrive. There are times when I don’t mind slow service, because it gives you time to talk to your friends, but we were all hungry and the waiting time seemed to take forever.

The tuna steak comes with mashed potatoes or rice but they didn’t have potatoes that night and my friend was on a no-rice diet, so she had hers with wheat bread instead. The tuna comes all the way from General Santos and is topped with melted cheese and chopped banana. I’m not a big fan of fruits like pineapple mixed with food, but the banana was an interesting contrast to the saltiness of the cheese.

My Spanish sardine pasta was the last to arrive and it was not as spicy as I’d like, but I think that’s because they used normal spaghetti instead of angel hair spaghetti. My food came topped with chopped fresh tomatoes, which I always love on pasta.

Cafe Halo is located at Shop 11, Cubao Expo Commercial Center, Romulo St, Araneta Center, Cubao. Visit haloproducts.multiply.com to for more information on their menu, products, and events.