The Roving Gourmand: mag:net café: Undiscovered Eats in an Eclectic Atmosphere

By Chanda Shahani

For a weekend evening treat, fellow Diliman Diary writer Paul Lee and I decided to reexplore mag:net café in front of Miriam College on Katipunan Avenue right besides Rustan's Supermarket and check out if they had any cuisine worth remembering. We're glad we did!

We were pleasantly surprised at the welcoming ambiance and attractive décor once one steps off Katipunan Avenue into mag:net café. The second floor, where the restaurant-cum-bar is located, is tidy and tastefully decorated without clutter. There is room for tables to be placed far enough apart that one does not feel as if dining back to back with those at the table behind. One of the tables even had the words emblazoned on it: “I am what you think I think I am.” This was certainly food for the mind to accompany the food for the body.

In the ground floor is an art gallery-cum-bookstore with various titles ranging from best-sellers to Filipiniana as well as an extensive magzine collection. It was also stocked with Original Pilipino Music CDs.

The food was more than ample, nicely prepared, and extremely fresh. For the appetizer, we tried the fish and chips (PhP 135.00) which is a crispy friend fish fillet spiced with logarashi and potato chips and accompanied with mayo dip and we found it to be moist and slightly sweet with a succulent batter coating. But the pièce de résistance was very definitely the mag:net pizza (PhP 140.00) which we both shared. The toppings were amply overlaid with a unique mix of longganisa, sisig and kesong puti and the combination of the spicy longganisa, slightly fatty sisig and salty kesong puti was filling and a great feed for two hungry writers. Barely any room left for dessert – not!

For dessert, we tried the Chocolate Nutella Banana Turon (PhP 95.00) which is Cavendish rolled with lumpia wrapper topped with halo-halo ice cream and sprinkled with sesame seeds. The overall taste was warm, slightly fuzzy to the taste, but not overly sweet. A perfect comfort food dessert to round off the heavier dishes we had tried earlier!

The waiters and staff were helpful and pleasant without being intrusive. Prices were average for the Katipunan area, and we both felt as if we received very good value for our money. Also noteworthy are the heavier campus meals with prices ranging from PhP 125.00 to PhP 250.00 which puts this into the category of a great place for students to bring a date for a night out.

On Monday evenings they have “Happy Mondays,” where bands play and there are live poetry readings. There is also an extensive cocktail selection, and beer and wine are also served.We will definitely be back, and do recommend mag:net café to others.


mag:net café
Katipunan Avenue:
In front of Miriam College, beside Rustan’s Supermarket
Quezon City , Philippines
For reservations call: 929-3191
Website: http://www.magnet.com.ph/
Contact: Mr. Rock Drilon
Email: rock@drilon.com