Category: Metro Manila

(Hustle Cafe has moved to its new location at CKB Centre, Tomas Morato Avenue corner Scout Rallos, Quezon City. The article below features its former location at Cubao, Quezon City.)

Attention, cafe junkies! This secret sanctuary in Cubao, Quezon City is the place for you! 😀

Located in a quiet neighborhood along 10th Avenue, the place provides a very relaxing vibe which you will feel like you’re outside the city. A pretty good escape from the busy city life, I guess.

The Name ‘Hustle Cafe’

The idea behind the name Hustle Cafe is from the partners who all happen to have their own respective side hustles. Moreover, they want to impart to their beneficiaries that if they want to get through life and get something out of life, they have to hustle. Beautiful, isn’t it? 🙂

The Instagram-Worthy Design

As someone who’s always looking for beautiful places which looks good on my Instagram feed, my soul was really happy about how the place looks like. The walls and the plants in its al fresco dining area around will give you an Amazon Rainforest-ish feeling while the shipping container where the kitchen and counter are located is painted with a very beautiful work of art. It’s best to dine in when the sun is up because of its outdoor setup, but I was surprised about how the place looked more beautiful at night with the lights on.

The Menu

Now, let’s talk about the food.

I was able to try the following items in the menu:

Pork Samgyupsal Burger

The meat was well-cooked, just like how samgyupsal is cooked in Korean restaurants. Yum!

Thai Lemongrass Chicken Poppers

The chicken was tender and the taste of the sauce is not that strong.

Churros

I really liked this because it’s not too sweet compared to other churros I’ve tried.

Coffee Soda

I actually expected a softdrink-coffee combination, but it actually tastes like coffee in a tea (or something like that). Very unique to this place and a must-try in their menu.

Cookies and Cream Frappe

This has just became my new favorite cookies and cream drink. The sweetness is just right.

Hustle Cafe as a Social Enterprise

I was lucky enough to have interviewed one of the partners of Hustle Cafe, Miko. According to him, Hustle Cafe was established as a social enterprise in partnership with JCI Manila. Incidentally, he and the four other partners wants to own a cafe and at the same time helping the community. They got in touch with an orphanage called Kuya Center and this is where they selected the beneficiaries for their social enterprise. Their assistance came in a form of training for out-of-school youths and orphans to become baristas and give them a job.

The cafe is running for about 7 months already and the beneficiaries of their project have been increasing. They started with 5 beneficiaries in the first year, 10 in the second year, then they are planning to have more beneficiaries in the succeeding years.

What makes Hustle Cafe stand out from other cafes in the Metro?

Aside from it is located in a serene neighborhood at Cubao (not in a usual place like Maginhawa or Makati), customers usually like the garden vibe of the cafe. The baristas are trained by top cafe brands such as Yardstick and Toby’s Estate, hence good coffee is guaranteed for customers. Hustle Cafe is also a part and parcel of the Racket Room Collective, a co-working space dedicated for startups and freelancers.

Hustle Cafe Contact Information

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(Coffee and Protein has rebranded to C and P Cafe Plus Pub but still located in the same location, and this article talks about Coffee and Protein.)

My friends know me as a person who’s been really avoiding rice since I started hitting the gym. Since then, I’ve been looking for healthier alternatives both for food and drinks. Initially, I depended on soya drinks and wheat bread for my pre-workout meal but I guess it cannot give me the amount of energy I needed for my workout. I needed something that can prevent me from being hungry during workout, something that can provide me the energy I need, something that has the right amount of calories, and at the same time something that’s yummy!

Having discovered C and P Cafe Plus Pub, a pop-up store in the same building as my gym, was like winning the lottery because it has the type of menu that satisfies all my conditions for a perfect pre-workout meal. I think the location is kind of strategic for the store because I saw several gyms just along the stretch of Holy Spirit Drive. However, I have to emphasize that C and P Cafe Plus Pub ‘s menu is not only meant for gym goers and health-conscious people alike, but it indeed caters the general public.

About C and P Cafe Plus Pub

The idea of C and P Cafe Plus Pub started when siblings Carlos and Carmela, the owners, thought of starting a coffee shop as their passion project. Carlos, on one hand, already has a running business called Oscar’s Deli where he sells frozen goods, bars, and bites. Carmela, on the other hand, worked at a coffee shop in La Union and eventually had a coffee shop of her own.

The Menu

C and P Cafe Plus Pub is different from other coffee shops because they are very transparent with the quality quality and macro-nutrient contents of their products (calories, carbs, protein, fat). Moreover, they treat their products in a really special way, especially the protein menu which are home-made.

I was really intrigued about the nitrogen content of the drinks to the point that I repeatedly asked how it makes the drink different from the others. The cold brew coffee is put in a keg connected to a nitrogen tank. It makes the coffee more frothy.

They also allow you to create your own drink by either choosing one or mixing up to of the following: cold brew coffee, regular or chocolate milk, and vanilla or chocolate whey protein powder.

So, what did I order?

Iced Tangerine Dream Nitro Coffee

I never believed in mixing up orange and coffee until I tasted this. Yummy!

Milk Chocolate Protein Bites

The bites were really chewy and a piece is already heavy on the stomach. Really perfect for pre-workout. 🙂

Vanilla Chocolate Chip Protein Cake

The taste was just right and not too sweet. I love the taste of the chocolate chips.

The Verdict

If I were to summarize my feedback in one sentence, it will be: “I wish branches of my gym where I frequently workout has a Coffee and Protein booth”. Coffee and Protein made me realize that I should not hesitate about taking coffee as a pre-workout drink. As a gym goer who is very conscious about her calorie intake and preventing hunger in the middle of working out, I think Coffee and Protein is what I need.

For people who have hyper-acidic stomachs like me, Coffee and Protein also has the right coffee for you since the cold brew nature of the coffee makes it less acidic. Lastly, pastry lovers can enjoy the protein menu of Coffee and Protein because everything is just highly recommended.

In short, you do not need to be health-conscious or a gym goer in order to enjoy Coffee and Protein’s menu. It does not target a specific market. Coffee lovers, foodies, dessert lovers, children, and everyone else are most welcome to visit the pop-up store to have a sip of their drinks and have a bite of their pastries. Coffee and Protein really intends to meet halfway between people who drink coffee for the taste and people who drink coffee for practical reasons. Lastly, the price of everything in the menu is reasonable enough.

C and P Cafe Plus Pub Contact Information