Reasons to Love Café Antonio (Part Two)

(Part One here)

We enjoyed our first visit to the café on April 14, 2008 that we found ourselves back three days later. And the day after too. So yeah, in a span of one week we had found a new favorite place. It was that easy.

But little did we know that this tiny coffee shop would be our permanent hangout after two years. Though “hangout” seems quite pedestrian a term considering the genuine attachment we’ve formed with the place and the people there. Candy does a good job putting into words why Café Antonio is the place one can escape to. (Why of course! She won the café’s blog competition last week and if you were there, your table must have been served a bowl of chips, on her!) The second and third prize blog entries are featured on Café Antonio’s website and they, too, give fine reasons why this place is truly something.

I guess the simple, general reason why people love Café Antonio is that it feels like home. Yeah, it’s slightly cliché but it’s an answer that will hopefully be expanded on in this entry. Actually, I’ve been meaning to write about the place since it opened in 2008 but haven’t come around to doing so till now! But now is also an opportune time to write about the café considering that it just turned two last week!

In writing this entry, I was particularly inspired by the article Reasons to Love NY published on New York Magazine. As with any special place, there must be several reasons why people are drawn to it, why people keep coming back. So, with the help of my friends, I have put together an exhaustive — though still incomplete — list of the reasons to love Café Antonio:

• Though tiny, the café’s got soul! That’s got to be more important than extravagant fixtures or plush furniture. Not that the place is run-of-the-mill, no. But you get the idea. Plus…
• More than just a shop, the café is a community. Many a coffee shop has prided itself as a venue for socialization but I haven’t been to a café aside from this one that’s truly inspired a stronger sense of community… and this is coming from an antisocial. I guess it helps that…
• The place has no WiFi. Instead, customers turn all rowdy and raucous playing Pictionary, among other board games, from the café’s mini library. It’s all good though because we too have whipped ourselves into an ear-splitting frenzy playing Catch Phrase, much to the chagrin of other customers. (Oh, they don’t mind!)
  
  
• Wow, the fact that the first things that come to mind (bullets #1-3) have to do with the place and the people is testament to the café’s excellent management. But that’s not to say the coffee and the food are not priority mentions! In most cases they are just the beginning of fun things to come: It’s amazing how a glass of iced tea or a cup of coffee can turn into hours of fun at Canton. (Carlo Cruz)
  
• Café Antonio is for those who know (and love) coffee and not for those who “pretend” to know (and love) coffee. (Robert Sandoval)
  
• Nothing is more disconcerting than waitstaff who are not familiar with the menu. Fortunately, the baristas of this café know more than just the menu inside-out — they also go well and beyond their obligations to the customer. For one…
• They are more than happy to handcraft for you drinks not in the menu (like this green tea frappe a customer ordered or my favorite “stylized” iced teas). They also occasionally hold Barako Nights where there is free-flowing kapeng barako for everyone. But our favorite might have to be the times we chance upon Jabez’s mad fits of creativity where we get to sample up-and-coming drinks first-hand.
  
  
• Spending time in the café is also quite an academic experience because the baristas love to share the 411 about the contents of your cup or the method undergone to produce it. Without question, your coffee is truly their passion!  
• Café Antonio is like pancit canton. It comes in many flavors. (TJ Monserrat)
  
• Hanggang sa last sip mo ng beverages nila, may lasa pa rin compared with other coffee shops. Bukod pa dun ang intimate at friendly pa ng environment kaya in na in sa aming mga students para makapagbonding at relax na rin. (Maricar Bool)
  
• The pastries brought in by Yummings (hello carrot and choco-apple cakes!) make the perfect complement to the coffee. There was a time Sherwin got very cranky because the café ran out of choco-apple cake.
  
  
• There’s something for vegetarians.
• It’s the perfect place to detox and unwind after a stressful day. The excellent coffee is a bonus. (Monica Alava)
  
• Café Antonio refreshes my mojo. (Christian Cangao)
  
  
  
  
• My mum, dad, and sister love the place too. When we stopped by Starbucks one time, my dad asked me to get him a FRAJELLI. In another instance…
• When I ordered a caramel frappe at a certain famous coffee shop (with the famous planner) I said, “Miss, isang caramel FROTHICCINO.” (Fil Kasilag)
  
• Sure, the café is a fine place to hang out but it’s also an enabling environment (when no one’s playing board games LOL) to study, check papers, edit theses, brainstorm, write, etc.
• Love ko ang Canton dahil dun ko na-develop ang ilan sa best plans and ideas ko for the past months. (Aldrich Nachor)
• The baristas know the music playing in the café. This needs to be mentioned because it is not a trait all shop attendants share. I’m always on the lookout for new music and I won’t be the first person to say that the café plays the best music in town. It helps that we practically share the same playlist (for some uncanny reason) but I also regularly get to discover new songs playing in the café.
• It’s also the little whatsits and quirks that make this café unique and charming. Like the artsy (but now broken) umbrella vase, which contains a couple forgotten umbrellas. The café bar, which is shaped like a coffee cup. The vandalized underside of the shelf above the couch (WE WUZ HERE!). The high stools, which are strangely sturdy. The orange straws and customized glasses (for here) and paper — not plastic — cups (for take-away). The café also has its living orange mascot, Mac the cat.
  
  
  
  
• It never feels cramped inside this small space. Funny how there’s always room for one more even when the place is already packed.
• There’s an occasional event at the café, be it an acoustic session or a monologue or an art exhibit.
• It helps that the café has a very efficient creative and PR team! The product promotions, posters, invites, photography, etc. are ridiculously impressive.
• I love Café Antonio (more than Starbucks) because Café Antonio loves me, or should I say, me and the rest of the people in Elbi? :) Kuya Retz, Kuya Jabez, and the rest of the gang make us, their customers, feel that we are loved by providing great products and services! That makes Café Antonio my favorite place in Elbi. (Toni Cuello)
  
• On a more selfish note, I was one of the first birthday celebrants at the cafe! Plus, I had the wonderful privilege of being a café busboy in December 2008.
• I figure all of the above are fine reasons to love Café Antonio but why go the hassle of enumeration when the true reason may be succintly put as follows:
  
  What’s not to love? (Candy Villar)

Well that was quite a list! When we were informed a couple weeks ago that Café Antonio was closing this month (due to lease concerns), our mouths were lockjawed in shock and disbelief. Fortunately, last week, we were greeted with more positive news that the café had found a new home: LB Square. We’re all for it. Anyway, I’m certain the café’s long line of loyal followers would willingly go wherever the café goes. Perhaps because there are reasons to love Café Antonio.