Located at 57 Mother Ignacia St. near the another food capital area of Quezon City, Tomas Morato (the other one being the Maginhawa area), Hillside Cafe and Juice Bar is a small restaurant with healthy and delicious offerings for your body and tummy.
Hillside Cafe and Juice Bar is a unique eating place for lunch, dinner and even for a cup of hot coffee on a rainy day or a glass of fresh cold juice on a scorching day. They have healthy offerings ranging from Lentil Malunggay Hummus with chips for appetizers, to crispy vegan caesar salad or hot tomato soup with coconut cream; from freshly picked tomato herb pasta to soft tacos stuffed with chicken or falafel; from eggplant parmaigiana to a savory baked pork belly, the wide range of choices will keep you coming back to try more.
The juice bar on the name is their for a reason as they serve a wide array of fresh juices or shakes including lemongrass juice, calamansi ginger juice, and pandan calamansi juice. Smoothies includes pinacolada green smoothie, hillside green smoothie, chunky monkey smoothie, coco vanilla smoothie, and banana almond blast smoothie among the many choices. Apart from juices, smoothies and shakes, they also serve special coffees and detox juices which includes names such as Beet It, Citrus Tonic, Clean and Green, alohamelon, cocoa dream, and vanilla creamsicle to name a few.While there you may want to try out some of their desserts or raw snacks and desserts bar that includes peanut butter powerballs and coconut cream pies.
For the whole list of their menu check out their full menu here.
Moving forward, since they really have a vast menu listings, we took the time to check out their dinner offerings. We ordered the baked pork belly, soft tacos with chicken, and their home brewed iced tea.
We started our meal (dinner) with the soft tacos which was absolutely great! The tacos (2pcs) were inserted with free range chicken breasts topped with garlic yogurt, barbecue sauce and served with a tomato salsa, and sided with cilantro brown rice, and black beans. Again, you’ll get a taste of a free range chicken which is rare find in the metro. Most chickens that are served in other restaurants were quite dry; but the chicken here was really soft and juicy which complimented the garlic yogurt; you might not find a chance to use the served tomato salsa as it is already delicious as it is. The Soft Tacos are better eaten with your hands as the tasty oil/juice and garlic yogurt drops to your fingers for a good ‘ol licking before dessert. If you’re going healthy, the brown rice should be a great compliment with the soft tacos.
The baked pork belly was another good choice, although I loved the soft tacos better; the pork belly did not fail. The pork meat is topped by a homemade hickory sauce which was the highlight of the meal, served with two pieces of free range eggs and a healthy amount of brown rice. I considered the pork belly was a bit hard and dry, but the fat and the hickory sauce was a winner. I try to move away from eating fat but the flavor that it has mixed with the homemade hickory sauce was heavenly as the fat melts inside your mouth and the sauce’s strong flavor lingers around your mouth and tongue is the perfect combination. It is still a good eat, but not as good as the chicken soft tacos.
For refreshments, we opt to go safe with their home brewed iced tea. The iced tea did not taste like any Lipton or Nestea tea bags, which was a unique taste. It had a hint of lemon, maybe raspberry, I could not discern the specific taste but it was simply refreshingly cold and delicious.
All in all, two dishes and the iced tea only set us back 575Php, a cheap price to pay for quality, fresh food served on your table. We were supposed to try the detox juices or coffee with some pastries but it was getting late and we were already full. Let’s save the juices and pastries for another trip.
Hillside Cafe and Juice Bar is a hip place to go, designed for a younger generation, it leaves the traditional family restaurant at home and brings in a healthy chic place for the kids. You’ll get a green and clean living restaurant with healthy and unique and healthy choice such as free range chicken dished, organic bacon, vegetarian options for some dishes, and fresh herbs among others; of course great delicious food. The place is quite small so don’t bring a crowd, 2-3 will give you enough comfort room to enjoy a nice merienda or dinner inside the place. If you are a bit more of a green thumb, Hillside Cafe and Juice Bar is located on the Cedarhills Garden Center (I could not say in as this may prompt you to look for a building) which is a urban organic center for activities like workshops on how to plant, a place to buy tour fresh spices, and many more. Happy Healthy Tummy!
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