Oozing with charm and possessing a patina that only time and honest good food or drink can bestow, La Corona Cafe is THE genuine article. A small, unassuming cafe in a commercial district with blocks of shops, we stopped here for a cup of coffee after finishing our shopping at the Burgos Market. I am not a huge coffee drinker, but if one place might change my mind, La Corona would be it. With the most basic interiors featuring tiled floors and the simplest of tables and chairs, all looking out directly onto the street (no glass front, airconditioning or fans even), everything about this place screams that the essence lies in the heart of each cup of coffee or hot chocolate that they serve. Mind you, I loved the one wall of hardwood panelling and a few of the framed posters/paintings and the little counter/cubbyhole you walk up to to place your order. The menu of a painted sign to the right of the counter is equally charming. This is the kind of place that NO chain coffeehouse can ever replicate, no matter how many interior decorators they employ.
If the walls could tell tales here, just imagine the decades of stories about local politics, romance, wealth, power, indiscretions, business, pleasure, sport and just good old chismis. At PHP22 for a fantastic cup of brewed coffee, it is an incredible value. How can one pay PHP100 for a cup of Starbucks if you could have a mug of La Corona for 1/5th the price?! I understand that regulars sometimes have mugs behind the counter with their names written on the base of the cup, in the same way that fancy schmancy bars have bottles of sake or single malt whiskies with your personalized tag on them. And local rumor has it that part of the process to such smooth coffee did, at one time, involve passing the brew through a sock (a clean one, I hope), hence the unusual smoothness of the end product… Of course the omnipresent local light brown sugar is the sweetener of choice, and it pairs beautifully with the coffee. I finished my entire cup. And managed to taste the hot chocolate as well (photo up top) which was also very good. I noticed some local desserts in a fridge/display case but I didn’t see anyone eating anything… maybe it was too early in the morning for that.
33 Responses
amazing! you went to la corona… I always sit on the wood bench on the wall
I’m posting a link of this entry to the La Corona Cafe’ facebook group.
nice.. im not a coffee drinker as well… hate the taste.. but love the smell.. ^___^
Did you try “Bas-uy” for breakfast?
Oh wow…that yummy picture of the hot chocolate made my heart stop for a couple of beats then rapidly palpitate! Gotta get me to Bacolod – now na!
Used to be my dad’s coffee place, too. He would go there everyday after siesta.
I can almost smell the coffee….ummmmm….
I have to visit this cafe the next time I’m in Bacolod!!
Great picture of the hot chocolate in what looks like a well used cup. The hot chocolate looks like it has no milk and is very thick and rich. Yum. Makes me want to go to Bacolod for a cup of this hot chocolate.
an uncle of mine – also Margarita’s- Tito Bukie Yulo, goes to La Corona and sips cups of native brew with a motley group every morning at 7 am when he’s in Bacolod and he swears that by the time one stands up and takes his leave an hour and a half later, one would know the real score about what’s really happening in Bacolod and the entire province, Negros Occidental.
Haha! Loved that jibe about passing the brew through a sock! Reminds me of Mr. Bean soaking his sock for a morning ‘cuppa’ in the park, or (on another note) Charlie Chaplin stewing his shoe!
Love that. A coffee shop that sells real brewed coffee. Starbucks and the like actually sell sugar, not coffee.
looks like tsokolate e :). I’m not a coffee drinker too but I do love spending time in a coffee shop with my wife. My wife loves coffee while I normally order tea (green, chamomile or mint tea).
At PHP22 per cup and no charge for the ambiance (unlike some places here in the Metro) that’s a definite find!
Did you go to Calea MM?
Must be the town hall of Bacolod!
other notable coffee places in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental:
1. New Gerce Cafe in Gatuslao Street near Gasiano Main and Central Market. Coffee servers scream your coffee preference (plain, brown, with milk) before you even sit down.
2. JG Cafe in Libertad Market. Almost the same familiarity among regulars and coffee servers. Excellent way to start your day with a cup or two with pandesal and fried egg.
3. The New New City Cafe in Silay City. Because it is old yet new new. It was new and then became new again, i dunno.
4. Imelda’s Magnet Cafe in Talisay City. I don’t know much about the magnet part.
and then there’s Kuppa, Cafe Uma, Cafe Bobs, Vienna, plus a Starbucks I have not been to yet.
Lessons in Coffee shop names. If the word Cafe precedes the name of the establishment it is definitely a pricey place with airconditioning, a hundred and three coffee blends, wifi, pastries. If the word cafe follows the name it is definitely a kapihan where they serve cheaper but better “brewed and filtered in-the-socks” real coffee.
Maraming Salamat, Lee for Coffee Shop Names 101!!!!
I will DEFINIETLY keep that in mind when I open my Coffee Shop in 10 years!!!!!
hello betty q. so is it cafe “name” or “name” cafe
the socks makes the difference on the cafe making…hehehehehe
Don’t know, Lee. I could use your INPUT!!!!
Lee, Jun: Undoubtedly, the medyas takes the icing on the cake!!!! Not too many baristas know the secret ingredient! While you are at it, addd a pinch of salt, a pinch of cinnamon and 1 tsp. of pure vanilla to the ground coffee for a 4 cup brew. You will have the most sought after coffee on your block!…matataob mo si Timmy Horton. Try it, Jun and Lee…of course for your wives, NO MEDYAS!!!! I am sure they are sick of seeing socks!!!
Wow…this cocoa really looks…delicious!!!
I’ll look for La Corona’s next time we’re in Bacolod. In Singapore, the local kopitiam shops still prepare coffee by passing it through what looks like a sock. Possibly, the texture of the material allows air to mix with the brew, improving the overall flavor.
LC.. I am wondering where Mr. Shoe-shine is.
Lee, you forgot Kape Mabuhay in Libertad, Goce in Burgos, GL in Villamonte, and the coffee beans of Ma-ao.
Mr. shoe shine took an indefinite leave from his post…now youngsters are pestering La Corona…
youngsters who are asking money from tito and tita…hehehe
I used to go to this place with my Dad when I was 6 or 7 years old he ordered coffee and I had a tall glass of hot chocolates with quaker oats in the bottom of the glass, then after the meal off we went to Burgos Market for food shopping, oh how I missed and cherished those childhood memories, my Dad’s been dead now for 15 years and I am here in UK excitedly planning our holiday to Bacolod this September. Thank you Marketman for rekindling buried memories.
for me the best coffee iv ever tasted is in silay city near san diego church,new city cafe or kapehan sang silay.try it!!!!!!
time to hie off to La Corona on my day off.I’ve been living in Bacolod for about 2 years now and never drank coffee here yet..The coffee in Kape Mabuhay at the Libertad market is also good..
that’s why we would always joke that there are two brews to order in La Corona:
1. Burlington Brew
2. Darlington Brew
la corona cafe is the best coffe shop in the world