The Lola Food Group, the brains behind Lola Café + Bar, and Liberty Kitchen + Brew, has a new baby, and it was last Saturday that they decided to introduce The Little Owl Café to some food enthusiasts before their grand opening in the coming week.

Here’s a little trivia on how the owners came up on the concept of the café. For starters, their first two restaurants’ names started with the letter ‘L’. They also wanted a place that is homey, offers whole day brunch and is open from morning to late nights. So behold, a café that is designed like an owl’s nook, and it’s just amazing. It’s the first thing I loved even prior to paying the café a visit.

The café has a second floor, and with the homey design of the place, I’d like to call this floor the “attic”. The attic has a different design compared to the white, black and brown theme on the ground floor. This place, which also serves as the café’s function room open for reservation, has a warmer theme, with less windows and less room for natural light.

After a few words from the chefs behind the food, several dishes from today’s menu started coming in, and as we took photos we were able to meet with the other food enthusiasts we’ve never met before.

Salmon Benedict

I hope this dish tastes as good as it looks. I was too busy taking photos that I wasn’t able to try this one.

[caption id="attachment_966" align="aligncenter" width="2592"] Thick Cut Bacon[/caption]

Thick pork slices in apple marmalade sauce, served with egg, and either garlic rice or French toast and salad. I liked this dish because of the flavor of the bacon. It was like a honeycured bacon having that sweet taste. This dish could have been better if the meat was more tender.

[caption id="attachment_964" align="aligncenter" width="2118"] Fluffy Banana Pancake[/caption]

Three thick banana pancakes with thick, caramel-like maple syrup. These pancakes were delicious and moist. Although there’s nothing too grand about its taste, you can never go wrong with this classic breakfast staple especially if it’s this fluffy.

[caption id="attachment_960" align="aligncenter" width="2592"] Mushroom Tartine[/caption]

Bread with scrambled eggs and an assortment of vegetables and flavors on top. This is a good example of something that is small yet strong. There were mushrooms, pesto, bell peppers, zucchini, and some cheese. I was impressed with the elements I was able to get from the dish and how all those combined made something tasty.

[caption id="attachment_962" align="aligncenter" width="2246"] Grilled Cheese[/caption]

This was my favorite! The grilled cheese was not what made this dish the star of my dreams, but the arugula and the tomato jam that came with it. What came to my mind when I had a bite of all three together was my brick oven pizza experience. The tomato jam reminded me of the chili honey I used to pour on my pie that changed my perspective on pizzas. The saltiness of the cheese, bitterness from the arugula, sweetness from the tomato jam and the crunch from the toast is probably something I’d go back for.

[caption id="attachment_963" align="aligncenter" width="2459"] Chicken Burger[/caption]

Two fried chicken fillets sandwiched in two waffles with some coleslaw. This was a dish I also liked, well, because I’m a lover of almost anything chicken. I liked that they were able to think of a concept to incorporate the usual chicken and waffle brunch dish and presented it in a different way. The chicken tasted good and moist, as well as the coleslaw, while the waffle was okay.

[caption id="attachment_958" align="aligncenter" width="2592"] Caesar Salad[/caption]

Greens, croutons, caesar dressing, bacon bits and some parmesan cheese. There’s not much to expect from this as it is how your typical caesar salad tastes like. It was okay.

[caption id="attachment_968" align="aligncenter" width="2592"] Fish and Chips[/caption]

Two cream dory fillets with shoestring potato fries and sour cream dip. The fish was okay, although I’m not a total fan of it. I liked the shoestring potato fries since it’s a good snack while chatting with the fellow foodies.

[caption id="attachment_965" align="aligncenter" width="2592"] Wild Mushroom Pasta[/caption]

At first I thought this was the bolognese pasta because of how it looked, until we were told otherwise. The tomato in this tomato based pasta was evident, since the sauce was more of sour than sweet, although the contribution of the mushroom to the taste was lacking. Nevertheless, this was okay.

TARTS- Their tarts surely ended our meals with a bang.

Warm Apple & Pecan – I can’t remember spotting the apple in this tart, but I do remember the cinnamon and the pecan in the picture. I found this tart okay. Not bad.

Chocolate Tart – Our favorite tart! It was filled with a not-so-dense dark chocolate that is definitely not too sweet and will not make you grab that glass of water.

[caption id="attachment_967" align="aligncenter" width="2264"] Cheesecake[/caption]

I am very much confused of their cheesecake. I was expecting some cheese, obviously, especially since the filling oozed/ flowed out upon slicing. However, when I had a bite, I wasn’t able to detect any traces of cheese. It was more of a lemon tart than cheesecake.

Parking spaces are available in this café. They also have a guard to assist. There are also seats outside perfect for those shots.

Little Owl Café is located at the corner of E. Rodriguez Sr. Ave corner Broadway Ave.

P.S. I wasn't able to upload a photo of the salad and the place because of the maximum number of photos allowed per review. Also, I wasn't able to take pictures of the first two tarts

My score:

Pricing – 4/5

Service – 3/5

 Ambiance – 4/5

Taste – 3.5/5

Date of Visit: January 21, 2017