One look at the signage alone will instantly draw you to come closer and see what’s that little quaint cafe doing hidden behind tall neighboring walls and away from the glances of the passers by of the main highway.

*** Picture of this Signage was borrowed from www.experiencenegros.com

We passed by Cafe 1925 when we went to Emma Lacson’s for the fresh lumpia but I decided to wait for the nighttime when everything’s velvet dark and the signage would be the only one casting a glow of light before taking a picture. But the signage wasn’t lit when we got there around 7pm and it was rather disappointing. But the rest of the place looks absolutely gorgeous from outside. Stained colorful glasses on their sliding doors, the yellow warmth of their lights from inside and the rustic iron grills and wooden chairs were all so becoming. I could almost hear myself sigh in whimsical adoration and already, the issue about the signage was fast forgotten.

For someone who’s got an affinity with chandeliers and lamps, theirs definitely captured me. What’s not to love about broken golden lights raining down on you?

Their walls were plastered with paintings huge and small. It excited me to see a big painting of the ruined old port that we planned to visit hung on their wall. Next to it were small but rather hopeful paintings of other old buildings in Silay. There was one that looked like an effort to copy Van Gogh’s style.

We were all still very full when we got there which  was probably why we took so long to order our food. By that time, food was rather unappealing to me but for the sake of sampling out new food, I gave in to my sister who said we’ll just split the churros con chocolate order. I looked at the menu and saw it was 140. I had to blink twice but what the hey, we’re splitting it up anyway so I conceded again. I though it was rather too expensive especially since my sister makes delicious churros con chocolate and we sell them for a very low price considering the ingredients aren’t that expensive to begin with. But other than that, we also ordered risotto balls, their red velvet cupcake, cappuccino and spicy cheese wraps.

 Goofs will always be goofs, dontcha think? We especially struck those two ridiculous poses for our friend Isabelle who wanted to come along but couldn’t. And by couldn’t, I mean she somehow fell off from the face of the earth and couldn’t be located or contacted  by the time we started assembling. She’s safe, though so don’t you worry your pretty little head. She resurfaced again today.

The risotto balls were good and the dip was yummy so we’ve no complaints there. Same goes for their spicy cheese wraps — they were delectable! (Pardon me for this but I just can’t seem to get over this because of my recent churros con chocolate addiction that started when we went to Ilo-ilo last month.) It took some time for them to serve the churros and it was not a good premise for something badly done. Usually, when you make people wait for something, you have to make sure that the wait’s all worth it. And the churros weren’t.

Spineless, they were. They break in half and topple down when you hold them from one end and try to dip it in chocolate. They were hallow inside, they had white sugar crystals sprinkled over the churros (like some cheap donuts they sell in public markets) and they were still soggy and raw inside! For 7 small poorly done churros sticks (that’s 20 per stick!!!), we thought 140 was too much a price for them.

Red Velvet (sand) Cupcake

Yes, sand. It tasted THAT bad. It was so poorly done, the six of us were not able to finish eating this small cupcake. My sister took the first bite and her face was instantly destroyed. I thought she was over-reacting. I took the cake and took a small bite myself and my mouth and throat turned into ashes. We all took turns sampling this little deceiver of a cake and none of us fierce devourers could endure that poison.

Their cakes were very pricey but that’s not a problem if they’re all worth it. I saw a kalamansi cupcake that was rather small priced at 60 and I thought it was too much. They also had leche flan and it was for 90. Whuuu–t?!!

So back to the red velvet cake. It was not velvety at all. The texture was sandy and there was no moisture, whatsoever. In fact, it was so dry that the cream topping didn’t stick to the cake. Notice how “foamy” the cream is in that picture? It’s because when I tilted the cake a bit, the cream (ALAS – - Rowena literally shrieked!) fell off and landed on my brother’s mug of cappuccino! Vince said the cupcake was probably baked in 1925. I had to agree.

Now, I’ve read some online reviews about this place and all of them were praises. I honestly don’t want to give bad reviews, but I just can’t help it with this place. Yes, the ambiance was good and the place was nothing short of lovely and charming. But what about the food? Given that we didn’t order and sample everything they have on their menu but still, to suck up on churros con chocolate and red velvet cupcake is pretty unforgiving. Especially with the rates they’re charging for these blasphemies they call food!

I may not be all that and I know I’m not a picky eater so I can appreciate the potential good in a myriad of bad in food but I can tell if something’s really bad. So bad it should be labelled poison. So maybe they have other good things to offer. But after that trauma, I won’t take the chance of finding out some more anytime soon.

I’d give it ★★☆ ✰☆ .