A backstreet café offers the famed Malate district its first specialty coffee shop

Del Pilar Street in Malate runs parallel to Roxas Boulevard, but walking or driving down its road feels a bit removed from the high-traffic buzz of the famed national road. It’s understandable, since Del Pilar is where the backdoors of the city’s bay front hotels open to, where the lines of PR-friendly tourism and the realities of Manila urban life begin to blur.

Yet here is where Vince Africa, Reymart Cerin, Bea Jalbuena, and Beryll Hong found the perfect spot to set up Blocleaf Café. The small space, estimated to be anywhere between 20 and 25 sq.m., is an unexpected pod of calmness in the Malate district, where specialty coffee shops—especially local ones—are a rarity. Despite the cozy quarters, it’s bright and airy, a Kinfolk (with some Monocle) aesthetic translated into tropical reality.

The Kinfolk-meets-Monocle aesthetic of Blocleaf Café

“We were aiming for a contemporary look, with a hint of Asian,” Africa explains the café’s design; he and Cerin are also the co-founders of Public School Manila, a design studio that advocates for the revival of Manila and its districts. “In our travels, we’ve picked up a lot of ideas, from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and more, and we funneled all of these ideas into one concrete look.”     

All of the café’s furniture pieces were designed by Public School Manila in collaboration with Fabricca Manila, the furniture company that also produced the furniture in Escolta’s The Den. Yet unlike the dark gravitas of the latter’s seats and tables, Blocleaf Café’s are linear, with slats to allow light to stream through. The use of polished pinewood further adds to their impression of lightness.

Another pleasing aspect of the café is its use of plants indoors. Hanging and potted ferns abound, and a modest-sized Monstera deliciosa—perhaps the It plant on Instagram at the moment—has begun to creep down the side of the bar. The greenery amplifies the sensation of the outdoors coming indoors, minus the humidity and the noise.

Africa and Cerin, in fact, had long been exploring the concept of incorporating furniture with plants. The initial plan was to put up a furniture store where they would feature designs such as sofas with a built-in slot for houseplants; they even had a name for the enterprise already. But when the marketing manager of the nearby Hop Inn offered the vacant space to them, the furniture business was put in the back burner in the meantime. The name was used immediately, however. “Blocleaf is from that idea, with ‘bloc’ referring to furniture and ‘leaf’ to the plants,” Cerin explains.

The café’s burnt Basque cheesecake and purple yam latte

The menu offerings take a cue from the contemporary Asian aesthetic of the interiors. Among the savory options, familiar Southeast Asian flavors abound (garlic longganisa, peanut satay), while the tea selection features chai and matcha options, plus the café’s signature Thai tea latte. For dessert or coffee break (or both), there are the single-origin chocolate chip cookies and the burnt Basque cheesecake.

As for the coffee, Blocleaf Café partnered with the social enterprise Kalsada Coffee to offer brews made from locally grown beans. “People, especially foreign guests, have noted how sweet Filipino coffee is,” Cerin says. “And it’s a natural sweetness, not due to any added sugar. They’re pleasantly surprised that the Philippines can grow its own coffee.” Though sourcing local beans costs as much—if not more—than buying foreign ones, the café believes in the value of keeping every aspect of the business be about supporting small and local enterprises.

Del Pilar Street as a location of choice for a specialty coffee shop seems like weird business decision, but the team behind Blocleaf Café is sure of their vision. “There is a market here, whether it’s guests from the surrounding hotels or the people in the neighborhood who want to experience something new,” Hong, also a Manila resident, says. “It just needs to be tapped.”

Blocleaf Café is located at 1850 M. H. Del Pilar St., Malate, Manila. Café hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday to Sunday. Order through Viber (+63 905 255 5334) and find @blocleafcafe on Instagram.

A version of this story was published in July 2017 on the Garage Magazine website. All images are courtesy of Blocleaf Café.