26th St. Bistro by The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Gary Garcia

3.0

This branch  is a full size table-service restaurant serving not only coffee, tea, breads, and sweets, but also pasta, rice and other full meals. I could totally imagine myself working or just chilling here the whole afternoon. To accompany me while waiting for a friend, I ordered one Salted Pistachio Ice Cream Ice Blended. It's my new favorite non-coffee drink. There is just this addicting flavor to it. By default, drinks are served in glasses or cups, assuming you are going to consume the whole drink in the cafe. You can opt to have them in takeaway paper cups if you just stopped by to get a drink. Also, their drinks (ice blended) are only available in large size.

AF

3.0

Hubby had a heavy merienda so he wanted something light for dinner. I remembered my ever reliable salad fix fave, Coffee Bean.26th Street Bistro is a more upscale version of Coffee Bean with more food options. Hubby went for the Prawn & Mango Salad with Wasabi Dressing. The mangoes were sweet and the prawns were good. The spice level was tolerable so hubby asked for more Wasabi.I can't believe he had a salad and I had an ultra rich plate of Rosti with Smoked Chicken Ham, Sunny Side Up Egg and Provolone Cheese Sauce. The Rosti was mushy more than crunchy. Imagine hash browns shaped liked a Pancake. It was corny as is so I had to evenly distribute the other elements with every bite.We shared a slice of Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake which took forever to be served. Seems like they forgot about it. The cake was dry but the chocolatey buttery icing was so yummy.I completely forgot that the Tea Latte comes in just one large serving here. I had to pace myself until I finished my African Sunrise Tea Latte. It was still warm at the end of the meal. A little bit of trivia, according to the server this is the only Tea Latte that does not contain caffeine. This is my favorite blend next to the Moroccan Mint since both have chocolate.I would probably come back if I were in this mall but I would definitely skip the Rosti.

Aurora209

4.0

Note: late reviewWhile i was killing time at Shang, i decided to get a cup of joe but...Smoked Salmon Florentine caught my eye. Food was served after a couple of minutes.   The dish is aesthetically appealing,  full of vibrant colors.  I was pleasantly surprised that it comes with poached eggs.   It's basically eggs benedict topped with smoked salmon. I like my salmon raw.  The smoked version has an iffy aftertaste.  Maybe I'm just used to eating sashimi all the time.  The poached eggs on the other hand is done beautifully.  I saw a couple of episodes of Masterchef,  poached eggs is hard to execute,  one has to have quick hands in removing the egg from the vinegar infused boiling water and yes,  timing is everything.  The hollandaise sauce is creamy and goes well with the yolk. On my next visit,  I'd skip the salmon and stick with eggs benny.