All Roads Lead To Lugang Cafe

Sometime last December, a two story building came out of nowhere along Connecticut Street in Greenhills, where I pass everyday going home from work. Lugang Cafe's building is fronted by clear glass where you can see people dining inside underneath bright lights and glass chandeliers that look like jellyfish. And it's always full! The empty lot across it belonging to East Greenhills was even transformed into a parking lot to accommodate the number of diners. Wow, I thought. This place must be fancy. 

Lugang Cafe serves Taiwanese and Cantonese dishes and is part of the prestigious Bellagio Group of Companies (not the Vegas hotel ha!), which apparently has several chains of renowned restos across Asia. My sister Lillian had gone already several times and had declared it her new favorite restaurant "especially because of the dessert". Dessert? Were they making award-winning buchi balls there now? My curiosity piqued up even more.  

Last night, I found myself getting off work early so I called up my sibs and asked if they wanted to eat in Lugang. At 6:45 pm I called to make a reservation but they were strictly on a first come, first served basis already. However, if you leave your name, they'll prioritize your party once you arrive. At 7 pm, there were 4 parties ahead of us as we waited at the entrance for our name to be called. 

I took photos of the cylindrical chandeliers instead. Nice high ceiling! 

At about 7:20 pm, we were finally seated. By then we had already pored over the menu and decided what we wanted to get. Let's make the photos speak for ourselves, shall we?

We started off with the Garlic Pork Roll (P160), small slivers of thinly sliced pork rolled around garlic shallots and lettuce leaves and dipped in a tangy hoisin sauce. I barely tasted the garlic but found this appetizer quite yummy nevertheless. I can do this at home using ham slices I think. Hmmm.

Garlic Pork Roll

The ever popular Steamed Pork Xiao Long Bao (P158) was up next. We got two of these because we just knew one order wasn't enough. Xiao Long Bao is essentially your steamed pork dumpling with hot soup in the middle. You're supposed to poke the dumpling, let the soup steep out then sip it from your spoon. This particular dish has suddenly gotten to be the most popular thing to hit Manila's Chinese restos although only a few have perfected it. Now, this was only my second time to try Xiao Long Bao in my life so I'm no expert. I thought this tasted great though. The soup was just the right temperature too. I've heard of people burning their tongues from scalding Xiao Long Baos before.

Steamed Pork Xiao Long Bao 

My foodie friend  Kathy suggested that I order the Stir Fried Beef with Chili (P280). Just look at the fat on those sirloin strips! Byebye diet! I was expecting this dish to be spicy with all those chili peppers but it wasn't really actually. In fact, my sister Isabel who abhors anything spicy was able to eat a few pieces and say they were good!

Stir Fried Beef with Chili

Another supposedly spicy dish but wasn't was the Black Pepper Beef Fried Rice (P220) which serves 2-3 people. I thought this was just so-so but I wouldn't mind ordering it again next time. After trying this, I came to the conclusion that what is labeled as spicy in this resto isn't really. I'll have to confirm this again the next time I eat here. 

Black Pepper Fried Rice

My brother in law got the Oyster Omelette with Sweet and Spicy Sauce (P180). I don't eat oysters and this dish looked far from appetizing to me but Ardee absolutely loved it. In fact, he INSISTED we bring home the tiny leftover piece home simply because "It's an oyster omelette from Lugang!". Oookay. Must have been the equivalent to a piece of steak omelette in my world.

Oyster Omelette with Sweet and Spicy Sauce

Lillian wasn't feeling that hungry so she opted for the Spicy Beef and Tendon Noodle Soup (P250), a large bowl of steaming hot soup with Chinese cabbages, onions, beef (with flanks) and flat rice noodles that reminded me so much of pho. Rich and delicately spiced, it was a treat to eat. Perfect for a rainy day.

Spicy Beef and and Tendon Noodle Soup

I didn't think we'd ordered too much until this giant bowl of congee arrived. For only P280, you get the Chicken and Mushroom Congee that easily serves 4-5 people. I'm not much of a congee person.  I grew up eating  lugaw (rice porridge) all the time when I was sickly kid so to me they all taste the same. Ardee one again loved this and had like two or three bowls. Pretty sulit!

Chicken and Mushroom Congee

Now, everyone knows how much I loooove hot tea and I was really looking forward to sipping oolong tea during this entire meal. Instead, what was served to us was a pot of this herbal tea that tasted so medicinal, I was reminded of my grandmother's medicine cabinet. Not my type at all. I guess this is what they drink in Taiwan?

As mentioned earlier, my sister had raved about the desserts in Lugang Cafe. I was too stuffed to eat further but I browsed through menu anyway. Peanut butter and mudslide smoothies, shaved ice, sundaes and a whole lot more of authentic Chinese desserts stared back at me. Good thing I'm not too fond of sweets. I decided to wait for whatever it was Lillian ordered and just get a couple of spoonfuls. 

This is what arrived:

Mango Supreme

This giant dish consisted of two scoops of ice cream--one vanilla and one mango, over cubes of mango and a layer of mango pudding and frozen ice. It tasted amazing!! The mango cubes were a little sour so I ignored those and went for the ice cream and the pudding. Brain freeze!!! But man, the pudding was delicious. The dessert was instantly over and done with in minutes. I could hear Ardee muttering, "It's so good...it's so good..."


There were four of us and we ended up paying about P600 each. Servings of the food are good for 1-2 persons, hence the many orders. What's notable for me is that, for the first time, I didn't have any of the usual Chinese fare. Normally SOMEONE has to order sweet and sour pork or ginger chicken or beef with oyster sauce. None of that now! There are so many other new dishes to choose from! I also left the resto without that feeling of overeating or like how you've consumed so much oil you can feel it up to your head already. 


Come see what the fuss is all about and try Lugang Cafe for yourself. It's guaranteed not to disappoint! :) 

Lugang Cafe
Connecticut Street, Greenhills
0917-6992254

All Roads Lead To Lugang Cafe