Provincial city gem
Rural cities like my hometown, Sorsogon City, fall dead after the clock strikes 21:00 on any given day. It’s the probinsiyang siyudad that does not have an into-the-dawn nightlife: nearly non-existent late-night bars or coffee shops. I’ve always thought of it like that until recently.
When friends from Manila went home to one of their families’ ancestral house in Sorsogon, we spent a night out together. I was surprised when Ate, after a planned dinner, suggested to go to a cafe at 21:15. Apparently, Alvaro’s Kitchen + Cafe, a coffee shop near her home, was open at the time. I’ve known of the cafe’s existence for a long time, but I never really had the chance to visit.
Alvaro’s Kitchen + Cafe is probably one of the few cafes in Sorsogon City that are open until late in the dark — a hidden gem of this provincial capital. Over caffeinated beverages, my friends and I whisked the night away until a little past 23:00: me with the shop’s signature Spanish Latte and them with the crowd-favorite Black Sesame Latte.
Backdropping our sweet moment of catching up lies the homey interior decor with which the owner embellished the cafe. Being a fan of wooden furniture, I immediately became fond of the bookshelves, chairs, tables, and the countertop. Something about the material evokes a sense of home — an essence underscored further by the portraits displayed on the shelves, which were of the owner’s ancestral family members who lived in that same unit space of the 1968-born Doña Mercedes Country Lodge.
Various genres of books color the shelves with their stories, ranging from romance to strategy to self-reflection. It was definitely a library in its own right, which added to the charm I have seen in this place. A couple of other interesting trinkets adorned the shelves, such as old digicams, clay pots, and a few ceramic mugs.
However, amusement in Alvaro’s does not come only in the prosaic form of novelas and guides. Several board, block, and card games were displayed on one shelf as if they were waiting to be taken from their unmoved places to serve as a uniting pastime: Scrabble, Jenga, Avalon, and We’re Not Really Strangers, to name a few.
The cafe indeed knows its worth and charm, for its owner sells caps and tote bags as merchandise! If only to add more to the natural appeal of the shop, a playful-yet-sassy feline naturally resides and dominates the cafe floor. Casper has his own Instagram account @casper_thecatto.
Overall, the opportunity to visit this cafe was a blessing. There are no better coffee shops than those that evoke a feeling of warmth during the wee hours of the cold night.
