Although I’m from Dipolog City, I haven’t been actually living there for around seven years now. I rarely even visit on summers because of summer classes and other engagements, so I haven’t been up-to-date with my city’s progress over the years. Whenever I come back, there’s already a new restaurant or a new hotel or a new complex being built.
I’ve seen pictures of awesome places my siblings are visiting around the city, and they have been recommending a particular coffee shop to me—Chapters. They know I’m a sucker for books and any book-related things. Chapters, therefore, should be a great place for me. So when I went back to Dipolog a few weeks back, I decided to try it out with my brother and my best friend, Maila.
The book-themed coffee shop is located at the Dipolog Boulevard. When you opt to eat at the outside tables, you get to enjoy the serene blue waters and the fresh sea breeze. But being first-timers in the shop, of course we had to sit inside. I’ve seen and experienced the waters anyway. It’s still cold and wet just like all the others, so nothing fancy there.
The place is full of crazy decorations and lots of books that you’re free to read. It is oozing with references to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Antione de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince. Wonderland is a crazy place, and so is the coffee shop. There are distorted bookshelves, teacups and books glued to the ceiling, and—it’s perhaps everybody’s favorite—two chairs and a table hanging upside down.
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| The menu contains character descriptions about The Little Prince and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The names of the food are also inspired by the two books. |
In terms of food, we were satisfied with what we ordered. Maila and I had the Vain Man’s Korean Beef Stew (Php125). With it, I had a tropical punch, while she opted for the pink lemonade (both Php55). On the other hand, my brother, who already had lunch that day, opted for a snack. He went for Bill Chapter’s Cheese Sandwich (Php 95) and downed it with an almond nut frappe (Php120).
Although the Korean stew was quite small for us (I haven’t eaten much prior to going there), it was descent in terms of taste. The meat was really soft, which was good news for me because I just had my braces adjusted, and I couldn’t chew that well. Maila and I had different opinions about our drinks, though. I liked the tropical punch better because it was just right in terms of sweetness. She preferred her drink to mine, saying mine is “not sweet enough.” I guess we chose the drinks well because the pink lemonade was too sweet for me.
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| Vain Man’s Korean Stew |
The cheese sandwich, on the other hand, was oozing with flavor. It made me wish I had ordered that instead. The almond frappe was also worth the price. It’s tasty and big. So as you may well imagine, I was envious of my brother’s choices. (I was eyeing his frappe every now and then.) And as evidenced by the fact that I know what their food taste like, you can tell I took a sip from every drink and a bite (or three) from the sandwich. (This is a typical first-timer habit. Don’t pretend you don’t do this too.)
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| Bill Chapter’s Cheese Sandwich |
For dessert, I ordered a serve of their Death by Chocolate (Php190). I suggested that we order one each. It was a good thing that my brother was there with us. He had been there before and knew the size of the thing. Ordering three would have been a disaster. We barely scratched the surface even though there were three of us. It was literally filled with chocolate and nothing else. There was chocolate cake, chocolate pretzels, and inside the huge chocolate-covered mug was chocolate drink. The name suits it well. A diabetic could easily have complications on the spot if he were to devour the whole thing himself. But it was a joy to see the chocolate tower. I loved its presentation and the challenge it provided. Unfortunately, we didn’t complete the challenge.
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| Death by Chocolate |
What’s amazing about the shop is that if you’re in a budget, you could actually still enjoy good food. They have food choices that you can see in most mall food stalls such as Potato Corner, Master Siomai, Belgian Waffles, and Pizza Pederico’s. So if you’re in a budget, this is the place to be.
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We stayed a while longer and talked. I wasn’t able to read any books because that was the first time in a very long time that I was able to see my friend again, and she would kill me if I spent those few hours together reading a book. (She made the killing part quite clear.) We did leave a few hours after because I had to go back to Cebu that night. Overall, we enjoyed our stay. I enjoyed a good place, good food, and, luckily for me, good company.
It's a Ping Thing 