We discovered Natural Garden Cafe when one of our readers sent us a message to try this simple and unassuming “cafe” located on the old Kametal road alongside Lacson street near Lopues Mandalagan. Just go down that road and look for this sign.
This cafe serves the simplest and cheapest food in Bacolod, I swear. It is run by an NGO that helps deaf people learn entrepreneurship skills and livelihood skills. The place is an open-air affair with simple bamboo chairs and tables.
The menu changes every day! I went on a Friday and this was their menu for the day. I couldn’t believe their prices! The waiter who served me was one of their deaf students/staff so I had to point to what I wanted. I even learned sign language for iced tea! So fun!
Natural Garden Cafe has a tiny plot of land in their back where they plant vegetables for use in their kitchen. We took a little tour of the back area while waiting for our food to be prepared.
The first to arrive was our glasses of ginger kalamansi iced tea. At ten pesos, it was quite refreshing after a walk in the garden. It wasn’t too sweet and it perfectly cooled down our parched throats.
The main meal arrived. We tried their Fried noodles (50 php) which turned out to be actually a heaping serving of pansit. It was chock-full of veggies and came with a nice siding of papaya salad. The noodles are served a bit bland so you could adjust the taste to your liking – I grabbed a bottle of soy sauce and chili to liven things up a bit.
The food that came next was their thai chicken wrap. Now, their wraps are really, really good. Their wraps are handmade and these are the cheapest wraps in town. You’ll be full! At 50 pesos, the price is awesome considering that the wrap is packed with ingredients and vegetables and it even came with a dollop of Natural Garden Cafe’s homemade banana chutney!
About that chutney – well, it’s just one of the products that the deaf students make and sell. They have Jackfruit Jam, Herb salt and Banana chutney. We bought all of these. They’re really affordable and they taste really, really good.
They have a simple dessert – a simple cake that costs only 20 php. It was good. The quality of the food is much higher than the price! Good value!
What I really liked about Natural Garden Cafe is that the food is cheap and simple. No frills dining. The food tastes great and it’s amazing how they manage to include vegetable in everything. Since their menu changes daily, I plan to keep coming back over and over to try their menu. You can NOT find a single place like Natural Garden Cafe here in Bacolod that serves you high quality meals at rock bottom prices. Plus, your money helps out their students!!
Please check out their facebook page located at https://www.facebook.com/NaturalGardenCafe for directions on how to get to their place and to view the menu which changes DAILY.
A highly recommended place.
