Love Nooks in Tara's Cafe

by Jareliese Mauro


Instead of targeting consumers with Cupid’s arrow on Valentine’s day, Tara’s café will naturally stimulate the senses and make you fall in love with your favorite food all over again with its meant-to-be-shared, appetizing, Inter-continental dishes. The secret worth passing around is their tempting blend of sauces, dips, and salsa which all leave a flavorful aftertaste on your palate. Stare into your lover’s eyes over a tasty meal—take a pick from a variety of vegetable, beef, lamb, fish and poultry.

Start off with the Hearty soup which is good for the heart—literally and figuratively speaking! This creamy soup is sprinkled with bacon slices and celery stalks. Caviar puts you in the mood since it appears to have qualities that increase nerve cells and eventually amplify passion. The spicy caviar sauce coated on the Sizzling seafood pasta with shrimp, springs of onion, and oyster bursts in your mouth. Go love-struck with their juicy baby back ribs slathered on with secret sweet and spicy sauce. On the plate, the crispy side dish of carrots, peas, and parsley contrasts the tender texture of the meat with a melt-in-your-mouth effect. What gives the classic Mixed seafood hotpot of carrots, onions, sesame seeds, shrimp, broccoli, mushroom, cauliflower, squid, and fish a new spin is the piquant tang of the oyster sauce.

Always seductive thirst-quenchers are Crowns—a family-concocted aphrodisiac in three flavors: Mudslide (chocolate drink with a shot of espresso), After 8 (chocolate with espresso and mint), and Black Forest (chocolate with cherries). Seekers of the fruity blend will never get behind. Mambo No. 5 shakes are as good as the ingredients (American lemon, orange, apple, peach, and passion fruit) they put into them. Love-worthy, the Banana boat, baked Japanese style, is a sponge cake wrapped in fresh banana and covered with cream and chocolate syrup.

Rekindle the passion as a crooner of love songs elevates the evening. The soft glow of the tea light candles and down lights stirs up romance in the air. If the date means lugging the tots around or spending quality time with friends on the month of love, one can never go wrong when you decide drop by the love nook in C.G. Briones and Andres Abellana Sts. in Guadalupe. Its kiddie corner, conference room with a maximum capacity of 30 people, and comfy leather couches accommodate guests from all ages and walks of life. The trademark of Tara’s café is its availability of books stacked against the walls, obtainable for free reading or purchase. “I wanted to open a place where people can do whatever they want in perfect harmony. Besides the food, what makes Tara’s café different from the rest is our customer service. We look out after our clients,” discloses 19-year-old Marion Tara Guillen, a self-confessed coffee addict, sweet tooth and film buff. When Marion is not busy studying, writing, cooking for her family, or participating in theater plays, she devotes time to her coffee shop which is open daily 9 am-12 am.