I took a short drive to Blossom Hill Road in South San Jose on Wednesday afternoon to visit a cute little cafe called Hub’s Coffee with delectable food and a cozy environment.
When I entered the cafe, I immediately noticed the immaculate ambience. Although there was no indoor seating because of the coronavirus pandemic, the store itself still had a relaxing feel to it.
Hub’s Coffee has been around for about five to six years and roughly one year ago the business fell under new management, said shop employee Lauren Nichol.
The shop’s menu was handwritten on chalkboards and included hand-drawn sketches of the food, which added to the restaurant’s charming style.
It reminded me of the coffee shop in Club Penguin, a popular web game from the late 2000s, because it offers a similar peaceful and welcoming aesthetic. Other similarities included the handwritten menu board, an area dedicated for entertainment purposes and an overall simple but endearing cafe design.
The outdoor patio was decorated in a cute manner, with hanging bulb lights hung across the area, creating a warm atmosphere, and the addition of a pretty light brown and yellow colored tarp for shade.
A shelf inside the shop was filled with various board games, including Scrabble and Hedbanz, that customers could’ve played while they ate prior to the pandemic. Another similar shelf closer to the register had an area for customers to take photos where it had the store’s name and adorable knick knacks like a bongo drum set and origami; there’s even a sign with a delightful little quote saying “coffee & friends: the perfect blend.”
Judging from the multiple signs hung around the store, the business used to host an open mic night, adding to the list of reasons why I believe it especially cares about customer experience.
While I was mesmerized by the welcoming atmosphere, I was happy to discover the food is as good as the presentation suggests.
The shop is Filipino-owned and provides many traditional Filipino dishes alongside other creative dishes with fusion twists, containing filipino staple ingredients like ube, or purple yam.
However, a lot of their Filipino dishes can only be found on their online menu and not on the menu in the shop. I looked online and ordered the crispy sisig plate, mochi ube waffles, hot chocolate and a mango li hing mui swirl smoothie.
The crispy sisig was my favorite dish out of all my orders. It was freshly cooked crispy pork sisig that came with garlic rice and an over-easy egg.
I’ve had a lot of different sisigs throughout my lifetime, especially because sisig is my favorite Filipino dish.
The rice was cooked perfectly, without any extra oil and it was the perfect balance of saltiness, fluffy rice and pungent garlic.
The pork sisig was so delicious and juicy, yet crunchy because the cooked pork skin added a different texture to the dish. The only thing I didn’t like was the small serving size because I was definitely craving more.
The mochi ube waffle is made with glutinous rice, often used in Japanese dishes, and ube, which is purple yam, and was equally amazing. It had just the right amount of sweetness both by itself and with its additional toppings, including the ube ice cream, coconut shavings and coconut syrup. The waffle was soft and the coconut shavings added a nice crispy texture that complemented the creaminess of the ube ice cream.
The drinks I got were just as satisfying as the delectable dishes. The hot chocolate, although a simple drink, was made with the perfect amount of sweetness that was just enough to still distinguish the richness of the chocolate. The temperature was noteworthy too because I did not burn my tongue drinking it.
The mango li hing mui swirl smoothie was my favorite of the two drinks. This was my first time trying a mango smoothie with li hing and it absolutely blew my mind. The two fruits by themselves are incredibly satisfying but together they were sublime.
Hub’s Coffee is definitely worth checking out, if not for the food itself then the impressively homey vibes, but I mean who wouldn’t want to try mochi ube waffles?
