The Daily Favor Café: Where to Eat in Manila

I have always been on a lookout for a café that will help me escape the city.

Need some quiet time? This man does it right.

Surely, cafes with big names in Manila are cool. They have really nice baristas who smile a lot and are genuinely interested in people. They have nice-looking interiors dominated with earth-tone colours that will remind you of the countryside. And they also have very comfortable couches that if you’re a sleepyhead, you must stay vigilant or you’ll fall asleep!



In fact, I love the big cafes in the city. I have no qualms. Nothing. Except for one.



They are usually crowded.



I go to cafes for two reasons. It’s either I want to catch up with my reading or I want to do some work that I can’t do at home. Doing these things, for me, require incredible amounts of concentration. I just can’t do them in crowded places. That’s why I have always been on a lookout for locations within the city that will help me, well, escape the city.

If you see this signage, it means you're there!

When my friend, Jam, told me about this hard-to-find café somewhere in Pasig, I am more than excited. Finally, an answered prayer. I know businesses will usually build their establishments where the crowds are but this one is a salmon, the fish that swims against the current. I can’t wait to see the Daily Favor Café.



So we decided to go with Jenavee, our songwriter friend who was finishing up a song that time. I knew that it was the perfect moment for us to meet each other. She will find inspiration there and me and Jam will have the chance to hear her new song before it gets aired in some Christian radio station (prophetic on this one).



The Daily Favor Café is so much different from all the cafes that I went into. I have been into really good ones, here and in Shanghai. But the Daily Favor is not only hard-to-find, I believe that it also is a piece of heaven.

Daily Favor's Hainanese Chicken Rice

Wherever you look inside the café, you will see inspiration. There are biblical quotes on the left and some inspirational books on the right. The whole café is embellished with grace!



My friend, Jam, told me that the café is owned by a Filipino businessman and a Singaporean-Chinese. She had the chance to take a photo with them inside the café during her last visit. It was a real treat for her to meet the owners. Though I wasn’t able to meet them during that day, I was able to chat with them online to know more about the café that they brought to life.



Bert and Joshua, the owners, met in a local church in Singapore. They became friends and soon enough found themselves venturing together in a business in the Philippines. They imagined a café where they will be able to nourish both the body and the soul. The body, through their sumptuous Filipino and Singaporean dishes and desserts served daily. And the soul, by sharing the Word in their own way.



This grace-filled imagining birthed the Daily Favor Café.

Puddings galore!

That day, I got myself the bestseller, the Hainanese Chicken Rice with Taro Pudding as dessert and Wintermelon Milk Tea for my drink. I think Jam and Jenavee went for the Nasi Lemak, the other bestseller.

Aside from the food, the other things that I enjoyed during my stay inside the Daily Favor are the books (being a bookworm, myself), the couches, the free WiFi, the warm servers and the quietness of the whole place. It’s the café that I want! I figured that it’s not only good for my quiet time. I can also see myself bringing my friends from Victory Ortigas there. I think it’s just a ride away from our church and it’s perfect for One2One sessions and small group meetings.



I have never stayed long in a single establishment in my life, except for this one. We arrived at around 2:00PM and left at around 7:00PM. In the evening, one of our friends, Monty, joined us and then we decided to have dinner in another place.

(L-R) Me, Jenavee, Jam and Monty

Sleek Tip: Visit the café in the morning or in the afternoon to sip some coffee or milk tea. Bring your book or laptop with you and just unwind, unwind, unwind. If you love books, check out some of their books and get out of the café as a changed person. It’s perfect for quiet times. If you have a group friends, bring them there too and have some tasty puddings. A hundred bucks is more than enough budget per person.



Daily Favor Cafe is also open to private functions and to catering and delivery requirements.



Address: 20-A M.H. Del Pilar St., San Nicolas, Pasig City, Philippines

Tel: (02) 934-3683

Email: beblessed@dailyfavor.co

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dailyFAVORcafe

Suicide Prevention: How to Save a Life

"I'll never forget how, many years ago, after another approach had failed

to give relief, Matthew said `Dad, I know I'm going to heaven. Why can't

I just die and end this pain?"' Warren recalled.

[Source: www.foxnews.com | Photo Credits: www.people.com]

I thought suicide was just too impossible.



It was painful. It was hopeless. It was a sin.



Suicide was impossible. That’s how I thought. But, that was before.



Yesterday, while I was serenely seated down doing my work at the office, one of my officemates briefly announced on my right ear that Rick Warren’s son is dead.



Suicide.



The Purpose Driven Life book. My Victory Group brother Ray. The girl from UP. The suicide hotline I saw in a poster in an LRT station. Pastor Cleve in our Foundation for Victory class. The judgement of the people. The mercy of God. These are the thoughts that ran swiftly on my head when my officemate said, “Suicide.”



I panicked. I wasn’t able to grasp it immediately. How can a son of a pastor kill himself?



And then, the grace of God fell on me. It held the stone of judgement I was about cast upon Pastor Rick Warren and to his family. (The stone says, "Did they not teach his son about God?") In a sudden blink of an eye, it occurred to me once again what Pastor Cleve taught us.



Depression is a disease.



It was as if Jesus took the stone from my hand, crushed it into pieces and wiped my hands clean again. I cannot judge Pastor Rick Warren, nor his family.



More than thinking about Pastor Rick Warren, his family and his son, I became more worried for the people like me who are most likely to judge them without knowing how and why suicides happen. I also thought about the young girl from the University of the Philippines who also took away her life recently, for her inability to pay her school fees. And then today, just this day, two young boys from Batangas were found dead in their rooms too. One of them failed at school and won’t graduate this March. They also committed suicide.



I said to myself, “But these are young men and women who have so much ahead of them. How can life be THAT futile when you are barely on your 20’s? Is this not the age of new beginnings, of new dreams, of new hope?”



“Suicide is just too impossible when you are THIS young!” I bargained with the truth.



But no, truth says, “Suicide is real. It is very real. In fact, it is happening now. It's just, we don’t know all the facts.”



Like a capstone being set in place and completing the whole structure, I now know why a couple of weeks ago in an LRT station, a poster showed itself to me and said, “The Philippines' first ever depression and suicide prevention hotline.”



I never realized how gracious that poster was for simply being there, prostrating itself on the station’s wall and shouting out “Hope is here!” all day long and praying to God for it to be used by Him to save someone’s life.



The Philippines’ first ever depression and suicide prevention hotline was created by a non-profit organization which dreams to give hope to as many people as it can, in times of great need.



The Natasha Goulbourn Foundation offers a 24/7 Hopeline to those who are in need. Their website is at www.ngf-hope.org.

(02) 804-HOPE (4673)

0917 558 HOPE (4673)

0917 852 HOPE (4673)

2919 (toll-free number for all GLOBE and TM subscribers)

Through the website, I have learned more about depression.



Depression is not just a feeling. It is an illness. And like any other illness, it needs to be treated.



POSTCRIPT: During one of my Foundation for Victory classes in Victory Ortigas, one of my classmates asked what will happen to the soul of the girl from UP who killed herself. Will she go to heaven or somewhere else?



I remembered how Pastor Cleve did not answer the question directly and only left us with the thought of how unfathomable God’s mercy is.



“Chemical imbalances occur in the brains of the people who are contemplating suicide. They don’t have the full control of themselves.”



When he said this, I heaved a deep sigh of relief knowing that God is God and that He spared me from the great burden of being a judge to other people.



I don’t know what will happen on Earth if He left the “judging” to us. I bet no one will be spared from the sword. And the worst part is, the weak and the misunderstood may be the first ones to go. Just because we don’t know all of the facts.



Just because we don’t know all of the facts.



I am glad that I don’t need to blame Pastor Rick Warren, nor his family, nor his son for what happened. I am glad that it’s not my business anymore to know whether or not the girl from UP went to heaven or not. I’m glad that God did not appoint me as a judge to the two young boys who took away their own lives when I don’t even know who they are, what kind of life they lived and what’s going on in their minds when they decided to quit.



But I am glad that I know of a Man who walked on Earth two thousand years ago, who has all the right to judge all of us, but did not do so. Instead, He took the judgment for Himself and left us with the commandments to just love one another, and to love God.



INVITATION: I belong to a group of men and women who are more than willing to listen to whatever you want to say. If you need someone to talk to or if you know someone who needs help, please don’t hesitate to call us via 0917-838-7545, or e-mail us via hello@sleekinthecity.com.



VIDEO: “How to Save a Life” by The Fray is a song about wanting to save someone’s life even when you don’t know how. If you have wanted to save someone once in your life, this song is for you.



Let him know that you know best

Cause after all you do know best

Try to slip past his defense

Without granting innocence

Lay down a list of what is wrong

The things you've told him all along

And pray to God he hears you

And pray to God he hears you



#savealife