Hamburger Steak (P280). Beef Patty in mushroom sauce.
Cafe Francais was voted as one of the good restaurants in BF, based on my informal poll of foodie friends who live in the area. In fact, some Manileño’s would often drive all the way to BF just to eat in Cafe Francais. Aside from its French name and a few French words in the menu, this bistro & restaurant is popular because of its Italian offerings (not French), especially the thin-crust pizzas. For me, the fresh, juicy hamburger steak is enough to get me driving and braving the traffic on SLEX. For my wife, she prefers to eat somewhere else.
(Updated 9/16/09: But apparently, a lot of people don’t like this restaurant. What’s your opinion?)
Cafe Francais Menu 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
The restaurant is designed for late-night guests and seems to have a preference for the smoking crowd. A big air-conditioned area is available for smokers, while the non-smokers have to go all the way to the back. Mostly, you’ll see people drinking while eating Italian food rather than the usual ho-hum bar chows.
Chef’s Special Pizza (10″-P250, 12″-P360, 14″-P475) – Tomato, Mozzarella, Mushroom, Onion, Italian Sausage and Oregano.
I would rank the following best Italian pizzas around — Cafe Puccini, Bellini’s and Cafe Francais, in that order. I always have to remind myself not to order the Chef’s special next time because it has halo-halo toppings made for Filipinos. I like Italian pizzas with simple toppings (like four cheese) and just tomato sauce.
Boeuf Bourguignon (P360) – Beef tenderloin simmered in Red Wine Sauce.
This is probably one of the representations of French cooking in the menu. The sauce was just OK, but I found it too salty.
Salmon Steak (P390) – Salmon in lemon butter sauce & capers.
The salmon was a bit dry and not that interesting enough for me to order again next time…
I had better beef salpicao in other Filipino hangout places…
I know a lot of people rave about Cafe Francais — how about you, what’s your favorite in this resto?
Cafe Francais Bistro & Restaurant
European Cuisine
61 Aguirre Ave., Phase II BF Homes, Parañaque
Telephone: (+632) 807-3128
Monday to Thursday 10:00am to 1:00am
Friday to Saturday 10:00am to 3:00am
Sunday 10:00am to 1:00am
Live an Awesome Life,
Text and Photos by Anton Diaz. Copyright 2009.
blog: www.OurAwesomePlanet.com
mobile: +63917-LOVEOAP (5683627)
email: anton@diaz.ph
P.S. I’m trying to explore the secret foodie places in BF, any resto that you can recommend?
this resto wont make me drive all the way to the south (traffic + gas) just to eat the miniscule chicken burger. overpriced for the size. id rather go straight ahead to other more famous and delish BF restos.
ate here a few weeks ago and im not going back. food was mediocre…not work the traffic and gas.
Thanks for the Feedback Ana/ Leica…
there are a lot of great restos in the bf area, but cafe francais wouldn’t be on my list. i’ve eaten there once and also the food was mediocre and over priced. One of my favorite restos in bf is only a 2 minute walk away from cafe francais. Gourmet’s Palate/Charbroiled burgers. Their blue thunder (a charbroiled burger with a delicious bleu cheese sauce) is great and only P89. Their takaw rice bowls are good too, as are the killer tacos, t-bone steak (only P109) and bangus sisig. 🙂
try twenty-one plates
Twenty One Plates, Amalias, Carlo’s Pizza, Conti’s, Churrito cafe
Thanks for all the feedback… very helpful. I guess I lower down my
expectation a bit when I go to the South 🙂 Oh well…
try Chi’s brick oven kitchen and Hanakazu
for a foodie like me with an appetite as universe, i won’t take a single step going to south just for those dishes with prices too steep for their little servings, sorry.
Yes I understand 🙂 hehe, for me I’m just trying to explore the south 🙂
thanks for the comment!
anton
i never knew cafe francais is that expensive. There are many restaurant in bf and the south. chi’s is definitely a must try. I just hate their restroom cause it’s right beside the oven.
churrito’s cafe is also good.
yup.. the beef salpicao needed to be seared on high heat and browned. it looked stir fried. Bellissimo near along tomas morato has good pizza.
hi arJ, ive only tried the takaw rice bowl. it’s good and cheap too. good for two na. my BF/Las Pinas friends have praises for other foods in their menu ;)they also mentioned a shawarma place, forgot the name.
The Burger does not look appetizing at all…..I’ve bveen there a few times and the food is not good…nothing to do with a french bistro.
Harang this restaurant! Major disappointment. Read some blogs that said their food was great, but was very disappointed.
Food looked like it came from someone’s kitchen – someone who didn’t have a good cook, much less a French one. Prices were also very unreasonable. You could eat better meals at other places for the amount of money you will need to spend here.
I live in the South and we have a lot of very good places to eat – sadly, this one is not one of those places.
Hi Frenchie — can you recommend a nice place in BF?
Thanks for all the comments positive or negative on this place. Feel free to comment. I’m not an expert on the South Area so any suggestion would be helpful…
Anton
Recently ate here as well. my sister is from the south and she brought us here for dinner. i agree that the food is expensive relative to the serving size. And the taste is just ok, not something that you’d go to the south for just to eat in. i tried the beef salpicao and penne italian sausage pasta. pasta is better at green tomato and salpicao is better at dulcinea. But the best beef salpicao i’ve tried is the one at El cuento (closed for several years now. formerly located at the now H&E glorietta). they served the best beef salpicao i ever had.
Hello Anton,
Just wondering, do they know who you are and did you pay for the food??
Of course we paid 🙂 they don’t know who I am and I don’t know who the owners are, hehe…. I could understand that some of the food is just OK but given the comments here, most people in BF don’t really like this?
@Richard, do you know if any good resto in BF? I’m still looking and trying out places there…
hi, food lover and bf baby here. Cafe Francois is (or was) a good place to eat and chill,, me and my friends and family have been going there since way, way back. it was reasonable before, almost everybody down south raved about it.. but i guess,, cutbacks on serving size and ingredients??
Hi everyone, hello Anton,
If you don’t mind, I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Joel Perez and Mr. Vladimir Villamor for their recommendations. =) we really appreciate it!
Mr Perez and Mr. Villamor, please let us know if and when you’ll be dropping by so we can personally thank you.
Sincerely,
Mico Miciano
that would have to be shawarma snack center near mcdonald’s sucat, i presume. it’s a dingy old place that serves really good chicken/beef shawarma and other middle-eastern specialties.
I love Charbroiled burgers too! Their burritos aren’t bad either. As a BF resident, my family and I would usually go to Conti’s, Carlos Pizza, Little Quiapo (for the awesome halo-halo) for lunch/dinner. Try Bona Coffee too! It’s a quaint little shop with really good coffee and sandwiches.