Bauang, La Union, Philippines – the center of grape farms and grapes picking in the Philippines. So it is not very surprising to see a cafe that takes inspiration from the well-loved fruit.

Uvas Cafe is the resident cafe-resto of an established fruit farm, Lomboy Farm. The cafe is located along (# 68) MacArthur Highway in Bauang, La Union.

The cafe started its operations a few months before the pandemic happened which was quite unfortunate. However, ever since restrictions have been lifted, Uvas Cafe has started attracting more locals amd tourists visiting this side of the country. It’s becoming a popular stop especially for those who frequent San Juan, a famous surfing town in Northern Philippines. The close proximity of the quiet, seaside town of Bauang to San Juan makes it a convenient pitstop.

So what would one expect at Uvas Cafe? Well they have pretty interesting selection of signature dishes amd drinks that has grapes in it. And of course, there is definitely no better way to savor and to sample locally made wines than to spend it at a cafe that has a vineyard. Uvas Cafe offers various wines (both red and white grape wines), and other tropical fruit wines (lile Java plum or “duhat”, guapple, wild berries and even dragon fruit), all of which are made from the harvest of their vineyards.

As I have mentioned earlier, the dishes they offer are pretty interesting. During my visit, I got to try their grape pizza (a basil flavored pizza dough topped with cheese and sliced grapes). It was surprisingly good! I paired it with their Verde shake – a smoothie made from their green grapes. I also tried their sinigang na salmon sa ubas. This version of sinigang, a popular sour tasting soup dish here in the Philippines, is another pleasant surprise. Lastly, we also got to taste their grilled fish in grape tartare (which happens ro be my brother’s favorite).

Other drinks we had were their sangria (an alcoholic drink that my brother enjoyed) and their grape mojito which was uberly refreshing. The cafe also have a small souvenir section, where one can buy wines, jams/jellies and other Ilocos products to take home like the “inabel” (a local Iloko weaved fabric).

All in all, it was a grape, I mean great, gastronomic experience dining at Uvas Cafe. And oooooops, did I mention how pretty their dining tables were??? If you have seen an old sewing machine set turned into a table minus the actual sewing equipment, that’s how their tables look like. Super aliw!!!