Tonet Jadaone's Basta Café Serves Creative Drinks + Cheeky Humor

Basta Café
K-Juan Building, 50 K-1st Street, Quezon City
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Check out their Instagram here.

(SPOT.ph) Antoinette Jadaone has been busy. While she was in the airport on the way home to Manila from Berlin, she received the news that her film Sunshine had won the Crystal Bear for best film in the Generation section of the festival. She had left the festival early to rush back for a wedding, but also waiting for her in Manila was her latest venture: opening a café.

Basta Café, located on the corner of K-1st and T. Gener, definitely feels like a Jadaone joint. It is suffused with her sense of humor: a signboard outside declares, for example, that they are on "Soft opening. Sobrang soft parang binabad sa Downy." There is a sandwich on the menu that's called MMK, which stands for "Mas Masarap Kaysa Kangks."

It’s the exact same sensibilities that has pervaded all of her work: her movies, the Tita Witty line of stationary, and Ang Walang Kwentang Podcast which she co-hosts with fellow director JP Habac, who is also a partner in the café. Also joining her in this venture is her friend of over two decades, Dana Salonga, and TV producer Row Tan.

Also read: Art of the Café: 10 Beautiful Coffee Shops in Quezon City 

How it all began for Basta Café

The idea for the café has been brewing for a while. “2017 pa namin ito napag-usapan ni Dana. Yung pangalan nga ng WhatsApp namin for this ay FUTURE CAFE,” Tonet says. “I love writing in cafés. Ang dami ko nang nasulat na script sa loob ng mga coffee shop,” says Tonet.

And Dana has always been into coffee. “[She] loves coffee so much, inaral na niya talaga. She’s the coffee connoisseur among us four. She passed on her love for coffee to me. Yan ang bonding namin — tambay, tsika, Kapag umaalis kami, especially sa ibang bansa, amats na amats namin ang coffee culture nila — Japan, Vietnam, Bangkok, Taipei, Melbourne, Marrakesh.”

Initially, they wanted a cafe and microcinema in one. "Habang nanonood ng sine, magkakape ka. Marriage talaga of both things we love — kape at pelikula, since dream ko talaga magkaroon ng maliit na sinehan," adds the director of Fan Girl, Never Not Love You, Alone/Together, and of course, That Thing Called Tadhana. "In 2019 nag-check na kami around Quezon City. May nahanap na kaming place actually. Then the pandemic happened.”

Like everyone else, their plans had to be delayed. “Nirevisit na lang namin ang 'future cafe' nung nakahinga na uli kami. 2022 yata yun, naghanap na uli kami ng bagong spaces. Pero café na muna, saka na ang microcinema.”

Serving Yardstick roasts and a sense of humor

And now it is here – Basta Café. It isn’t immediately visible on the street, as it is in the basement of the K-Juan building, though you might be able to detect some activity behind the low windows of the building’s facade. There is a signboard outside alerting people to the cafe’s existence, right down the small set of stairs that one descends to reach the space.

It’s a simple place that holds maybe 25 people comfortably. The walls are bare concrete, and the ceiling is exposed. There is a counter on one side, where you will likely find at least one of the partners taking orders, or making coffee, or assembling plates of food. There is an espresso machine, a Sodarizer, an air fryer, and an oven – hardly a full kitchen but just enough to keep this place humming. Embedded in the counter is a pastry case. They write on the glass to describe what’s inside, among them “almond kwasang” (croissant), or “cake na maaalala mo yung 7th birthday mo.” There is music playing, often OPM, with songs from the Nadine Lustre and James Reid love team era solidly in the rotation. Nadine and James are the stars of Jadaone's Never Not Love You.

Fans of Jadaone might know she has an alternate Instagram account, @nakaluwagluwag (which in this case translates to financially liquid and therefore can afford a few luxuries) where she posts about travel and food. And though she speaks plainly about the latter on the account, it’s clear food is something she thinks about and has great appreciation for. And so in putting together a menu for her own café, the same thought and appreciation had to go into it. “[It’s a] mix of things and tastes we like; it’s also like a merging of our personalities: Offering really good taste served with creativity and wit: mga pagkain at drinks na may at maraming sinasabi.”

They get their coffee from popular local roaster Yardstick, and serve a medium to dark roast blend of Brazil and Indonesian Arabica beans. “Definitely kapeng masarap, kapeng creative, kapeng inspiring,” says Jadaone. And they’ve indeed put together a rather unique set of coffee drinks. They’ve got a Burnt Miso Latte (P220 for hot, P260 for iced), which on the menu they’ve jokingly marked as “A Childhood Favorite.” The miso adds depth and richness, as well as offering a tinge of umami that’s complemented by the torched sugar that tops the drink. They’ve got an Apple Espresso (P260), where they drop the coffee into carbonated Aomori apple juice and add a tinge of cinnamon. It’s a delicious combination, and something that you won’t just find anywhere.

Personal recipes and Tonet's QC faves

There’s just a personal touch to everything on the menu. “Nag-push kami [ng] own recipes from home, familiar tastes but we add some things to it to make it more unique. Yung mga hit na pagkain namin sa friends.”

So you get stuff like JP’s Cooked Adobo (P290), the director's personal recipe for the classic dish. You get the monstrosity that is UNPC (Ultimate Nakaluwagluwag Pancit Canton, P260), which sounds like a drunken night combination of noodles, spam, nori and egg.

All in all, Jadaone’s just having a good time. “Parang ito ang bagong baby namin bagong baby namin. Very much like kapag gumagawa ng pelikula. Tapos na ang script, natapos na ang pre-prod, ang principal photography. Eto na, playdate na. Pinalabas na ang pelikula, at ready nang i-share sa mga tao. Pero this time, yung reactions nila, pwede mong makita right then and there. Matsitsika mo pa habang andun ka sa cafe. Instant reactions, instant gratification. Grabe, ang sarap sa puso!”

“Nakakapagod syempre pero sa totoo lang, di ko nararamdaman ang pagod at puyat. Siguro kasi nabatak na kami sa production. Mas malala ang pagod at puyat sa pelikula,” she says with a laugh. “Pero pareho ng fulfillment. Pag gumagawa ka ng pelikula, bigay mo lahat, make it work, make it happen, love it and it will love you back. Ganun na yung nakasanayan kong mantra, at ganun naman din ginawa ko sa iba kong mga ganap — Tita Witty, Project 8 Projects, Ang Walang Kwentang Podcast. And now Basta.”

Also read: Four Philippine Cafes Included in the World's Best 100 Coffee Shops

At least part of that satisfaction comes from becoming part of the food scene in the area she loves the most. “Tomas Morato – and thereabouts – supremacy,” she answers, when asked about her current favorite places. She does live around the area, and though she will go pretty far to seek out a good food experience, she is very satisfied with the food around her home turf.

She gets oyster sisig and the pizzas from the new branch of Habanero on Roces. She braves the line at Some Thai for the crab and the 48-hour Beef Short Rib Curry. She crosses Timog for the unagi at Man Maru, or the chicharon teriyaki at Half Saints. She’ll get drinks at Recraft, at Flora, and Chickey’s. She’ll be found having horchata at Siesta on Scout Santiago. Jadaone has certainly partaken of the treats that the area has to offer, and now with Basta Cafe, she and her partners get to offer treats of their own.

Photographs by Jar Concengco