Chingu Dachi, coined from the Korean word “Chingu” and Japanese word “Dachi” which both means friend is a great cafe to meet up with your friends and enjoy Kpop over a good cup of drinks and some meals.
Ambiance
Situated in between residential and commercial buildings in Sampaloc Chingu Dachi is the perfect neighborhood café near University of Santo Tomas (UST) and some buildings around Manila. You may not notice it easily since it is located at the second floor of a building with a convenience store at the ground floor so you’d probably known about them through word of mouth or online.
Nevertheless, Chingu Dachi is the most ideal Kpop store and cafe I’ve seen. They have a wide array of food choices and Kpop merch so it is the perfect spot to spazz with your friends or do a cup sleeve event as well.
Chingu Dachi as a Kpop store
Chingu Dachi is also a merch haven for the fans. I’ve been a buyer of their online shop for a long time now but this is the first time that I visited one of their branches. It is not super big but they have the “collectors essentials” I guess. I found some of my favorite Kpop merch and I was able to buy additional sleeves for my photocards as my items are still in transit and I’m afraid that my tickets might fade without sleeves.
Chingu Dachi Cafe+’s Food
We ordered Caesar Salad (200 php) Doenjang (Soybean) Pasta (288 php) and some with no photos because we were too hungry that we dig in as soon as the food is delivered on our table. We also ordered Tuna Pasta in Olive Oil (288 php), Kimchi Fried Rice (295 php) and Rice with Chicken and Mushroom (I forgot the price).
The Caesar salad is my favorite because they gave us a lot of sauce. This is a big deal for me as a person who enjoys sauces a lot. The Doenjang Pasta is also good. It has no hint of doenjang for me though but overall taste is great. It contains mushroom, bacon and cream.
The tuna pasta in olive oil is just the usual pasta order you get at a restaurant. The kimchi fried rice is okay for most of us, it wasn’t as spicy as I expected but it is already good for Filipino who aren’t really good with eating spicy food. I wasn’t able to try the chicken and mushroom rice dish.
Probably the least favorite for me is the Korean Pork Steak (435 php) which I find a bit simple for a steak. For its price I am expecting at least a bit of side dish like beans or mashed potato but it was just a small cut of steak.
On the other hand, everyone’s favorite is the Dalgona Tiramisu (325 php), four of us shared this for dessert and I can truly say that it is really good. You’ll probably think it is too sweet as it is a cake and topped with dalgona but the tiramisu has an addicting zesty sweet cream flavor that balances everything.
Chingu Dachi’s photo booth
The newest addition to their café is this aesthetic ‘HYPE ME UP’ Photobooth, a new and trending Korean-style photobooth where photos are taken from a high-angle giving a different POV to your photo!
Location
1655 Don Quijote, corner Piy Margal St, Sampaloc, Manila
