Boracay Breakfast All Day at Lemon i Cafe

No other meal can beat the comfort of breakfast.

There’s nothing like waking up to the smell of garlic and butter hitting the pan, the refreshing taste of freshly squeezed orange juice and the exciting quiver of the yolk in a perfectly cooked sunny side up egg.

But as I awake to the calming sound of the waves crashing into the shores of Boracay, wrapped in a fluffy comforter, my mind tells my stomach to wait a few more minutes and I am lulled back to slumber. Minutes easily turn into hours and before I knew it, the clock hits 11:00 in the morning and I wake up in horror with a tummy grumbling for some good old breakfast food.

Aided by my mobile application, Food Spotting, I luckily discovered a Breakfast All Day cafe in Boracay, Lemon i Cafe. 

Lemon i Cafe is a pocket full of sunshine with its seemingly unending supply of natural light, bouncing off the cafe’s lemon yellow walls, recreating an eight in the morning breakfast scene. Indeed the perfect set up for sleepyheads like me. Somehow it manages to take off some of the guilt I carry from oversleeping. Haha.

Brewed Coffee (Php75)

Minutes before lunch time, my uncles and I settle in and begin our first meal of the day with a fresh cup of brewed coffee while we peruse their menu. A quick scroll through Food Spotting urges me to order me their best seller, Tiger Prawns with Risotto, but we are there for breakfast and I am too eager to have my soft-boiled eggs.

My uncles are also chirping their breakfast-sy tune, so they order a Traditional Omelette with Ham, Mushroom & Cheddar Cheese and a surprisingly filling Lemon Club, pesto mayo, grilled chicken, bacon, shrimps & marinated tomato sandwich. 

Traditional Omelette with Ham, Mushroom and Cheddar Cheese (Php225)

Lemon club, pesto mayo, grilled chicken, bacon, shrimps & marinated tomato (Php295)

My Uncle notices me eyeing his sandwich, so he gives me a quarter, which I happily consume in just three bites. This club sandwich begins with two pieces of soft bread, followed by an interplay of salty tones with various textures from crunchy bacon, slender grilled chicken to plump & juicy shrimps. The tomato juice and the lettuce then cleans the palate and prepares me for that final cherry on top, the lip smacking pesto mayo. I end up licking my fingers to catch final traces of this pesto mayo, but to no avail. I look over at my Uncle’s plate, but he has already wiped it clean with the last piece of bread, scrunched between his fingers. Aww… too late! But not to worry, I see my dish heading towards me.

Steak, eggs your style, sauteed potatoes and mushrooms (Php295)

Parts of my dish make their way to the table one by one, like elementary students in a single file. “Woah, that’s a lot of carbs!” I mutter under my breath as the waitress finally drops off the bread basket, completing the enormous jigsaw puzzle I fondly call my breakfast - Steak, Eggs your style, Sauteed Potatoes and Mushrooms.

My initial thoughts transverse from high to low, first overwhelmed at the sheer quantity of food before me for breakfast (a heavy breakfast indeed!) to an “Oh, I was expecting a mighty slab of steak.” 

Nonetheless, I allow my meal to take me by surprise as I dive right in, gunning first for the steak. Though its thin strips falls short of size expectation, it still merits my attention for its tenderness, leaving a combination of juice and oil on my tongue after every bite. It’s mighty flavorful, needing no sauce whatsoever, and is balanced out by the lightly seasoned baby potatoes and button mushrooms. And if that doesn’t cut it, there’s always the tiny fruit bowl of apple cubes to cleanse the palate.

But my favorite part of my meal are my much desired soft-boiled eggs, fancifully served on a silver dish, keeping the eggs upright. I’ve honestly never had my eggs served this way, so I am thrilled to grab a teaspoon and take a whack at it. I slowly unravel the egg, one mini piece of shell at a time, and I start to worry if they had mistakenly boiled the egg for too long. I’m going to be thoroughly disappointed if this is hard boiled!

But voila, it is soft-boiled!

A pool of egg yolk goodness lies in the center of its pearly white cave, begging for me to eat it, drink it and savor it! I tap a sprinkle of salt on it before spooning it out of its hard shell, watching the silky, thick egg yolk run down my spoon before reaching my mouth. Yum. I just can’t get enough of runny egg yolks!

So if you’re also a hardcore sleeper on vacations, I beg of you, don’t short-change yourself and skip out on breakfast. There might just be another Breakfast All Day cafe there like Lemon i Cafe.

After all, nothing beats a good breakfast to get your day rolling.

Even if it’s already midday.