My regular lunch stop these days
One of The Clog‘s editors said: “Let’s do a cafe crawl around campus.” I happened to have tried almost everything at UCafe and been going there forever these days, so I took up that part of the crawl. I sent a 466-word essay to the editor, right before I saw her email from 5 minutes earlier: “hey guys, cuz we’ll do 5 cafes total, let’s make it 100-150 words each”. Haha oops. Cutting time. Here’s the finished product.
Here’s my original 466 words. With pictures. 😉
“Since its grand opening last fall, UCafe on the South side has proved to be a reliable supplier of the Spanish bun (ham, cheese and sausage in a roll), the perfect $1.95 filler for those 10 minutes between classes.
Convenience:
It takes 1 minute to walk from Hearst Gym to UCafe, which is next to the post office at the Durant-Bowditch corner (yes, the post office with the most terrible customer service ever!). In UCafe, most of the pastries are placed in glass cabinets, you walk in, grab a tray at the front, a sheet of bakery paper and a pair of tongs, and start choosing. Even during the lunch rush, it doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to walk in and out of UCafe with your lunch if you already know what you want from the cabinets. If you have more time, a banh mi is worth the wait, and watching the kitchen staff rolling the dough into batches of ready-to-bake sausage rolls or the pâté getting spread inside your sandwich makes time go by faster.
There is enough seating for three by the window ledge, but almost nobody ever sits there.
Variety:
Clockwise from top left: pork bun, mango mousse, pork-and-green-onion roll, macadamia black devil (basically, rectangular chocolate muffin with nuts)
Clockwise from top left: patechaud (brioche with minced pork, $1.50), mini chocolate mousse ($3.95), cold cut banh mi ($3.25), lychee green tea (with lychee jelly, $3.50)
For the moment, only two kinds of banh mi are available: cold cuts ($3.25) and grilled pork ($2.75). However, the pastry selection is huge: several kinds of bread loaves, savory buns with sausage, beef, pork and chicken fillings, sweet buns with bean paste, berry and pineapple fillings, mooncakes, shortcakes, cookies, chocolate-muffin-like “butter bread”, etc. They also have a colorful assortment of macaroons, $1.25 each and “buy 4 get 1 free”.
To add to the young, chic but casual look of the café, the cake assortment and a multitude of milk tea and smoothie flavors are pleasing to the eyes and affordable for a student budget.
Price:
The cabinet pastries are all under $3, the mini cakes and regular-size drinks are under $4. One time they only accepted credit card for purchase over $15, I struggled to get up to $14.95 and the guy took pity on me and swiped my card anyway. Thank goodness they have no credit card limit now.
Taste:
Of course, you get what you pay for. Their cakes tend to be too sweet, the macaroons don’t appear with the best texture, and the banh mi is not made with the correct type of airy, scrumptious Vietnamese bread it’s supposed to be. But the overall taste is satisfactory, at least with the savory sausage buns.
To sum it up, UCafe is not a café where you sit and study while stylishly savoring your croissant with a cup of latte-art cappuccino. You can’t meet someone there for coffee either. But from there you can pick up a satisfying 2-minute lunch to go. It’s honest and no frills.”
Address: UCafe
2550 Durant Ave (between Bowditch St & Telegraph Ave)
Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 981-1853
Nice post. I was checking continuously this blog and I’m impressed! Extremely useful information specifically the last part 🙂 I care for such info much. I was looking for this particular information for a very long time. Thank you and best of luck.
1I like this weblog so much, saved to favorites. “To hold a pen is to be at war.” by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire.
2Very interesting info !Perfect just what I was looking for!
3Wonderful post however , I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit more. Kudos!
4Merely wanna remark on few general things, The website style is perfect, the content material is very excellent : D.
5Normally I don’t learn article on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very pressured me to check out and do so! Your writing taste has been amazed me. Thank you, quite nice post.
6You actually make it appear really easy with your presentation but I to find this topic to be really something that I believe I would never understand. It sort of feels too complex and very extensive for me. I’m having a look ahead to your next publish, I will attempt to get the hang of it!
7I love the efforts you have put in this, thanks for all the great content.
8I am impressed with this website , real I am a big fan .
9I regard something really special in this internet site.
10Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again very soon!
11There are definitely plenty of particulars like that to take into consideration. That could be a great level to convey up. I supply the thoughts above as general inspiration however clearly there are questions like the one you carry up where the most important factor shall be working in sincere good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged round issues like that, however I’m sure that your job is clearly recognized as a good game. Both girls and boys feel the impression of just a moment’s pleasure, for the remainder of their lives.
12Hi there very nice website!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I’ll bookmark your blog and take the feeds additionallyKI am glad to search out so many helpful info here within the post, we want work out more techniques in this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .
13This website is my aspiration, rattling good style and design and perfect articles.
14I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was curious what all is needed to get setup? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web savvy so I’m not 100 certain. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
15You are my inhalation, I possess few blogs and infrequently run out from to brand : (.
16An impressive share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If possible, as you become expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more details? It is highly helpful for me. Big thumb up for this blog post!
17I truly enjoy looking at on this web site, it contains excellent articles.
18Hey there, You have done a great job. I will definitely digg it and personally recommend to my friends. I am confident they will be benefited from this site.
19Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains. If you know of any please share. Many thanks!
20Nice blog here! Also your website loads up very fast! What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my site loaded up as fast as yours lol
21Whats up this is kinda of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!
22I discovered your blog site on google and check a few of your early posts. Continue to keep up the very good operate. I just additional up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Seeking forward to reading more from you later on!…
23Today, I went to the beach front with my children. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is totally off topic but I had to tell someone!
24I really enjoy looking at on this web site, it has wonderful posts. “Never fight an inanimate object.” by P. J. O’Rourke.
25I am not really good with English but I find this real easygoing to translate.
26Generally I don’t read post on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do it! Your writing style has been amazed me. Thanks, quite nice article.
27My brother suggested I may like this website. He was once entirely right. This post actually made my day. You cann’t consider just how much time I had spent for this info! Thank you!
28Very great post. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and wished to say that I have truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I will be subscribing for your feed and I am hoping you write once more very soon!
29Would love to incessantly get updated outstanding weblog! .
30I envy your work, thankyou for all the interesting content.
31Hey there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok. I’m undoubtedly enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts.
32Thanks for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do some research on this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I am very glad to see such fantastic information being shared freely out there.
33There are some interesting deadlines in this article but I don’t know if I see all of them heart to heart. There is some validity however I will take hold opinion till I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we wish extra! Added to FeedBurner as effectively
34It’s really a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m glad that you shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.
35Hello there! Do you know if they make any plugins to safeguard against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any recommendations?
36Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem with your web site in internet explorer, would check this… IE still is the market leader and a huge portion of people will miss your magnificent writing because of this problem.
37I am so happy to read this. This is the kind of manual that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that is at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this greatest doc.
38Spot on with this write-up, I really think this website wants much more consideration. I’ll probably be once more to learn much more, thanks for that info.
39I got what you mean ,bookmarked, very decent internet site.
40Useful info. Fortunate me I discovered your web site accidentally, and I’m surprised why this coincidence did not took place earlier! I bookmarked it.
41It’s truly a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m glad that you just shared this helpful info with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.
42I needed to send you this little remark just to thank you once again considering the exceptional advice you’ve featured here. It was simply remarkably generous of you to present openly precisely what most people might have distributed for an electronic book to generate some bucks on their own, especially considering the fact that you could have tried it in case you considered necessary. These creative ideas additionally worked as a easy way to fully grasp that other individuals have a similar interest similar to my personal own to figure out lots more in respect of this matter. I’m certain there are a lot more fun opportunities up front for many who examine your website.
43I think this internet site has got some real fantastic information for everyone. “The expert at anything was once a beginner.” by Hayes.
44of course like your web site but you need to check the spelling on several of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very troublesome to tell the truth nevertheless I’ll surely come back again.
45This internet site is my aspiration, very superb style and design and perfect articles.
46Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to assert that I get actually enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feeds and even I achievement you access consistently fast.
47Woh I love your posts, saved to favorites! .
48This web site is really a walk-through for all of the info you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll definitely discover it.
49certainly like your website but you need to take a look at the spelling on several of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling issues and I find it very troublesome to tell the truth however I will certainly come back again.
50