Exploring Megamall's fashion mall early in the day in mid July led me to have coffee in Satchmi, which apparently has been there since 2014, the same year Fashion Mall opened. It's my first time here since I hardly go to this area anymore, but what a find! What attracted me to this place was its brick and wood interior... which exuded a classy yet unintimidating presence. Wandering at 11 am meant there wasn't any customer around (there was a lot of staff plus one of its owners too), so I took my time exploring and taking photos of the place to review it. It was simply stunning, probably among the top 5 coffee shop interiors I've ever seen, here and abroad (and 1 of 2 coffee shops with the most magnificent interiors I've seen just this month of July-- the other being Coffee Project along Sgt Esguerra in QC).
Satchmi had recently been expanded (as in it was just a few days old) to include more tables and chairs, plus more room to sell stuff, so I didn't get to see when it was smaller and tighter for people, according to a friend. Now, it can seat probably about 50 people, so I found it quite roomy and comfortable and, at the time of visit, serene. Of course I settled on the most comfy part of the store, its one soft couch near the counter.
Forgive my ignorance, but exploring the store more made me realize that Satchmi is more of a music store than a coffee shop. It was littered with shelves of vintage vinyl records, which was fairly unique and quite cool, I realized, as coffee shops go. Some albums reached as far back as the 60's up to my growing up years in the 90's so it's got a pretty wide range of album selection. Plus, to fit the vintage, it even sells film and film-based cameras. Not one for vintage stuff, I still found the place pretty impressive, nonetheless. Satchmi has two listening rooms, at a loft behind what looks like a coffee bar, and plenty of tables and chairs, so whether you want alone time, exolore different music genres, have a small business meeting, study or, hell, even go on a date, it's got something for everyone. Check the pics out and see for yourself.
Unfortunately, since I'm a Spotify and mp3 guy, I didn't check the price of the records. Sacrilege to audiophiles, perhaps, but I'm really not this store's core market. I did get to glance at the equipment and found some to be upwards of P10k ($200 and up), and it was nice to find other audio stuff like Marshall earphones & Braven Bluetooth speakers, and a few craft items like notebooks, paint, brushes (though not a lot of variety given the store's size), and maybe coloring stuff (?), plus colorful socks, named Happy Socks, so it's worth a look.
Where Satchmi got its -1 was their coffee. I asked what beans they used but all I got was it was a Satchmi blend. Anyway, I ordered Americano and found theirs to be a watery type of coffee, sadly bland, and tasted like a bad version of the pod based coffee machines. Sorry, at least it was P90 for an Americano. On the side, Satchmi also serves sandwiches, bruschettas, and soup, besides the usual dessert and pastries. Priced at P120 to P290, it's reasonable. So do check this place out for something uncommon in a coffee place so you can chill. Oh and kudos to their selection of music, a blend of 90's alternative and rock.
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