Liberte Cafe is a hidden gem for Filipino food in Vancouver. This unassuming cafe is tucked inside an apartment complex on Boundary. Liberte Cafe is turning out all-day fare, from sweets & coffee to Filipino mains. It is a small space, so definitely come early if you want to get a seat. They also sell out of items and run out of items, so it is best to come from brunch. It is a very cozy space and I love that there are so many sweet and savoury options to choose from. We went by around dinner on a Saturday and unfortunately for us they were sold out of a lot of items. However, that’s fine for us because it gives us another reason to come back. Check out my review below for what I though of Liberte Cafe!
Liberte Cafe – Starters and Drinks
Liberte Cafe has an extensive hot and cold drink menu. They have all the classics like Americano, Macchiato and Latte to some more innovative offerings. Some of the more interesting drinks include Hong Kong Fog, Ube Latte and Tokyo Fog. From the cold drink menu your typical juices and soda but they also have bubble tea!
On this visit we had an Ube Latte ($4.80). I was told in advance the latte is quite sweet so we had this half sweet. The colour is beautiful, and it reminds me of the taro bubble teas of my childhood. It was very milky though, so I don’t think I would order this again.
To start we had the Empanda ($7.00). The filling consists of chicken, cheese and seasoning. This was only ok. It was very dry and the filling lacked taste overall. They were also very uneven. One had way more filling and the other was mainly pastry. I don’t have a lot of experience with empanadas but these were incredibly dry.
Liberte Cafe – Filipino Main Dishes
Originally we had wanted to try one of their Pandesal Toast sets but they were out of toast. So then we wanted to try the Special Silog, but they were out of garlic rice. Finally we settled on one of their waffle sets. It turned out to be a blessing they were out of our first two picks because the waffles were really good!
Longanisa Waffle ($18.00) comes with Liberte house waffle (ube!), 5 chicken longanisa, syrup, butter, hashbrowns and house salad. Ours didn’t come with syrup or butter, but the waffle was flavourful on its own so we didn’t miss it much. The waffle was light and crisp with a fluffy interior. The hashbrowns were potato wedges, but still tasty!
Longanisa is a Filipino sausage made from ground meat and stuffed into hog casings, then cooked slowly over low heat. The version at Liberte Cafe is made with chicken and it was delicious. It was definitely the highlight of the meal.
Liberte Cafe – Dessert
We definitely couldn’t leave a Filipino cafe without trying their Halo Halo. We got a small Halo Halo ($5.95) to share. This dessert features shaved Ice, Ube ice cream, condensed milk, and Halo Halo toppings. I’m a huge fan of beans in my dessert so this dessert was right up my alley. I like that it had chunks of leche flan in it as well.
Worth a Try?
Yes. I think if you are unfamiliar with Filipino cuisine (like myself) this is a good spot to try Filipino food. I like that they are doing twists on their dishes, and I found the whole menu very approachable. The staff was very friendly and they were always on top of checking in on us. Overall, I really enjoyed my meal here and I’ll definitely be back to try some of the items we missed out on this time.
Liberte Cafe & Restaurant
Address: 3670 Vanness Ave, Vancouver, BC V5R 4P9
Telephone: 604-564-9126
Website: https://libertecafe.com/