Lugang Cafe SM Aura — Restaurant in Taguig

We visited Lugang Cafe in SM Aura for a late lunch, ordering a variety of dishes to get a well-rounded experience. Here’s our take on what we tried:

We ordered two types of dumplings: two sets of Xiao Long Bao and a set of vegetable dumplings. The Xiao Long Bao was delicious—each bite was juicy and well-seasoned, capturing the classic flavors we expected. However, the vegetable dumplings were somewhat disappointing. They tasted a bit bland, with the flavor of one specific vegetable dominating the dish, lacking the balance and variety of flavors we remembered from past visits.

The thinly breaded pork dish was a standout—crispy, tender, and perfectly seasoned. It brought the right amount of crunch and was definitely a highlight of the meal. We also tried the braised beef, which lived up to its reputation with tender meat and rich flavors that truly satisfied. The squid, chicken, and adobo-like dishes were more on the “mid” side. They were seasoned well but didn’t stand out in flavor, which might come down to personal preference.

For drinks, we had brewed iced tea, mango cranberry, and honey lemon. The mango cranberry was refreshing and not overly sweet, which I appreciated. The iced tea was standard, while the honey lemon was pleasantly balanced and refreshing.

When it came to service, we had a few minor issues. Water wasn’t provided at the start, and we had to request it several times. Similarly, we had to repeatedly ask for dumpling sauce and salt, which took a few attempts to arrive. Despite these small hiccups, the servers—Joana, Clinton, Rona, Kelly, EK, Ghie, Belle, and Len—were attentive and efficient once they were engaged. Our primary server, Ghie, was especially outstanding, always serving with a genuine smile and making sure we were well taken care of.

Overall, Lugang Cafe offered a mixed experience. While some dishes truly impressed us, others fell a bit short in flavor. With a few service adjustments, it could easily become a top...

Cafe Lugang, SM Aura, BGC. Solid Fine Dining and Customer service!

Food: The food at Cafe Lugang is definitely delicious. It tastes and feels like it was made from the freshest and most high quality ingredients they have to offer. I for one, enjoyed the food and the serving sizes they provided us with. If your main concern is about the serving sizes, I'd like to say that it's definitely good for events and catering as the serving sizes are given in generous portions that can easily be distributed by person. So far, the food is a definite 8/10.

Customer Service: The staff and waiters were very proffesional, quick to serve and always had a pleasant demeanor when serving the food and drinks at the restaurant. There was never a time I felt that I needed to wait too long for something specific like food, drink or their complimentary water.

A very fond experience of mine was when I had recently lost a parking ticket at the restaurant events area. I went back in a rush after an hour thinking I'd have lost my parking ticket for sure. But when I asked around the cleaning staff, A staff member named Allerick helped me find my ticket taking time off his day to keep up the exceptional customer service even if he could've easily brushed me off and said no. I can see that Cafe Lugang's staff is trained very exceptionally in the field of customer service and shoutout again to Kuya Allerick for helping me find my ticket!

Overall: A definite must visit when you are in SM Aura or looking for an events place in BGC. Good food, Exceptional Customer service and a great time overall. Definitely a place to visit when you're...

Less 3 Star due to the following: We were informed that it will only take 15-20 mins for them to serve the food but we waited for 45 mins to complete all our orders. They started serving the food after 20 minutes. All dimsum were served but our rice and main dish was served after 45 minutes. We ordered 6:15pm but 7:00pm i was informed that the drinks i ordered is unavailable. It took us 3 follow-ups for our rice and main dish. Since we cannot eat our rice and main dish after all the waiting, we ask them to prepare it for take out. To our surprise we were just given the containers and we will be the one to transfer the food. No problem with us doing it but with all the stress it was another unpleasant experience. No one is checking for the needs of people sitted outside. Water refill, order follow-up will require you to raise your hand for minutes and hope that a server inside will notice you.

The 2 star is for the following: FOODS are delicious, if only you can eat it while its hot. Pets are allowed on their al fresco tables. They provide water for our pet.

We were expecting much because we know this place is expensive. It was a saturday night and tables are full but that is what expected during this time but you can see they are understaffed. Management should improve...