One of the problems that most digital workers like me face is finding a good internet connection. Unfortunately, it’s painstakingly hard to find a good one where I live. Whether you’re traveling to Butuan City or you this is your work base, I’ve visited cafes to test their internet connection (and food) to find the best place to get some work done for freelancers, online workers and digital nomads.
Cafes I visited:
Gold n Pearl Cafe
Gold n Pearl Cafe used to be my favourite (when it comes to food and music) but their internet is too crappy to get any work done. They reset their router while I was there and I’m not sure if they forgot to turn it on again or there was really a technical problem because my laptop couldn’t detect their wifi after that.
Food-wise, I can recommend their sandwiches, matcha green tea latte and blueberry cheesecake in a cup. I ordered their sausage plate but it was too hard for my liking. The chicken rice bowl was too salty and overcooked.
This is a great cafe to hang out with your friends.
Hugot Cafe
Like I said in my caption, the place was cool but the music was so depressing. Sad love songs. I don’t know about you but music plays an important role when it comes to my productivity. Their internet connection was fast BUT it disconnects all the time. I don’t know what causes it but I didn’t get any work done.
If you don’t have knee and sitting problems, this cafe is a great place to hang out with your family and friends. As for the food, it wasn’t the best but it wasn’t the worst either.
Fulcrum Coffee
This is my new favourite cafe. The food is not only great but their internet connection is pretty stable. There were times when the connection gets slow but I’d take that than having no connection at all.
I recommend trying their wine-drunk sausages (really tender) with garlic bread and spiced chai latte. They also have the best burger in Butuan. The only thing I would love the cafe to have are more comfy seats.
Digital Coffee
I really wanted to like this coworking studio since it’s the first in Butuan but I’ve been to a couple of coworking places in the Philippines and abroad, and I can say that there’s room for improvement in this space.
Don’t get me wrong, the place is great. They have the most comfy seats and I really like the long table with individual chairs. But I went there and they didn’t have any power. It came back after 25-30 minutes but this is not what put me off. It was the loud music from the food shops below and someone was talking loudly there. The internet was fair and stable though just not as fast as the speed I get in Fulcrum Coffee.
If you like working with loud music and people chattering, this is great for you. It’s just hard for me to focus on writing when there’s too much background noise.
True Brew Cafe
True Brew has been my workplace of choice for a while before, but there are times when their connection is too slow to get any work done. Same with their food, sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s not.
I like the place because it’s my kind of working environment, the smell of coffee and bossa nova music.
I recommend their baby back ribs and potato salad. And oh, the best place to get Mango Crepe!
Lemon Time (It’s not a cafe but has a cafe feel to it)
I love Lemon Time simply because I love Lemons. If you have a relaxed work and don’t need a fast connection, this would be the place for you. But for me who needs a really good internet to download images, create videos and upload large files, I’m better off working in another cafe.
Their yakult lemon drink is a personal favourite. Try it!
Verdict:
And the winner goes to… FULCRUM COFFEE! They have the most stable internet from all the cafes I’ve visited and has great food and drinks. Their wifi connection is fast enough to download and upload large files. I think the only downside is that their menu is quite pricey compared to other cafes. But I can say that it’s worth it.
