Delightful Noche Buena additions

Two baked goods that make delightful Noche Buena additions: 

Brazo de Mercedes and Stollen bread.

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Madelicious: Hot pandesal right off the oven

The manager told me that they churn out approximately 4,000 pieces of pandesal a day.

What’s unusual about this bake shop is that they constantly fill their pandesal bin with this hot-right-off-the-oven Pinoy favorite bread, because, as if non-stop, people buy them throughout the entire course of a 24-hour period.

What I often do is grab a seat in one of the three tables inside the shop and order two pieces at a time as each new batch of steaming hot pandesal are placed on the trays.  And they are incredibly delectable hot!  I would also bring along some cheese as filling.

Madelicious Bakeshop is located in Gallares Street in Tagbilaran.  And from what I learned online, Madelicious started operation in July 1998 in the City of Iligan by Mr. Marianito Dumadag Alemania and Mrs. Madel Penaso Alemania. They now have 44 branches and outlets all over Mindanao, Tagbilaran City, and in Metro Manila. 

Suggested read:

POC: Mga paboritong tinapay Pinoy

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I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

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Kim Chong Tin Hopia Factory

Kim Chong Tin Hopia Factory on Carlos Palanca Street (formerly Echague) in Quiapo, remains to this day the best hopia producer in Metro Manila – better than Polland’s and Eng Bee Tin's. 

Its various fillings – from mongo bean paste to baboy (made of candied winter melon, green onions and pork fat) are incredibly delectable. And this is the only hopia store in Metro Manila that sells the most scrumptious mini hopias.   

And one of the secrets of this hopia factory, according to Pam Obieta of the Cooking Class, is that the bakers use the lard or drippings from the ham products sold at Excellente Ham, a few doors away, in making the dough.  This innocent looking  pastry stuffed with yellow mung bean and red eggs has the earthy and smokey flavors of ham. Baked in a traditional pugon oven it is best eaten hot because it is high in cholesterol.

The store looks sparse, but that's because they bake as needed; hence, their hopias are always fresh right off the oven.  Also, the bulk of their business is the hopia filling, which is sold per kilo to various bake shops nationwide.  Its current manager is the affable great grandson of the original owner.

My father started taking me here when I was a kid.  We used to buy a few bags to bring home as Saturday afternoon merienda.  And as a teenager, I used to grab a bag of mini hopias and a can of soda here before buying a ticket to one of the movie theaters along Rizal Avenue.  

According to the Web site Ang Sarap, hopia was introduced to the Philippines by the Fujian Chinese during the American occupation.  It came from the Chinese word ho-pian which means “good biscuit”, it is nearly similar to moon cake wherein a pastry is filled with a sweet paste, and it is also traditionally given as a gift.  

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I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

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Pan De Sal Bakeshop and Eatery, NYC

Pandesal galore!

Pandesal stuffed with Adobo

Beef steak: pandesal sandwich stuffing

I am yet to visit in person this Manhattan bake shop and eatery located at 21st Street and Second Avenue.  You see, it was established after I've moved back to the Philippines.  I had discovered it online and was simply enamored by the photos of their pandesal stuffed with typical Pinoy viands and various mouth-watering baked goods.

However, I do intend to make it my first stop once I go back to New York.  In fact, getting a pad somewhere in Union Square would be ideal so I could be near this Filipino bake shop. How delightful that would be.

From what I understand, besides chicken adobo, they offer myriad sumptuous stuffing for their pandesal, such as pate, corned beef, beef steak, white fish salad, and Spanish ham to name a few.

And based on the photo of their chiller filled with assorted Belgian, French and Filipino cakes, pies and various sweet treats, Pan De Sal is a full-pledge high quality bake shop. Wouldn't it be something to spend an afternoon tasting each one while sipping a steaming mug of their LavAzza coffee or iced tea?

Pan De Sal also offers buffets for lunch ($12) and dinner ($15).

   

Chiller of assorted Filipino, French and Belgian sweet treats

Vanilla cupcakes

Purple yam desserts

Assorted chocolate cupcakes

Ube roll

Ginataan ube (purple yam with tapioca)

Pan de Sal’s proprietors Marissa and Henry Beck

Pan de Sal: NYC’s trendy eatery, bake shop

The Filipino Reporter

Pan de Sal, one of New York City’s elegant and homey patisserie and resto bar owned by the husband and wife team of Marissa and Henry Beck, continues to draw Gramercy area residents and neighbors for over a year now with its traditional Filipino delicacies and decadent treats, and a very charming ambiance.

Guests can enjoy homemade Filipino dishes from chicken adobo to embotido, as well as daily Filipino, French or Belgian breakfast.

After a hearty meal, diners can enjoy a wide variety of fresh pastries and specialty cakes paired with the famous Lavazza Italian coffee.

It’s a perfect place for intimate get-togethers among friends or private party for small offices or Pinoy groups in the Big Apple.

Open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Pan de Sal is located at 245 East 21st Street and 2nd Avenue (212.228.8273). 

Visit www.pandesalny.com

Note: All photos courtesy of Pan De Sal, NYC

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Suggested read: Bread Talk: Part 7 - Pandesal


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Bread Talk: Part 7 - Pandesal

This is one local bread that is incredibly popular throughout the entire country.  I have fond memories of it, and practically everyone else who grew up here.   For breakfast and mid-afternoon snack or merienda, there would always be a bagful of freshly-baked pandesal on our table purchased from the neighborhood bakery. 

Almost always, they would be accompanied with bukayo (sweetened grated coconut), coco jam, fruit jelly or marmalade, cheddar cheese, and butter.  Or we could ask for scrambled eggs or omelettes, sausages, bacon, and Spanish sardines. They were served as stuffing for a pandesal sandwich. Some older folks in the family, on the other hand, would just dunk a plain pandesal in their cups of hot coffee with great relish.

Introduced in the Philippines during the 16th century, pandesal originally started out as a plain roll similar to the French baguette, as the only ingredients needed were hard wheat flour, water, yeast and salt. Eventually, the quality of available wheat flour could no longer produce the ideal crusty exterior and chewy interior; thus, pandesal gradually became sweeter and richer. The remaining similarity between the earlier lean pandesal and the modern version is the coating of bread crumbs, giving its identifying flavor.

Pandesal can be made from any type of dough and still resemble pandesal as long as the dough is rolled in fine breadcrumbs before baking. The softness of the newer type of pandesal -- which consumers unaware of the proper texture now find desirable -- is due to a weak dough structure derived from inferior quality flour.  Local prices vary from 2 to 5 pesos each depending on which bakery you buy it from.

Papaya and pineapple jam from Leyte

Suggested reads:

Gardenia Pizza Pandesal Recipe

Vicky Franca's Pandesal Blog

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Related links:

Bread Talk: Part  1 - Baker Mar

Bread Talk: Part 2 - Rene's Swiss Bakery

Bread Talk: Part 3 - C.U. Restaurant and Deli

Bread Talk: Part 4 - Jojie's Bakeshop

Bread Talk: Part 5 - Easter Indulgences

Bread Talk: Part 6 - Bagels

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Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!

Bread Talk - Part 6: Bagels

Before Baker Mar left for Dubai late last year, he surprised me with a mini bagel and bialy that he made (above photo).  You see, Baker Mar used to work as chief baker at New York Bagel Shop at Ayala Alabang (now closed), and when I met him in Panglao, we talked a lot about my favorite New York City bread – bagels, as well as the New York Bagel Shop where he used to work and where I used to buy some bagels.

Hence, this surprise gift from Baker Mar was the last time I enjoyed this iconic bread.  As Time once quipped, “There are few foods that are truly unique to New York, and the bagel is one of them. Pizza belongs to America now, but the bagel was always the undisputed property of New York.”

Mimi Sheraton, food critic for The New York Times, in her recent article, “Lost, Then Found: New York Classics,” said about bagels,” I remember them well. Say, about three and a half inches across with a good wide center hole; a crisp, shiny, golden crust; and chewy, dense, gray interiors that turned to stone if not eaten within three hours of being baked. (A few words about the hole: It is essential first because it ensures a crisp crust at the center, and because the cream cheese and smoked salmon, when properly laid across that empty expanse, afford a luscious mouthful uncompromised by bread.) Their like will not come this way again, given shortages of skilled workers and the modern taste for softness and eternal shelf life, plus the need for a gigantic size to justify a retail price that covers the high cost of labor.”

Bagels never really caught on here in Panglao even with its numerous foreign residents.  Neither did it become popular in the rest of the country.  And the ones I once bought at the French Baker shop in Manila, were way too mushy and soft, no trace whatsoever of the authentic New York City bagels like those sold at H&H Bagels at Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

In Jakarta, however, three bagel stores have opened in the past 12 months, all led by young entrepreneurs.. The bagels themselves are classic New York-style – evaluated by Jewish friends from the Big Apple, the owners say – and come in 10 flavors.  Indeed, bagels are here to stay the capital of the world’s most Muslim-populous nation.

One group of bagel shop owners are also planning a MoBagel, a customized Isuzu minivan that will serve as a rolling bagel factory to expand the store’s party catering and perhaps even allow the owners to test markets in other cities like Bandung and Surabaya.

Incidentally, if you’re a bagel enthusiast like I am, you might find this wired.co.uk article on Dan Graf, a Californian chef who has been scientifically engineering the “perfect bagel” quite interesting.

According to the article, Graf's boss and Waters's former cook Peter Levitt, made a pilgrimage to the iconic delis of New York before taking over Saul's, a delicatessen a few doors down from Chez Panisse. After working as a cook and deli manager at Saul's, Graf was likewise encouraged by Levitt to "stage" with a longtime New York bagel producer and learn the old methods of poached bread.

Graf had other ideas. Rather than bowing to tradition, the 27-year-old former genetics major dove into online forums, scoured research, and embraced analytical lab techniques, emerging from his basement-apartment kitchen with a bagel that combines a uniquely crisp and blistered crust with a rich and chewy interior redolent of the best bagels in and around Graf's native New Jersey. Less than a month from launch, Graf's one-man company Baron Baking is selling to three different San Francisco Bay Area restaurants, building buzz in the local press, and pleasing a fan base of local gourmands and restaurant owners. Lower East Side bagel elders be damned.

As for Baker Mar, hopefully, sometime in the near future, he will come back home a rich man and open an authentic bagel shop in Manila and Bohol.

Is there a good bagel shop in your area?

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Related links:

Bread Talk: Part  1 - Baker Mar

Bread Talk: Part 2 - Rene's Swiss Bakery

Bread Talk: Part 3 - C.U. Restaurant and Deli

Bread Talk: Part 4 - Jojie's Bakeshop

Bread Talk: Part 5 - Easter Indulgences

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Sharing with Food Trip Fridays, A Rural Journal, Mandatory Mooch, Fabulous Friday, 
Show & Tell Friday, and Creative Mondays

Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!

Bread Talk: Part 5 - Easter Indulgences

Easter, much like Christmas, is universally celebrated with various gastronomic indulgences.  What I've decided to feature, however, are the delightful baked goods and sweet delectables from Panglao Island's notable Saffron Restaurant & Bar.

The lead photo above shows a platter of baba au rhum muffin, white cheese & chorizo mini sandwich, and chocolatized turon de bohol.

In Bohol, the ever popular French toast is oftentimes prepared with white bread, but in the United States, some restaurants prepare it with sourdough. In New York's Jewish-American communities, the leftover challah bread from Friday night Sabbath is commonly used to make French toast on Sunday morning.

In French-speaking Canada, it is known as pain doré, which means "golden bread"; the most popular topping is maple syrup.  In England, it is known as "eggy bread", "egg dip" or "gypsy toast."  Eggy bread is rarely found in cafes, it is more of a household favorite made for breakfast or tea.  Whereas in Hong Kong western restaurants, French toast is served all day from breakfast to afternoon tea.

And my Easter baked goods showcase is not complete without Saffron's touted ube, mongo, and cheese bread.  They are incredibly delicious and can be enjoyed all throughout the day with tablea chocolate or brewed coffee.

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Related links:

Bread Talk: Part  1 - Baker Mar

Bread Talk: Part 2 - Rene's Swiss Bakery

Bread Talk: Part 3 - C.U. Restaurant and Deli

Bread Talk: Part 4 - Jojie's Bakeshop

Food Photography

Food Trip Friday

Favorite Photo Monday

Yummy Sunday

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Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!

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Bread Talk: Part 4 - Jojie's Bakeshop

This is my favorite Filipino bakery located at Masagsag Street in Tagbilaran City.   It’s a complete Filipino baked goods shop – from cakes to popular local delicacies.

  

They also offer suman (made from glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk, and then wrapped in banana leaves before they are steamed).  My all-time favorite is the kamoteng kahoy, but here at Jojie’s you can find banana (saba) suman – surprisingly tasteful!  In addition, Jojie’s Bakeshop carry roasted peanuts without any oil or salt!  And when I found these at the counter, I could scarcely conceal my delight.

Incidentally, Jojie’s Bakeshop at Masagsag Street has a dining area with the view of the water – indeed, a very pleasant place to unwind and enjoy a cup of coffee along with those freshly-baked merienda fare.  Jojie's Bakeshop has branches all over Tagbilaran City.

A very amusing read: The 20 Greatest Bread Quotes of All Time

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Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!

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Bread Talk - Part 3: C.U. Resto & Deli

Paris today millions of pounds of bread are sold daily, made during the previous night by those strange, half-naked beings one glimpses through cellar windows, whose wild-seeming cries floating out of those depths always makes a painful impression. In the morning, one sees these pale men, still white with flour, carrying a loaf under one arm, going off to rest and gather new strength to renew their hard and useful labor when night comes again. I have always highly esteemed the brave and humble workers who labor all night to produce those soft but crusty loaves that look more like cake than bread."

                                                                     Alexandre Dumas, French writer (1802-1870)

The acronym C.U. stands for Chef Urlich, the owner and proprietor of C.U. Resto & Deli, on the ground floor of Tip Top Hotel.  Besides its nightly Salad Buffet (except on Wednesday and Saturday nights), Wednesday night Mongolian Buffet, and Saturday night Grill Buffet, its delicatessen is worth raving about.

It may appear to offer the usual baked goods as those of other fine bakeries, but in closer inspection, you'll find more ... lots more – croissants of various kinds, including hazelnut and Mediterranean.  They also have a wide array of different loaf breads, baguettes, rolls, cinnamon rolls, and much more.   One of the cafes in the island I often go to for snacks, as it turns out, get their bread from C.U. Deli.

They also have cakes of many kinds that you can order a slice of for 140 pesos – such as mango cheesecake, chocolate, and apple pie; a scoop of ice cream to go along with it is 60 pesos extra.  

And since Chef Urlich is German, I asked him if he also bakes apple strudels, or apfelstrudel; considering the numerous German and Swiss nationals in the area who may be craving for a slice of it every now and then.   He said no on account of the limited shelf life of the strudel.  And this is the reason why he opts for apple pies instead.  However, I can order a whole apple strudel if I wanted to.  And since I haven't had any apple strudel in so long, I may take him up on it -- for the holiday season.

The following photos depict some of the snacks I’ve enjoyed in this delightful delicatessen over several visits.  Their cream of tomato soup is superb, as well as their chicken and tuna sandwiches.   Their hazelnut croissants and cinnamon rolls I've come to love; whereas, their cheese and cold cut selections impressed me like those in New York.  Moreover, they have wines, pickles, imported sardines, and chocolates to fill a picnic basket.

This is Claire, the morning shift manager of the C.U. Resto & Deli.  

You may contact her to inquire about certain deli products you may have in mind.

The C.U. Resto & Deli is open from 6 am to 10 pm.  It is located on Ester Lim Drive, 

Tawala, Panglao Island, right across the street from Hennan Resort. 

Telephone: 038-502-8308

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Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!

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