‘NEW NORMAL’ NEW TREATS
Lockdown or no lockdown, their creative juices continue to flow, and now that the atmosphere is more relaxed and restaurants and bakeshops are allowed more freedom to operate, innovative ideas burst out through these new food treats
Despite all forms of lockdown or the so-called “community quarantines” (CQ) that have restrained everyone’s movements for four months now (going five), there’s no stopping the creativity of Filipino chefs. Lockdown or no lockdown, their creative juices continue to flow, and now that the atmosphere is more relaxed and restaurants and bakeshops are allowed more freedom to operate, innovative ideas burst out through these new food treats.
Here are some of the freshly launched must-tries from four of the country’s top chefs, all available for pick-up and delivery.
Chef Penk Ching's peach-almond cake
Chef Penk Ching is not just the master and innovator of wedding cakes. She also bakes the best “regular” ones in the metro. They are regular cakes in the sense that they take the form of loaves, but that’s as far as “regular” goes because they are special. Baked with love and care, her carrot-walnut, banana-walnut and apple-walnut cakes have gained a loyal following — and it looks like her newest offering, peach-almond cake, will become a certified best-seller as well.
Just launched recently, Chef Penk’s moist and lovely peach-almond cake contains generous helpings of peach chunks and roughly chopped almonds.
“I just love peaches and almonds, so I think they are a perfect combination,” explains Chef Penk, when you ask her how she came up with the combination.
The loaf cake comes in an elegant Pastry Bin bronze-colored box with gold slipover jacket that gives it a high-end look and feel. It is moist and bursting with flavor with every bite. No scrimping on ingredients.
To order, call or send a message to 0917-8122676. The peach-almond cake is available every day, but two days’ advance notice would be appreciated.
Chef Jackie Ang Po's Mocharanello
Well-known chef Jackie Ang Po has recently launched two new cakes: Mocharamello and cashew-praline sans rival. Mocharamello is the newest mocha cake of Fleur de Lys
Patisserie and Café. It has cream and a smooth caramel icing.
Launched last 15 July, it comes in an eight-by-eight-inch tray, which is perfect for family gatherings at home or for gift-giving. It sells for P500.
Whether you like your sans rival crunchy or chewy, Fleur De Lys’ cashew-praline sans rival with a nice, smooth buttercream is the perfect choice. It is crunchy when frozen and chewy when chilled.
To enjoy either of the two cakes or both, visit Fleur de Lys at 305 Tomas Morato Avenue, Quezon City (open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), or call 837-20631 or 0922-8353878. Delivery via Grab, Lalamove or any other service app may be arranged, delivery fee on the account of the customer.
Chef Gene Gonzalez's Mango Jubilee Cake
It started with Café Ysabel’s best-seller, strawberry shortcake, which chef Gene Gonzalez and his kitchen team transformed into a cake in can, not only because it was the trend but more because they needed packaging that would keep the form and freshness of their frozen product. The team kitchen-tested the recipe three times before hitting the perfect formula, and when they did, there was no turning back. Topped generously with strawberries, the canned version of strawberry shortcake turned out to be a big hit that called for a follow-up.
Now you can have Mango Jubilee Cake, another cake in can off the pastry kitchen of Café Ysabel. It is made with fresh mangoes, mango jubilee sauce, chiffon and cream
“Mango Jubilee as an ice cream dessert is a Café Ysabel classic. We had to translate the buttery, caramel, mango and citrus goodness into a cake dessert,” explains Chef Gene. “Similar to what we did with the strawberry shortcake, we did a run of three batches and had to taste the items every few days. We also tweaked the product in such a way that it would taste good whether it is frozen, semi-frozen or chilled.”
The frozen dessert comes in a six-inch can and sells for P780 per can. To order, visit https://form.jotform.com/cafeysabel/foodorders, accomplish the order form for pick-up and delivery, and submit. Rider may be booked by the customer or arranged with Café Ysabel.
Chef Sau del Rosario's Buttery and Garlicky Monay
Count on chef Sau del Rosario to come up with the most genius ideas in food.
He can make classic treats seem new and modern creations look and taste familiar. Remember what he did to buko pie with his VucoFye? What about how he elevated the regular Egg Pie to gourmet status with his Klassic Heg Fye and Tsokolateh Heg Fye?
His newest creations are Vananah Walnut Malagos Tsokolate Vread and Buttery and Garlicky Monay with California Cheese Stuffing.
Banana bread often takes the form of a loaf and usually just plays with a few banana slices and roughly chopped walnuts as topping, but Chef Sau’s Vananah Walnut Malagos Tsokolate Vread takes on a hefty round shape and is like a painter’s canvas with generous toppings of banana slices, almost whole walnuts and chocolate chunks arranged in creative splendor. It sells for P795.
And the low-profile monay from the neighborhood bakery which is almost devoid of topping? For his Buttery and Garlicky Monay with California Cheese Stuffing, Chef Sau scores the top with two crisscrossing slashes that form a cross shape, then lines the cross with cheese and sprinkles the entire surface of the bread with more cheese and chopped chives. It is P625 for four pieces.
To order, call or text 0917-1928343. Deliveries all over Pampanga and to Metro Manila and surrounding cities and municipalities follow a regular weekly schedule.