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| gourmet pandesals @ The Bread Bar |
Who doesn't love pandesal? I've yet to meet a Pinoy who doesn't like our national bread roll. I always ask my Nanay or my Tita in the morning to fetch me a bag of these doughy treats. Back in the days, at exactly five in the morning, I would hear a kid's voice shouting "pandesal" in a rolling-type way as a magbabalut would shout "balut". That voice also serves as my "alarm" to wake me up. But now, that kid's voice was replaced by honking horns of single bicycles. Roaming around our neighborhood at least twice or thrice before retreating to the bakery where they came from before seven o'clock.
I also like my pandesal to be a bit toasted or has that brownish color. I usually beat my Nanay on who get the most brownish, toasted pandesal. And then, I would usually lather it thick with butter and then I'll dip it to my coffee with milk and two spoonfuls of sugar before dunking it into my gaping mouth. Such pure bliss.
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| casa marcos & the bread bag menus |
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| table setting |
Just recently, I met the another variant of our humble pandesal. This time the pandesal was given a more sophisticated look thus it amplified its desirably delicious factor. I found these so-called gourmet pandesals at The Bread Bag Pandesal Bar, a subsidiary of the famed Casa Marcos of the 1960s.
I thought they only have just one branch in Forbeswood Heights in BGC, Taguig. You could just imagine how overly ecstatic I was when I learned from a GMA-7 news feature that they also have a branch here in Ortigas Home Depot in Julia Vargas which is nearer my place.
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| sola iced tea |
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| chicken & mushroom pandesal |
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| adobo flakes with kesong puti pandesal |
I was with Gael when I visited their branch in Julia Vargas. The server brought us two sets of menus. One for Casa Marcos and one for The Bread Bar. We naturally zeroed in on the menu offered by The Bread Bar.
Gael initially wanted to order the Adobo Flakes With Kesong Puti Pandesal. However, when she learned that I also planned to buy that pandesal variant, she acquiesced and ordered instead the Chicken & Mushroom Pandesal. The chicken pieces were very tender and the mushroom gravy they've used was very much similar in taste to those gravies offered in fast food restaurants. Although this one has a more thicker consistency.
The Adobo Flakes With Kesong Puti variant has a more complex flavor. The adobo flakes was very tasty with that unmistakable smoky note albeit I just find it a bit dry. The kesong puti or Laguna cheese harmonized very well with the smoky flavor of the adobo. The adobo sauce that came with it has a liver pâté like consistency and taste that rounded up all the flavors. My order of Sola Lemon Iced Tea provided that much needed refreshment to battle the scorching heat.
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| pandesal ice cream |
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| look how the ice cream melts so quickly! |
On a whim, I also ordered the Pandesal Ice Cream for dessert. This is not your ordinary pandesal where you just put the ice cream as filling or palaman. This version of The Bread Bag was, again, more sophisticated in execution and looked more pristine. The pandesal breads were prepared the French toast way. Then they put two scoops of vanilla ice cream, swirls of caramel syrup and a sweet red cherry for garnish. This was absolutely one heavenly dessert. Even Gael, who is never a fan of ice cream as palaman for pandesal quite liked this sweet treat.
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| gael; all smiles |
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| the bread bag pandesal bar; ortigas home depot |
Planning to go back real soon to The Bread Bag to try out their other gourmet pandesals. Specifically the Sardines, Corned Beef and Roast Beef variants. For desserts, I'm inclining to try out the Pandesal Pudding the next time. Oh, my dear pandesal, I would never look at you the same way again. *wink*
Unit 20a/20b, Ortigas Home Depot
Julia Vargas Street, Pasig City
470-3637
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