If you've been a regular here, you probably have noticed that much of my food posts and recipes talked about the world of Culinary and
Savory. Blame it to a decade of work in this field, my taste buds were oriented in the meaty- savory notes to a great deal. Now that I'm beginning to explore the other half of the sensory pie which is
Sweet, I'm missing the customary taste of salt and umami. Hence, I found myself one morning stirring a bowl of
noodles for a comforting treat. Much to my (and the kids) delight, we even consumed it with the exciting flavour notes of baked goods (shown above). I can only care less whether the dining table carried a perfect breakfast match or not. Ultimately, it's my (and the kids') liking that's chief.
On to my exploration of my new interest, I roamed around the city to have a glimpse of the bakery landscape in the Philippines. In general, it's a growing and stirring industry locally. There are so much trends going on. From the typical, traditional pandesal, Pinoys' bread had evolved to abundant forms and novel ways of consumption.
For the Boutique Bakery concept,
BREAD TALK leads the way. I particularly like the fusion of
"glo-cal" concepts here.
Fortune Bakeshop obviously taps the mainstream market. I know of some previous colleagues who are loyal patrons of this store's "
Pianono" (chiffon roll).
For the hotel category, I would rank
Shangri-la and
Manila Pen as market leaders. These two, have bread stations that showcase various great selections of breads and pastries. I was particularly enticed by Shangri-la's positioning of "Baked Fresh" goodies. The hours of baking for a selected variety of bread is shown at the counter's area. It's a
you have it when you expect it kind of thing.
The considered innovator in the field is
French Baker. They recently launched the
100% whole grain bread which is being claimed as the first in the country. This is a complete, one stop bread shop for me.
For the chocolates, pastries and desserts,
Dusit Thani's glass case is a haven of rich assortments. Don't you think so?!
And for the packaged goods, obviously
Gardenia owns the leadership. Their product range is even exclusively shown at the express bread station of SM Makati.
As a whole from what I've noted, bread market today is dictated by eating habits, meal occasions, taste, health and nutrition and balanced price. The consuming public is on a quest to any of these opportunities. Having the right item to put in the shelves is key to marketability.
Think of any tourist destination near your home and the likelihood of you not having visited it or did rarely visit the place is high. I would bet for this claim. It's surprising but it's true, sometimes we tend to miss an opportunity for too much familiarity. This holds true to my not having visited Villa Escudero despite being a native of San Pablo City, Laguna. My parent's home is roughly 15 minutes away from the place but I didn't have a single chance of visiting it while I'm still living there. To add more irony to it, my high school classmate belongs to the prominent family who owns the Hacienda. Many times I was invited by her for a day tour to which I will usually respond a procrastinating next time. Gladly, we finally found the luck to pop in.
General ambiance inside the Villa is relaxing, homey and serene. It's a typical laid back atmosphere to enjoy. If there's one thing that the Villa is highly commendable for, it's having maintained its distinctive "Filipino" offering. It could be one of the remaining few heritage sites to explore in the Philippines. This is one place to visit for Foreign and Balikbayan visitors. Among the must try are the carabao ride, lunch at the Labasin Falls and view of the cultural show.
Apart from the hits, of course we've likewise identified some misses. First, is the poor maintenance of the lake. The water is not clear and a lot of dried leaves and wastes made the overall look of the lake unsightly. The repertoire of the lunch buffet is less appetizing too. The meal selection is ok but the quality is far from what I have expected. It failed to meet the value of the day tour ( P1250). Overall, I feel that there's something missing in the experience. At any rate, it still is a must visit place. But it's not something you would miss every once in a while.
