Quality coffee, meticulously crafted and maintained, for those who care about the coffee in their cups.

Shortly after I publish my bad bean woes , I get a message from a friend of mine, Ed, a chef who also owns a restaurant in Quezon City. He tells me about this young Filipino couple, Carlo and Jackie Lorenzana, who are the Philippine distributors of La Mill Coffee, an American artisanal coffee brand headquartered in Alhambra, California.

I’m already hungry to know more and absolutely giddy with the idea of tasting artisanal coffee. The La Mill Coffee website speaks serious business. Words like coffee “zealots,” family of coffee “savants,” and permutations of the word “obsession” are all over the place. It’s all a bit overwhelming but awe-inspiring too.

We’re meeting in an office, a small showroom littered with boxes containing beans and coffee and tea paraphernalia. The aroma of brewing coffee is so strong that it seeps out the office door. I don’t need the unit number to know I’m in the right place. When I finally meet Carlo and Jackie, I’m struck by their youthfulness – they’re positively crackling with energy and excitement about their product. Carlo’s family has been serving La Mill Coffee at their hotels in Subic and were spurred by the good reception. Encouraged to make it more available, the couple snagged the distributorship that officially launched last February. “La Mill only roasts upon order and everything is given special attention,” Carlo replies when I ask him what differentiates it from other coffees.

As I do my food-writer schtick with Carlo, Ed is beside me sipping an iced coffee that looks absolutely glorious on this sweltering day. Jackie is the quintessential host, asking me what I’d like to try. We begin with a specialty roast called Bliss Espresso (all P930/454 grams) that upon Jackie’s advice, I try in an espresso. The crema is enviable, a glistening caramel that’s so thick it’s viscous, sheltering its black jewel underneath. There’s also the Midnight Jazz that strikes me with its sparkling acidity, and the memorable complexity of the Royal Supreme Blend.

We’re also going to try an Organic Ethiopian Sidamo (P1,000/454 grams) the water for which Carlo is heating up in a steel Japanese pot with a slender, arching spout. Aside from the coffee and tea, Carlo and Jackie also sell a complete line of accessories ranging from kettles, brewers (everything from glass to mesh) French presses, and filters. I’m especially entranced by a coffee brewer especially designed for iced coffee – imagine that! – but I already have too many accoutrements back home. What I need are coffee beans.

We joke about staying wired all night because of all the coffee we’re imbibing this afternoon. “Oh, we’ve got tea for that!” Jackie declares. “We’ve got a nice one here called ‘No Signal’ that’s meant to soothe.” All of La Mill’s teas have whimsical, apt names descriptive of their qualities: Commune-a-Tea (all P470/15 sachets), Gossip Tea, Stamina, Gas Pedal, etc. Carlo brews a delicious Organic Passionberry and pours it for me on ice. Fruity and fragrant, it’s quite the revelation. This is nothing like Nestea, dear.

I’m especially grateful to Carlo and Jackie for making such high quality coffee available not to just to restaurants but also at retail for eager coffee consumers like myself. Their company is a total coffee specialist with services that include the sale of espresso machines, training programs, and beverage development.

La Mill Coffee
www.lamillcoffee.com
Exclusively distributed by abaca.com.ph Ventures Corp.
Email: lamillphilippines@yahoo.com
0917.327 6676
(02) 703.5428

**All photos in this post, except for the espresso and coffee brewer, are courtesy of Carlo Lorenzana.

I’m thinking about where to get some new beans to try.

I’ve just finished a bag of El Salvador Pacamara beans from Starbucks along with some Guatemala Cloudforest Coban imported and roasted by my coffee aficionado friend, Dante. I’m not too keen on Tong’s or Tommy’s Coffee from the weekend market and I want to try something different from my usual go-tos. I’m looking for a bean that can give me a cup that hits most if not all the right notes in balance, acidity, and flavor. I also don’t want something over-roasted. These days, darker roasts seem to connote sophistication and represent “real coffee,” but that isn’t entirely true.

Z, a similarly caffeine-fueled chum, talks about a bag of Papua New Guinea beans that she got at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, so off I go. As I make my way there, it occurs to me that Z and I don’t eat so much as drink coffee together, strangely enough. Looking back, I eat three times what she does but she sure as hell can out-drink me when it comes to coffee.

At CBTL, I find a bag from Papua New Guinea alright, but I blanch when I notice the manufacturing date: April 2008. Expires: June 2010. Eew! Coffee beans begin to lose aromatics as soon as they’re roasted, more so if they’re ground. The single best advice I’ve gotten on improving the quality of coffee I drink is to start with good beans that have been carefully roasted within the past week. Quite an impossibility in Manila considering that most of the beans I buy (unless they’re from Dante) don’t indicate the roasting date. Barring such knowledge, I do what I can by buying whole beans and grinding them just before brewing. Though I can’t keep the beans for the recommended 10 days – it takes me three weeks to consume a 250-gram bag – I do store my beans at room temperature in an airtight container.

Highly averse to paying P499 (and drinking!) nearly two year old beans, I rifle through the rest of the bags at CBTL, my fingers flicking the tops of the packages like they’re decks of cards, the bags’ various shades of ochre glinting like the tip of the sun. Never underestimate the power of fancy packaging and the terror of the prospect of a coffee-less morning. Hmm: Mocha Java, Sumatra Mandheling, Kenya AA – all beans that I’ve tried at one time or another both from my “duo of dealers”, Starbucks and Dante. I flit between the Costa Rica La Cascada and the Viennese Blend, finally choosing the latter. Compared to the others, it’s relatively “new.” Manufactured May 2009, expires November 2010.

Though I employ a variety of brewing methods at home, I always use my French press when trying out a new bean. Let’s just say that aside from the rather romantic description on the bag, “Medium-bodied with a rich aroma, full flavor, and nuances of chocolate”, my cup is anything but. Bitter and overly roasted, it tastes old. Ugh! And yes, I’m well aware of the importance of grind, brewing time, and temperature.

photo taken with my Nokia 6700 Classic

Dangling the Viennese Blend bag over the trash, I call Z. In my highly un-caffeinated state, I detail my woe. Melodramatic yes I am, and no, I’m not reaching for that 3-in-1. “Why don’t you try 18 Days? They pride themselves on freshness, ” she suggests. It just so happens that 18 Days opened a café late last year at the Cash & Carry Mall near Buendia. So I chuck the Viennese Blend in the bin and a few hours later, I’m looking at the café with my friend, Mike who works nearby.

I wish I can say that I’m enveloped by the smells of coffee emanating from the medium-sized roaster, and taken by the pastries preening on the plates but it’s a fantasy. Cash & Carry Mall is jammed with stores and restaurants punctuated by stalls selling sundry items from Indian jewelry to kakanin. Still, people have to have their coffee and it’s nice to have options.

18 Days is a local company that believes coffee is best enjoyed within 18 days from the date of roasting after which flavors and aroma start to decline. The website invites interested consumers to visit the particular site and “…proudly experience the origins of Philippine coffee … from soil to cup.” There are green beans sitting on the shelf as well as beans that have gone straight from the on-site roaster to any of the red-lidded jars on the display. I briefly wonder if 18 Days believes in “de-gassing.” During the final stages of roasting, the beans release carbon dioxide gas – up to a minimum of three times their volume; I’ve read stories of “exploding” cans/foils of coffee resulting from freshly roasted beans that were packaged before they de-gassed.

Mike and I order a cup each of the Arabica, Arabica Blend, and a latte. Containers of muscovado sugar (no white on site) and creamer are presented, and they do serve milk on request. I start on the Arabica first, bringing my nose close to the cup, covering the sides with my hands and taking a deep sniff. It smells burned. A noisy slurp confirms this. The Arabica Blend, a 70:30 mix of Arabica and Robusta, looks more attractive with its crown of silken crema but it’s terribly bitter. This may be because the beans are too fresh – they’ve just come out from the roaster and there’s a good chance they’ve been over-roasted.

Mike is looking at me strangely. “It’s not cutting it for you, is it?” I shrug. “Eh.” he says dismissively. “I’m really liking this, though.” He utters this as he dumps two heaping spoonfuls of muscovado and creamer into my Arabica Blend and then takes a deep sip. “Nice!” He booms. I sip too. The creamer has dulled the acrid edge of the coffee somewhat but the muscovado (which I don’t believe goes too well with coffee – mine at least) gives the liquid an odd, out of place sweetness.

And it goes on. Mike and I are sipping from the three cups on the table as he plays semi-mad scientist with the muscovado and creamer, tweaking it to his pleasure and remarking on how noisily I drink my coffee. I’m dissatisfied and somewhat discouraged. I admire 18 Days for their commitment to freshness and local coffee farmers but I’m not too confident with their roasting techniques. The coffee produced because of it is not what I’m looking for, at least not right now.

So my search for quality coffee beans goes on.

~~

Coffee Dante
+63928 559.2634

18 Days
www.arengga.com
cafe:
G/F Cash & Carry Mall
South Super Highway corner Emilia St.
Bgy. Palanan, Makati

Can there be a more perfect partner for coffee than a doughnut?

Next week, break free from those Monday blues of yours and head to your nearest Starbucks. Beginning April 12, the coffee chain will be serving Top Pot Doughnuts at selected stores and then cascaded nationwide.

Aside from the brand name which forms a type of anagram (as a wordsmith, those things pop out at me), Top Pot specializes in what they call “hand-forged doughnuts,” a term coined by owners and brothers Mark and Michael Klebeck: defined as “made the old-fashioned way,” with a minimum of automation. The emphasis on the hand-forged technique and the deep-fried delights’ exceptional quality made it a natural partner for Starbucks’ hand-crafted specialty beverages.

Top Pot and Starbucks have forged (again, that word) an alliance since 2005 when the latter was made available at all company-owned Starbucks locations in western Washington. That accomplishment was further topped in April 2008 when Top Pot Doughnuts were offered in all company operated stores in the US and Canada.

Now in April 2010, Top Pot Doughnuts are being made available in Manila in three varieties. The Glazed Old Fashioned Doughnut is Top Pot’s flagship product, the original classic inspired by a 1920s recipe. Cakey as opposed to fluffy, every bite relays a soundtrack of crunching sugar, an affirmation of its crumb – sturdy and with integrity, all afloat on notes of nutmeg and vanilla.

If the above be an angel, then I consider the Chocolate Old Fashioned Doughnut the delicious devil. Vanilla’s counterpart in looks and taste it is, save for those dark chocolate overtones that ride a crest of vanilla and somewhere in there, a molten chocolate ripple ripping flavor and wreaking havoc on my tongue. What a trip!

It’s clear that these doughnuts are unlike those previously made available locally. The cakey-ness of the doughnut makes it more malleable, allowing those grooves and pleats to be hand-forged (starting to love that term); the resulting appearance of which evokes comparison to a pudgy pinwheel or pleats on a pie crust. Very cool, however way I look at it.

The final variety to be made available on April 12 is the Apple Fritter. Reminiscent of funnel cakes, I imagine that these are made in the same way: the apple-pocked dough is coursed through funnels into hot oil thus appropriating those craggy peaks. It’s in these whorls and whirls that the cinnamon latches on to, its heady scent perfumes the tender crumb and sugar coating. With each bite, there’s an itty-bitty, giddy oil-rush – a prelude to the sticky caramel-y bits that brush up on the tongue and then sticks defiantly to teeth. I am its prisoner.

The doughnuts, when piping hot, are covered with Top Pot’s proprietary “Air Sped” glaze. In my mind, I picture these doughnuts positioned on the Top Pot promenade, and then on count, are blast-blessed with this somewhat ambiguous-sounding “Air Sped” glaze. There’s no escape – nor do they want one — as the doughnuts face this, their second-to-final fate. Their final fate, naturally, is in my mouth. And there’s no escape for me – nor do I want one — from them.

~~

Top Pot doughnuts served at selected Starbucks beginning April 12, 2010.
Glazed Old Fashioned Doughnut & Chocolate Old Fashioned Doughnut – P55 each
Apple Fritter – P60

**All Top Pot doughnuts served at Starbucks have zero grams trans fat. Sweet!

This is anything but plain vanilla.

Husband and wife Perry and Ria Jocson’s vanilla-scented “lightbulb” moment comes about because of crinkies — crinkle + cookie – their version of the ideal crinkles, those molten cocoa cookies with cracked, powdered-sugar tops. Seems the crinkles they’d been buying from their usual purveyors to assuage midnight cravings had slipped below par, so they decide to make their own.

Vanilla farm in Tahiti. Photo courtesy of Perry Jocson

Drying vanilla beans. Photo courtesy of Perry Jocson

The crinkle recipe they finally come up with depends on good vanilla but a search for it in beans and extract prove disappointing. This leads to the idea of importing quality vanilla beans. “We corresponded with a lot of people via email and tested several varieties [of beans],” narrates Perry, “and finally decided to import from a farm in Papua New Guinea.” Perry, whom Ria describes as the “scientific, technical one,” tells me that this particular farm they’re affiliated with is a certified organic plantation that grows, harvests, and cures its own vanilla beans, as opposed to the beans being sent to a central curing plant. “… so we’re assured of proper handling … and these beans are organic,” Perry adds.

At this point in our conversation, Perry hands me a heavy rectangular box similar to those used to package expensive watches. I throw him a questioning glance, flip the lid off and then inhale sharply at seeing its contents: the largest, plumpest vanilla bean I’ve ever seen – almost 7 inches long and ½ inch thick – enclosed lovingly in the arms of a gold silk ribbon. I feel like I’ve won the lotto. Quickly, I snap the cover back on, not quite believing what I see, not quite believing it’s for me. I take another peek: the bean is still there, its natural oils glistening. My nose perks up at the bean’s fragrance.

My reaction isn’t melodrama. For those who know, a vanilla bean is worth its weight in gold – maybe even more so. The vanilla plant, with vines reaching over 100 feet, produces a tawny colored orchid. Once pollinated, it develops pods, the beans containing those innumerable, precious black seeds. It’s only once the beans are dried and cured do they emit the intoxication we know as vanilla, its 256 flavor compounds capable of enhancing other ingredients it accompanies.

Vines of the vanilla plant. Photo courtesy of Perry Jocson

The process sounds simple but it’s fraught with pitfalls. The success of a vanilla “crop” depends primarily on weather, and vanilla planters painstakingly fertilize the orchids themselves – natural pollinators like bees and other insects can’t be solely relied on. Also, as a valuable commodity up there with coffee beans and cacao, there are booms and busts. There’s the issue of supply and demand and just like wine, some years are good and some aren’t (i.e. Indonesia thrives one year, Madagascar may not). With high quality vanilla beans demanding prices of over $500 per kilo, they’re so valuable that some farms hire guards to watch over the precious plant.

Perry and Ria simply call their business, The Vanilla Bean Company. As graphic designers by profession, they’ve come up with the packaging’s most elegant logo. In barely three months, they’ve made their beans available to discerning purveyors: Bacchus, Terry Selection, Cooks Exchange, and Gourdo’s.

The Vanilla Bean Company imports the two types of beans most desired by culinary professionals: Bourbon Vanilla Bean: redolent with natural vanillin (pure vanilla extract’s main ingredient) that possesses a complex, rounded flavor familiar to most people as true or traditional vanilla.

Tahitian vanilla beans in silhouette. Note how moist they are.

Then there’s the Tahitian Vanilla Bean: fruitier than its Bourbon counterpart with notes of flowers, cherry, and licorice. This type is rarer – it’s plumper than Bourbon and has fewer seeds – and is absolutely worth using in desserts and dishes where vanilla is the main ingredient.

I may not have truly realized it until I actually have it in my hands but I’ve been coveting this type of vanilla bean my whole life: desiring its lush plumpness, yearning to see those oils, wanting to envelop my senses in its fragrant embrace. Noticing that I’ve been gripping the box like I’m half-expecting it to evaporate into aromatic air at any moment, Perry tells me that I’ve just been given what they call their Gold Label Tahitian Vanilla Bean, the pièce de résistance of all vanilla beans. Believe it or not, this is the same type of bean from the same farm where Michelin chefs Alain Ducasse, Joel Robuchon, et al source their beans! The farm has also won the Concours General Agricole Vanilla Bean Medaille D’Or in Paris for years 2007-2009. If you want quality vanilla beans, this is the holy grail.

my half-empty bottles of vanilla extract. Now I’ve got something even better.

Perry and Ria now have all the vanilla bean and extract they need for their crinkies (which I’m waiting to taste) and anything else these self-avowed food lovers want to cook up. Ria tells me Perry even puts the occasional bean into his morning coffee. (!) When I marvel at how fast they’ve moved their business in under a quarter, they speak of passion – what else – but also humility. “We’re doing a lot of research along the way and everything else by ourselves,” says Perry reflectively. “Of course we’re enjoying ourselves immensely too. But we feel we’re still on the cusp of something bigger. And better.”

~~

The Vanilla Bean Company
www.thevanillaco.com
info@thevanillaco.com
0915. 460 8888

Product List:
P130 – Gourmet Solo Packs
P250 – Gourmet Budget Packs (3 beans)
P350 – Gold Label Premium
P250 – Gourmet Pure Vanilla Extract 30ml 1x
P700 – Gold Label Pure 100% Tahiti Vanilla Extract 4x (alcohol free).

I find that Filipinos either love or hate peanut butter. I’m in the first camp.

I grew up on peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches and though my mom wasn’t – and still isn’t – a fan of the stuff, she’d make homemade peanut butter for me and my two sisters. I still remember coming home from school to see her laboring over a large wok-like pan stirring the peanutt-y paste into submission. As an adult, I’ve graduated (or is regressed?) to peanut butter-banana sandwiches drizzled with honey and cinnamon and I bake peanut butter pies during my unguarded moments of unspeakable indulgence. (See below for the rest of my posts on peanut butter).

Peanut Butter Company (PBCo.) is a tremendous, courageous concept that fulfills the desires of people like myself whose hearts pitter-patter for peanut butter. I say tremendous and courageous because it’s a ballsy move to open a single concept store. Filipinos adore variety even though most of us end up choosing the same thing over and over again. Think back to all of the one-food kiosks/establishments of the past (caramel apples?, cupcakes?, sugar free café?), the subsequent copycats and the withdrawal into obscurity or demise of the weaker ones. Interestingly enough, single-concept establishments like Chocolat and Bibingcrepe are thriving. I hope that PBCo. gets the chance to follow their example.

PBCo., whose tagline “Spreading life’s simple comforts” (clever!) is the first peanut butter restaurant in the Philippines. A fun, little store its menu offers sandwiches – hot ones and riffs on the classic pb&j -, pastas, and specials. I admire the ingenuity of those who developed the food; they obviously did their homework when it came to utilizing peanut butter as more than just a spread. At PBCo., peanut butter is an enhancement instead of a distraction. To wit: a smear is spread with a sparing hand of the Chili peanut butter, an accent to the Chili Fried Chicken Sandwich (P160). The ensuing heat and sweet is a foil to the super crunchy chicken breast fillet.”It’s like the best McChicken of my life!” My friend exclaims. Who knew peanut butter got along with poultry?

Aside from the chili variation, there are 11 more different peanut butter incarnations: creamy, crunchy, curry, dark chocolate, green tea, cinnamon, white chocolate, sun-dried tomato, butter, cardamom, and sesame. Ask for a taste (or two or three) of the butters you like. Costing approximately P210 per 590-gram bottle, they’re the stars of PBCo.’s playful inventiveness.

The Cold Asian Noodles has the sesame peanut butter as its base coating a tumble of toothsome noodles. A refreshing summer dish, it’s something I want to keep on going back for. But there are other dishes that require some stretches of the imagination. The Crunchy Sardine Jelly Sandwich is a mishmash of crunchy peanut butter, sardines, and grape (!) jelly – only for the gutsy. On the other hand, peanut butter is neither a star nor a support but a garnish as in the BBQ Wings (chili peanut butter glaze) or the Fish n’ Chips (peanut-cucumber dip).

I appreciate the heft of the sandwiches here that are as large as those served at Oliver’s Super Sandwiches. I drool at the possibility of the Fluffer Nutter, marshmallow cream and peanut butter, a copyrighted term so it’s called Marshmallow Peanut Butter Sandwich. The Cinnamon Apple Sandwich is promising and the straightforward PB&J is goofproof, but it’s the Elvis, The King sandwich that I zero in on. A favorite of the legendary rock ‘n’ roller, the peanut butter- banana on white fried in butter has inspired countless interpretations. PBCo.’s take on it involves bacon and bananas on a smear of peanut butter. Though this sandwich requires no brain power to make, it disappoints on a few counts. PBCo. uses Cavendish bananas, a hardy variant that’s unfortunately one-dimensional in flavor. Cut too thickly, they’re the size of fingerling potatoes. I believe that lacatan bananas would be a definite improvement here. In addition, the bacon is a surprising, pleasing ingredient but the entire sandwich would benefit from some sweetness – honey perhaps, to round out the sandwich’s components.

~~
Peanut Butter Company
SM North Edsa Main Mall near the IMAX theater.
Another branch at SM Clark.
peanutbuttercompany@yahoo.com
401-3826

Other peanut butter posts:
Nutter About Peanut Butter
Peanut Butter “Larva” Cakes
A Peanut Butter Lover And Her Pie

There’s more than a few good reasons why this hospital is called a “hospitel” – a hospital hotel, and more importantly, why its food is good enough to write about.

Driving down from the Buendia flyover, St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City cuts a dashing silhouette. The morning sun hits it just so, making the structure’s blunted angles and towering height even more striking. I’m here on the invitation of Brando Santos, the hospital’s Executive Chef, a friend and someone I once worked with as consultant to a large food company.

my friend, Chef Brando Santos

Brando knows how hesitant I am about visiting yet another hospital. My confinement (though not at St. Luke’s) last November and then again in January has left me cold, memories of the unimaginative beef served in various shapes — “… rounds, strips, and cubes, Brando! I was half expecting star-shaped beef next!” – still burning in my brain. My chef-friend chuckles, his imposing size making it sound like a great guffaw and I can’t help but giggle also. “I promise to make the food worth your while, Lori.” “Ha! We’ll see about that,” I sniff haughtily.

St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City (from here on referred to as SLMC) doesn’t smell or even look like a hospital. Some may argue that it may be because it’s so new but I don’t think so. Everything about this place is different:

the various artworks, sculptures, and paintings that add accent or hang from the walls, the gleaming lobby that would be more at home in a hotel, the wifi-ready Lobby Coffee Shop, the various color schemes for each floor, the restaurants and establishments (as of this writing, those set to open include Mary Grace Café, National Bookstore Bestsellers, Bizu, and two banks). Aside from the tangibles, it’s the people themselves — the nurses, doctors, staff, and maintenance crew that are the most impressive. There’s a certain pride in the way they comport themselves, that particular “joy of the job” that is bereft from other workplaces. You’ve got to see it to believe it.

I’m also psyched to make it all the way up to the top floor of the Main Building where the helipad is. Talk about an awesome albeit smoggy view! And of course, there’s the much-talked about Presidential Suite. No slouch in the space department, it commands 150 square meters that consist of:

a dining room amply decorated with photographs by Wig Tysmans…

living room…

a Jacuzzi (with L’Occitane toiletries), a kitchen, a personal safe,

a wifi-ready desktop pc and printer and enough LCD TVs to while away boredom…

a view stunning enough to take one’s worries away…

robe and slippers for the best guest, the patient

and much more; this is all in addition of course to the patient’s bed and surrounding space. Other suites that have permutations (to lesser degrees) of the already-mentioned amenities include the Executive Suite, Ambassador Suite, and Junior Suite. I’m amused to learn that the rooms also include butler service, laundry service, airport shuttle service, and salon services. Like I said earlier, hospital? Or hotel? Hospitel.

By this time, I’ve been guided around the hospital for about two hours (in heels!) and my feet and stomach are making it known. “Brando, how’s about you show me how good hospital food can be right about now?” I ask, clutching his arm. He laughs at my wild-eyed, hungry look. “Let’s go back to the kitchen. The staff will just about be ready for plating.”

Back in the hospital kitchen, a flurry of activity is centered around the conveyor where trays and other meal accoutrements are set up. The kitchen has a copy of each patient’s dietary requirements that’s dutifully completed by a “line” (my term) cook, whether that be full diet, therapeutic, hypoallergenic, lowfat/low salt, etc. The pink and white trays and covers used are specially designed to insulate the meal keeping it as hot as possible for the longest amount of time.

Patients are given a menu card hours before each meal so that they can tick which main dish they prefer. Today’s main dish choices are: barbeque pork spareribs, beef shortribs with gremolata, and an Italian seafood stew. It will come with a cream of cauliflower soup, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, steamed rice, and sweetened bananas all fulfilling the protein-starch-veg requirements. That’s for the full diet and there are “stripped down” variations of it for stricter diets.

Brando and I settle down to our own meal — the full diet version with all three mains (!) I’m truly prepared to be dismayed — at most, disappointed with my meal; this is a hospital after all. But my first bite of the barbeque pork spareribs couldn’t be more surprising. Tender and with real smoky flavor, I could’ve closed my eyes and believed I was anywhere but a hospital. The beef shortribs remind me of the same stew I cook at home (plenty of that bone-gnawing, lip-smacking goodness), and the Italian seafood stew is devoid of any of those usually petrified seafoods (in hospitals and elsewhere). What a delicious relief this meal is turning out to be! As we eat, Brando talks in earnest about how vital food is to one’s healing. Unlike other hospital food that I’m convinced is designed to keep or kill (!) someone in a hospital, he tells me that the food at SLMC, “… is proof [that] hospital food can be [this] good.”

Of course, this is no easy job. Brando stays on top of his game by keeping informed of patient preferences and surrounding himself with people who encourage healthy eating that’s also delicious. It’s interesting to me and makes good sense when I’m told that most of the (kitchen) staff are from culinary schools; it’s they who would know about presentation and understand the need for creativity, especially on a hospital food tray.

And I must tell you about the desserts that Brando serves: leche flan (quivery and custardy) and crème brulee (a caramelized crust covering a soft, near-molten marriage of eggs and sugar), so remarkable it’s almost a shame one has to be confined here at the hospital to partake of it. Though I fervently hope to not see the inside of another hospital for another oh, maybe 60 years, the SLMC experience is best described by Brando: “We don’t just offer medical expertise but also customer delight.”

~~

St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City
32nd Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
789-7700
SLMC website
Many thanks to the kitchen staff at St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City, especially sous chef Janice Lazaga and CC Silva, Food & Nutrition Department Manager.

Other hospital food:
Floating Island at Makati Medical Center

It’s a flower in three-dimensional full bloom sheltering a sweet secret.

Note: I aim to finish off this list by Friday, Feb 12, 2010 because I also intend to celebrate Valentine’s Day with my Valentine. (Yes, I’m a huge proponent of Feb 14). So, 12 posts / 5 days = 2.4 posts/day. Okay, so I was out of my mind when I attempted to do 12 posts in 5 days. (whacking forehead) I’ve whittled it down to what I call “an ongoing series.” We’ll see how long I can keep it up. The rest will follow next week.

I can count, on one hand, the times I’ve been given flowers. Apparently, I’ve never struck men (my Bin included) as a “flowers” type of girl. I’ve always been quite forthcoming with those men about my feelings (or lack thereof) for flowers: “Don’t give me flowers, such useless things they are. They’ll just sit there and die; give me chocolate instead.”

But an edible rose cradled on a cake? Now we’re talking!

Designed by designer du jour Kate Torralba, the stunning petals fashioned to depict this flower in its grandeur are made from sugar and colored using the ombré method. From the French ombrer (“to shade”), it’s a dip-dye effect in which the color graduates from light to dark. Think: a more ethereal tie-dye similar to a sunset-glow.

Truly a tour de force for the pastry artisans at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila, the flower can be lifted en masse to facilitate slicing. The cake itself is a vanilla sponge creation, its layers filled with white chocolate mousse. The white chocolate theme is carried further with – I call them shards, they’re too big to be called bits – of Felchlin white chocolate peeking out from the delicate crumb; how they don’t melt during baking is a miracle to me. The pink to red ombré color scheme is also echoed in the cake with a bottom berry layer, its crimson-ness stark against the pristine white. It’s this hue that also tints the cake’s exterior crumb coating. I’m impressed with how well this cake has been thought out from concept to execution.

This is a good cake: tender like first love, white chocolate for idealism, and like all loves, light scarlet for pain. (Hey, love hurts don’t cha know?) A caveat: if you don’t like white chocolate, this cake isn’t for you. Also, this cake doesn’t keep well; store it for two days at most. Thankfully, most love affairs make it to at least three.

~~
Valentine Couture Cake
Available at The Pastry Boutique of the Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila
P1,800 / P300
1588 Pedro Gil corner M.H. del Pilar St.
Malate, Manila
245.1234 for reservations and inquiries.

I trashed Delifrance’s croissant a few years back. And here I am now eating my words and their croissant – big time.

Note: I aim to finish off this list by Friday, Feb 12, 2010 because I also intend to celebrate Valentine’s Day with my Valentine. (Yes, I’m a huge proponent of Feb 14). So, 12 posts / 5 days = 2.4 posts/day. Okay, so I was out of my mind when I attempted to do 12 posts in 5 days. (whacking forehead) I’ve whittled it down to 7 posts in 5 days. The rest will follow next week.

Delifrance fared poorly in my Croissant Contest a few years back. So it’s a great irony that I’m including it in this year’s list of LOVE-ly food for V-day. And no, no one wangled anything from me nor am I trying to suck up to anyone.

Delifrance’s croissant still flies in the face of what a croissant is – that is, croissant means “crescent” and theirs looks more like a bird in flight. But never mind that now. Stick a thick layer of chocolate, speckle it with crushed walnuts and I forget just why I quibbled so much. Chocolate? Walnuts? No brainer there. Plus, it’s flaky, toasty, and light – three qualities acquired by the briefest time spent inside a toaster make this croissant difficult to tear myself away from. To wit: I ate two, yes, 2 (!) just this morning. All by myself. Need I remind you that I don’t share my food.

Take these away from me lest I become one fat Valentine!

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Chocolate Walnut Croissant
A luscious crescent shaped, golden layered pastry, oozing with chocolate and walnuts
Single P89
Available at all Delifrance outlets

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Other Delifrance Posts:
Love Them Buns
Teatime at Delifrance

When it comes to commercially available cinnamon rolls, most aren’t worth their dough, or mine. But here’s one that is.

Note: Note: I aim to finish off this list by Friday, Feb 12, 2010 because I also intend to celebrate Valentine’s Day with my Valentine. (Yes, I’m a huge proponent of Feb 14). So, 12 posts / 5 days = 2.4 posts/day. Okay, so I was out of my mind when I attempted to do 12 posts in 5 days. (whacking forehead) I’ve whittled it down to 7 posts in 5 days. The rest will follow next week.

From above, they look like cupcakes, evidence of that artfully piped swirl. But that’s no ordinary swirl and that’s no cupcake either. The swirl is that of vanilla custard and it crowns this cinnamon roll. Unlike a regular roll of this cinnamon-y sort, this one consists of layers of soft, soft dough coiled around a layer of nose-tingling cinnamon. When heated up in either the microwave or oven, the layers tend to collapse onto themselves, forming crevices into which the now-melted vanilla custard rosette pools into. It’s quite the arresting sight to see at breakfast.

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Vanilla custard-frosted cinnamon swirls
Available at all Delifrance outlets
Single P49
Box of 6’s P245
Box of 12’s 450

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Other Delifrance Posts:
Love Them Buns
Teatime at Delifrance

Customization is a big word in the food world.  Starbucks “takes it to heart” during this month of hearts, most especially with that god-bless-delicious Chocolate Hazelnut and Banana on Marble Loaf sandwich.

This February, Starbucks is all about (more!) customization, creating your own drinks and giving customers ideas on how to do just that. There are two beverages presently creating a strong buzz around this coffee house: the Honey Orange Latte and the Honey Orange Mocha. I’m initially wary of the concept since orange, in anything, but most especially in coffee, is something I’m inclined to run away from. It takes a more open-minded friend to get me to see that the concept works. The citrus zings through the latte’s espresso and steamed milk, pointed up by the gritty honey orange topping on the whipped cream. The orange-you-glad-you-tried-the-orange-beverage is more agreeable, infinitely more delicious in the Honey Orange Mocha: cocoa punching up citrus, and together riding a ripple of espresso and milk. I’m a “no whip” person, but believe you me when I say that the whipped cream blesses this beverage with delicious dimension. Work off the calories tomorrow.

Citrus-driven edibles dot the menu. Most apparent is the Honey Orange Poppy Seed Loaf, a fairly dense loaf that I enjoy in the morning. A restrained amount of poppy seeds gives crunch along with the irresistible streusel topping.

Another member of the citrus tree, this time lime, shines in the Southern Lime Chicken and Roasted Corn Wrap. Though it’s recommended best when cold, I prefer it at room temperature when the flavors of grilled chicken come through accompanied by accoutrements of lettuce, salsa, cheese, and sour cream. Think of this as a more elegant burrito.

I love the “messes” that I make when eating flaky pastry. Conversely, what I don’t like is how on occasion, the pastry’s filling is paltry. Starbucks does a good job with their savory “flaky-s”, but I’m wishing for more of the spinach and tuna in this Spinach and Tuna Pie.

The Chocolate Hazelnut and Banana on Marble Loaf makes me squeal. Really, this is one of those things that makes me think, “Now why didn’t somebody else offer this sooner?” The penchant for this pairing – hazelnut and chocolate – is common: Selecta’s Hazelnut Brownie ice cream, in jars of Nutella easily found in supermarkets and made into pies , the hazelnut crepe at Café Breton. And now this grilled sweet sandwich. What especially appeals to me is the dual-colored lean bread dough, brown on white, rolling and riding following the hazelnut-chocolate smears punctuated with bananas sliced on the diagonal. It’s sweet, crispy, chocolaty; thank goodness I don’t have to share! Definitely my favorite item in this season’s food portfolio.

I especially like the Chocolate Hazelnut and Banana “sandwich” with a cup of black and brewed Guatemala Casi Cielo, one of Starbucks’ more unique, rare coffees from Latin America. Beans from this region hit all the right notes in terms of balance and body and an even finish. It’s a very sophisticated cup that emphasizes the hazelnut-chocolate pairing.

Think of the creamiest hot chocolate you’ve drank and then imagine it in cheesecake form; from liquid to just-this-side of solid, and then chilled. This is the best way I can describe the Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake. Sitting on a nut-speckled chocolate crust, I’m sure it would preen if only it could see itself in the chocolate mirror that crowns it.

Still more things I take pleasure in at Starbucks as V-Day approaches:

• Make Your Drink Mondays where I’m entitled to a single free espresso or syrup shot for every beverage I order.
• The arrival of more specialty whole bean coffees like the Arabian Mocha Sanani. Sanani is the coffee-growing region around Sana’a, the capital of Yemen. The small, irregularly-shaped beans are highly aromatic and yield a full-bodied cup. Next to the Guatemala Casi Cielo, this is on heavy morning rotation at my house.



• Starbucks’ best tumblers yet. I’m no fan of those towering 16-ounce tumblers – seriously, who drinks that much coffee in one go, anyway? The new 12-ounce tumblers, appropriately called the Mocha (mine is pictured here) and the Latte tumblers, come with the recipe for the mentioned drinks. Plus, check out their new cap that mimics a real Starbucks (paper) cup. Awesome!



• A surprise for all of us on February 13 & 14, 2010. I’ve been sworn to secrecy but I assure you it’ll be a sweet and heart-y surprise!

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Food products and beverages featured here are available at all Starbucks stores nationwide until February 22, 2010.