Manila’s 10 Best Desserts, 2007: Part 1 6. Ube Cheesecake at The French Corner If you’ve ever thought that the color purple is no good for food, this dessert will make you change your mind. For good. Made from the vividly-hued tuber that’s anything but lowly, this cheesecake is its perfect partner. Out it comes with its halo of golden spun sugar being hailed in a bliss pool of pandan cream and strawberry slices. And there in the center it sits: ube cheesecake! Its crust is surprisingly, fresh-from-the-box cornflakes, a most unlikely but willing partner. Conveying none of its characteristic crunch, it’s been crushed to a smooth paste until it takes on almost the same texture as the custard it carries. Expressing surprise at the avant-garde use of this native crop, I marvel at its exquisite smoothness and coo over its delicate flavor. It’s like eating crème brulee. A dessert that stands up to deep exploration in mind and on tongue, this dessert is an exceptional tour de force of legendary chef Billy King. The French Corner Commerce Avenue corner Filinvest Avenue Westgate ...

Manila's 10 Best Desserts, 2007: Part 2 This is a list that I should be spinning out annually, really – and I have – except for 2006, which I missed out on. (My bad). After all, if I were asked to write the story of my life, it would be told in chapters of dessert: Chapter 1: “Butterscotch Pudding”; Chapter 2: “Chocolate Chip Cookies”; and so on. The current chapter in my life would be called “Chocolates and Cheesecake,” because those are precisely what comprise my most-loved desserts of the moment. On this list alone, there are three chocolate cakes and four cheesecakes. It sounds a bit repetitive initially, but you’ll see soon enough that they all deserve their individual places of merit on this list. On this website, I speak for no one but myself, so the desserts here are my Top Ten, and not necessarily anybody or everybody else’s. The same desserts can’t please everybody, but they sure as heck have pleased me. Here, in no certain order, are Manila’s Best Desserts, 2007. For a look back, click here for Manila’s 10 Best Desserts, 2005....

I have a high tolerance for sour foods; so not only do I have a sweet tooth, I also have a sour tooth to boot. Back in college, there was this candy called “Super Lemon,” a hard, yellow sweet with a matching wrapper showing an animated lemon all puckered up. My friends would pop this marble-sized candy into their mouths, and on cue, pucker up like the beleaguered lemon on the wrapper. Seeing them with their eyes all crossed and their eyebrows reaching for the skies, I could only giggle maniacally. Taunting them, I’d pop a Super Lemon into my mouth and not even wince. Such is my power over sour foods that I’ve been known to drink vinegar, sipping it in little cups like espresso. I still do actually, except now I prefer to quaff down white balsamic vinegar or the vinegar taht comes with those Lapid’s Chiciharon packs. Of course like any self-respecting Filipino, I adore green mangoes with bagoong, sometimes even throwing in a whole handful of rock salt just to up the sour-salty factor. And I’ve been sucking salted lemon slices since I was in grade school. I’m quite used to family ...

If it’s true that adding chocolate makes any food better, then this has to be the ultimate in coffee buns. Roti Mum, Manila’s premier coffee bun purveyor has just come out with their – chocoholics, hold your breath – chocolate buns. Layers of dough fragrant with that middle pocket of butter are still there, as is the characteristic crispy outer crust that coffee bun devotees believe is a coffee bun’s reason for being. What changes though is the chocolate bun’s color – it’s obviously a darker brown, more “hot cocoa” brown than the golden brown of the original coffee bun. coffee bun or chocolate bun? And the chocolate flavor? Taking off from the success of their original coffee buns, Roti Mum’s chocolate buns are also a revelation unto themselves. Unlike the customary chocolate hit that comes with anything chocolaty, this bun is a study in subtlety. Instead of a chocolate that confuses with its overlapping undertones of smoke and fruit and spice and what else have you, Roti Mum’s chocolate bun is a shy ...

All I can say is: It’s about time! Mid-last year, Ian Carandang, the genius behind Sebastian’s Ice Cream Studio , asked me to create a chocolate chip cookie that in his words should be “… flat yet sturdy and chewy.” Always keenly aware of the constant churnings of his ever-creative mind and food desires, Ian had dreams of resurrecting Coney Island’s Eskimo Roll. Thus, the need for a cookie that met his flat/sturdy/chewy specifications. I chronicled my experiments in creating the said cookie, and rejoiced with Ian when he deemed one of the samples perfect. But then weeks passed by, and then months. Then months became a year. I was conscious of the other ice cream sandwiches that were hitting the market, such as the one from Brothers Burger which was so lousy I didn’t even bother featuring it on the website. When it comes to novelty, timing is of the essence. Then Penny Brown came about, and man, those things were so good that I cranked up my pester power and bugged Ian to “Hurry up already and get the damn ice cream sandwiches out!” Now they’re here and it’s Oh joy, ...

Unbeknown to everyone but a small group of Dessert Comes First readers, there was a sizzling forum some time ago on my post, Caramel Apple of My Eye. I say “sizzling,” because, though the forum is now quiet, the discussion itself garnered 123 comments, much, MUCH more than the usual number of comments my posts usually receive. DCF readers are quite a quiet lot, preferring to be more discerning than vocal, and that’s fine with me. The post was my feature on SanFo Treats, the pioneer – if I may say – of caramel apples in Manila. Published on this website in late April, the post’s comments had its share of SanFo fans and dissenters. What heated up the discussion was the repeated mention of a certain Czarina’s Gourmet Apples. My curiosity piqued, I jumped into the discussion. At this point, I’d like to say that I don’t usually join any of my posts’ discussions nor reply to comments/questions in the forum unless absolutely necessary. It’s just how it is on this website. I prefer ...

My Coffee Odyssey Part 1 The book that changes my coffee life as I know it is The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Coffee and Tea. The title itself is quite anticlimactic, I know, and it certainly doesn’t suggest a capability of having great impact, but for me it does. And that’s all it takes. After reading the book, I gurgle like a newborn to anyone who will listen about the origins and production of coffee, how to brew coffee (and which methods are the best), as well as why the right (coffee) grind matters so much for each brewing method. My friends are amused, my sisters stare silently. During dinner one evening, as I’m bubbling on endlessly, my Bin grins and says, “My goodness, this has become quite a fascination! I might even learn to drink coffee because of you.” (He hasn’t. Yet.) my Krispy Kreme donut mug At coffee shops, I scan the menus with new eyes and wonder if I have the guts to order a lungo, a long shot of espresso that produces two to three ounces per shot as ...

My Coffee Odyssey Part 2  Note: This is a lengthy, reminiscent account of my journey into a now full-blown fascination with coffee. In honor of the beverage, this post (Part 1 only) highlights several of my favorite coffee photos, many of which have already been posted previously on this website. This is Then All I wanted to do was to brew a better cup of coffee for myself. I was tired of having my at-home joes teeter on the brink of decent to downright despicable dross. Surely, making a cup of coffee didn’t have to be based on speculation or ‘guesstimates.’ And while there are coffee shops less than a kilometer from where I live and play, my latte receipt totals were fast adding up and encroaching on my cookbook-buying budget. Horrors, something had to be done. coffee and cake My relationship with coffee has been bittersweet. Growing up, adults would always warn me to stay away from the stuff because it would make me “stop growing.” Of course now I know that’s not true and you can bet I’m not mouthing off that excuse ...