THE secret of The French Baker’s continuous success is that it doesn’t rest on its laurels. It continues to innovate and introduce delicious new products that are sure to delight its loyal patrons.
Just last week, The French Baker launched its newest product at its newest store in plush Robinsons Magnolia along Aurora Blvd. in Quezon City. It’s called Hokkaido Cake, and it was developed in partnership with Fonterra Brands. A light, airy and butter-y sponge cake with a rich creamy center, Hokkaido Cake has universal appeal.
French Baker’s owner and president Johnlu Koa conducting a product demo with Fonterra’s advisory chef Pauline Lagdameo
Inspired by the soft, picturesque, snow-dusted terrain of Japan, this cake has found its way into the hearts and bellies of many because it’s so light it floats like a delicate soufflé and its scrumptious cream filling is a warm touch of French vanilla on the tongue. It was first launched in Malaysia, where it was received very warmly, and now Anchor and French Baker have brought it to Manila as the first product of the Cakes of the World line. Fonterra Brands developed the recipe using its flagship products Anchor Cream and Anchor Butter and brought it to the masterful kitchens and ovens of French Baker.
French Baker’s Johnlu Koa piping vanilla-flavored cream filling into the center of each Hokkaido Cake
During the launch, French Baker’s founder, owner and president himself, Johnlu Koa, conducted a product demo alongside Fonterra’s advisory chef Pauline Lagdameo. He admitted to being hesitant in the beginning, because French Baker’s expertise is obviously breads and pastries, and making cakes involves an entirely different process. But once Koa tried it and saw the potential in it, he said Yes, and the partnership was sealed.
To make Hokkaido Cake, Koa beat egg whites with cream of tartar in a stand mixer until soft peaks formed and set it aside. (*The cream of tartar is meant to stabilize the egg whites and make air bubbles become finer.) In another bowl, he whisked together melted Anchor Butter with fresh milk and egg yolks, then he added sifted flour. Afterwards, he folded the egg yolk mixture into the whipped egg white mixture. He scooped the batter into square paper molds designed especially for the Hokkaido Cake until three-fourths full. He baked them in an oven and, while waiting, made the cream-based vanilla-flavored filling. When the cakes came out from the oven and got a bit cooked, he piped filling directly onto the center, dusted the cakes with confectioners’ sugar, and then topped them with assorted sliced fresh fruits.
Hokkaido Cake topped with assorted sliced fresh fruits
Hokkaido Cake, which is now available in all French Baker outlets, comes in single pieces at P65 per piece and in rectangular boxes of 5 at P295 per box. Delightful to eat as dessert or light snack, French Baker’s Hokkaido Cake is also an ideal edible present to give away this Christmas season.
BonChon Chicken’s famous Korean style Fried Chicken Drumsticks and Wings with Soy Garlic Sauce
MY husband Raff and I had lunch with long-time friend Niza Forschler at BonChon Chicken-Shangri-La Plaza a few weeks ago. It’s one of the most pleasurable working lunches that I’ve had because of the company and because of the food.
Crispy Fish
I’ve known Niza for a long time. She was with Nancy Harel & Associates, the public relations arm of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) Philippines back when the indefatigable Rocson Chang was country representative, and STB, through Nancy Harel & Associates, sent regular invitations to FLAVORS Magazine to visit Singapore and cover events like the World Gourmet Summit (in April) and the Singapore Food Festival (in July) or take part in a Singapore food tour which STB Philippines organized. Back then, Niza was handling STB Philippines, and so we’ve traveled to Singapore together. And when I joined Facebook early last year, she became one of my first Facebook friends. She’s now connected with another PR firm and I get bits and pieces of news about her through Facebook.
BonChon’s Wings Ricebox
So, when she sent me a PM (private message) through Facebook last month, I was pleasantly surprised. More so because she was asking if I wanted to feature BonChon Chicken in the magazine, and BonChon Chicken happens to be one of my personal favorites. As in big personal favorite. Raff and I would regularly drop by BonChon at the Lower Ground Level of Shangri-La Plaza and have a quick but totally satisfying lunch at BonChon. Most of the time, we would both order the Crispy Fish Ricebox (3 pcs. of crispy battered fish fillets with rice and lite iced tea, at P145) then share a 6-piece Soy Garlic Chicken Wings or 3-piece Soy Garlic Drumsticks order on the side. That combination never fails.
Crispy Squid Ricebox (left); and Calamari (right)
So, of course, when we recently had lunch at BonChon with Niza, who’s now handling the BonChon PR account, the Crispy Fish was of course present on the table. I love it because, well, I love fish, and though BonChon specializes in chicken, they handle fish very well. The batter is hot and crispy, and with tender fish meat in a bite, is absolutely delicious – especially if it’s brushed with BonChon’s signature Soy Garlic Sauce. Sometimes Raff asks for the Spicy version for his fish, but mine has always been the Soy Garlic Sauce.
Also a best-seller on the table was – taa-daaah! – the BonChon Chicken. BonChon marketing director Carol Kison-Estacio and marketing manager Andrea See, who joined us for lunch, served a combination platter of 6 pcs. Drumsticks and 12 pcs. Wings, and we all had a good fill. BonChon is pretty flexible when it comes to its Korean-style crispy chicken, which it serves with either Soy Garlic Sauce or Spicy Sauce. It offers Wings in 6-, 12- and 24-piece platters; Chops in 4-, 8- and 16-piece orders; and both Drumsticks and Thighs in 3-, 6- and 12-piece platters; and also serves a combination of Drumsticks and Wings (Combo A choices are 3-piece Drumsticks and 6-piece Wings for P365, or 6-piece Drumsticks and 12-piece Wings for P720), as well as a combination of Drumsticks and Thighs (3-piece Drumsticks and 3-piece Thighs for P365, or 6-piece Drumsticks and 6-piece Thighs for P720).
Fish Taco
Then there is The Big Box, which contains 50 pcs. Wings and 32 pcs. Chops for P1,395.
While my BonChon Chicken meals usually stop with fish and chicken, during that particularly enjoyable lunch with Niza, I discovered that there’s a lot more to BonChon Chicken than just my favorite fish and chicken. There’s Fish Taco, Bulgogi Rice (bulgogi, the famous Korean beef dish, on top of rice), Bulgogi Wrap, Chicken Sandwich, Kimchi Coleslaw (classic coleslaw salad with a bit of kick), Ginger Tofu Salad and Caesar Salad (which you can order with chicken or plain). Its version of Chapchae (Korean glass noodles) is really good, since it has been developed locally and therefore caters to the Filipino palate, and squid comes in two forms: Crispy Squid Rice (prepared the same way as the chicken and the fish, and glazed with soy garlic sauce) and Calamari (prepared the usual way restaurants prepare calamari or squid rings). Calamari has a softer, more tender mouthfeel, while Crispy Squid Rice also satisfies the need for crunch and texture.
Chapchae
Then there’s KoYo, or Korean yogurt, for dessert. Trials can be made by ordering the KoYo Mini for P35, although a lot of BonChon customers also come in for the full-sized Banoffee Pie KoYo and Blueberry Torte KoYo. The frozen yogurt itself is made fresh in the stores, and it goes very well with both banana and caramel sauce topping and Graham crumb crust for the Banoffee Pie KoYo as well as with the blueberry topping and Graham crumb filling in Blueberry Torte KoYo. Niza’s ‘addicted’ to Blueberry Torte KoYo, while it’s a toss-up between the two flavors for me. I can have a little of both or either one for a meal and be totally happy.
Clockwise from top left: Bulgogi Rice, Bulgogi Wrap, Blueberry Torte KoYo and Banoffee Pie KoYo
BonChon, whose name means “original village” in Korean, is actually a Korean brand that originated in South Korea in 2002. But when it entered the U.S. market in 2007, it made great waves. Its cult following became such that it eventually opened stores in Bangkok, Manila and Jakarta and will soon open in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Brunei and India.
The person responsible for bringing BonChon Chicken to the Philippines in 2010 was a young and dynamic entrepreneur, Scott Tan, as managing director of Scottland Inc. He had ‘experienced’ BonChon in New York and decided to bring the world-renowned crispy chicken secret from Korea to the Philippines, where it turned out to be a big hit.
Now, there are 19 branches of BonChon in the Philippines (Alabang Town Center, Ayala Triangle, Greenbelt 1, University Mall in Taft, Lucky Chinatown Mall, SM City Manila, Shangri-La Plaza, Robinsons Galleria, SM Megamall, SM Mall of Asia, Libis, Katipunan, Tomas Morato, TriNoma, SM City North EDSA Annex, SM City Fairview, The Promenade-Greenhills, and One Parkade in Bonifacio Global City. On an aggressive expansion mode, Scottland will soon open more stores not only in Metro Manila but also in provincial areas of Luzon and the VisMin area.
Perhaps as a testament to its good food, BonChon stores are always full during mealtime. Diners sometimes have to queue outside and wait for their turn to be seated. So it’s best to come a bit early or a lot later to be assured that you can be seated right away. As I was telling Niza, perhaps the only downside to dining at BonChon is that you cannot choose your table, because the store is always full and you would want to be seated at the first table that is vacated by diners who came before you. But then again you are assured that you’d have a truly good meal.
GETTING into the thick of the holiday preparations, Greenwich recently threw a special Better Than Any Other Christmas Get-together at the Quezon A function room of Makati Shangri-La Hotel.
Graced by the Greenwich barkada (Vince Canizares, Mika Lagdameo, Lloyd Zaragoza, Kelly Misa, Solenn Heussaff and Anne Curtis sans John Lloyd Cruz), the event also served as the grand launch of the Greenwich Special Overload Pizza.
“The Greenwich Special Overload Pizza has practically everything any pizza lover can ask for. It is something everyone, young and old, can look forward to, and can be the ideal centerpiece for fun get-togethers this season,” says Greenwich senior brand manager Lulu De Castro.
The Greenwich barkada enjoying their favorite pizza
Going over the top, the Greenwich Special Overload Pizza ranks as the most loaded pizza in the market with its 13 mouth-watering toppings that have been loaded to perfection – beef, bacon, pepperoni, salami, mushrooms, olives, red and green bell pepper, onion, minced garlic, glazed pineapple chunks, mozzarella and Cheddar cheeses – served on a hot, freshly made special crust that’s crisp on the outside yet soft and chewy on the inside. This overloaded pizza has actually been launched a few months back, but what’s new about it is that it is now available in a 15-inch party pizza that’s cut into 16 square-cut slices, thus making it ideal for sharing with family and friends this Christmas season.
Aside from the Greenwich Special Overload Pizza, other Greenwich pizza variants can now also be availed of in 15-inch party pizzas.
I WAS over at the Thailand Festival 2012 event organized by the Royal Thai Embassy and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) at the Activity Center of TriNoma Mall recently. I saw the emailed invitation from TAT Philippines marketing representative Dave de Jesus on a Friday, which was already the start of the 3-day event, and so I was only able to drop by on the third and final day, which was a Sunday. My husband Raff and I got there mid-afternoon, and there was a show going on onstage when we got there, so we wiggled our way through the crowd and found seats on the auditorium-type audience area and watched – with awe, as always – at stage performances of the must-see show in Bangkok, Siam Niramit – before hitting the exhibit area and checking out the incredibly affordable travel packages to Thailand offered by travel agencies (starting at U.S.$99), making rounds of the booths looking for unique Thai food products, sneaking around the photo booth to watch exhibit-goers gear up in traditional Thai costumes for posterity shots, and watching full-blooded Thais do a Thai dessert cooking and fruit carving demo.
Chef Siwat Korsem, executive chef of Mango Tree, conducting a cooking demo during the Thailand Festival 2012 held at TriNoma recently
Then the stage lit up again, this time for a Thai cooking demo by authentic Thai Chef Siwat Korsem, the executive chef of Mango Tree Bistro, a Thai specialty restaurant with a branch on Level 3 of the mall. Since I love Thai food and I had met Chef Siwat a week or two ago in a food trip held at Bonifacio High Street Central, Raff and I went back to the stage area to look for seats and watch the demo. It was a fun demo by Chef Siwat, who made Larb Gai or Thai Spicy Chicken Salad, as he did one straight-up demo and then invited participants from the audience to join him in making another serving. He later had the food portioned for sampling, and the audience got to taste it.
I followed the recipe and am sharing it with you…
150 grams ground chicken
2 tbsps. lime juice
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp. ground rice
chili flakes to taste
coriander leaves
1/2 tsp. white sugar
spring onion
mint leaves
1. Place ground chicken in a sauté pan with a little water. Cook until chicken changes color. Transfer chicken, with its reduced liquid, to a bowl.
2. Add lime juice, fish sauce, ground rice, chili flakes, coriander, sugar, spring onion and mint leaves. Mix well.
3. Plate with stringbeans, cucumber slices and lettuce.
TIME was when I thought the frozen potatoes sold in supermarkets were only for French fries and hash-browns and nothing more. Their applications were rather limited, and there was not much that you could do with them, although, as French fries, they have evolved from being mere straight-cuts into crinkle-cuts, twists and wedges, and hash-browns now come in ovals and triangles. But the more I work with the United States Potato Board (USPB), as represented in the Philippines by Synergy Asia, in shoots and event coverages, the more I realize that U.S. frozen potatoes can be a very versatile product, not just as starch substitute for rice but also as an important ingredient in appetizers, soups, main dishes and, yes, even desserts.
Up in Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay City last June with the Synergy people led by Evelyn Mercurio plus a group of chefs from different establishments for the two-day USPB Chefs’ Seminar, I’ve just learned eight new recipes that successfully make use of U.S. frozen potatoes (which are now readily available in different shapes and sizes in major supermarkets) in Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Mexican dishes. Presentors were food consultant and recipe developer Edith Singian for Chinese cuisine, Chef Supavadee ‘Tum’ Luangtip of Jatujak Thai Restaurant and her son Dusadee ‘Sandy’ Luangtip for Thai cuisine, and Restaurant 9501’s award-winning chef Myrna Segismundo for both Japanese and Mexican cuisines.
Chef Myrna Segismundo conducting a Japanese potato demo-workshop for USPB at the Magnolia Function Room of Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay City last June
The Chinese and Thai cooking demo-presentations took place yesterday, while the Japanese and Mexican presentations were done today. All eight frozen potato-based dishes were interesting, but one recipe that really caught my attention was Chef Myrna’s Japanese Potato Maki with Assorted Fillings when she did the Japanese recipe presentations. In place of the usual sushi rice, she used crumbled hash-browns, which I thought was an ingenious idea that obviously worked since I got to taste the Potato Maki afterwards.
Her reasons for using crumbled hash-bowns instead of the usual sushi rice is that U.S. frozen potatoes are less expensive than Japanese short-grain rice so you get to save on food cost; they are more convenient because when you buy them frozen potatoes they are already cooked and ready to use, thus saving on preparation time and effort; they are of consistent quality so you get a consistent product all the time; and they’re unique.
So, if you’re curious and you want to try your hand at making this unique Japanese Potato Maki, here’s Chef Myrna’s recipe. After trying it once or twice, start experimenting on your own variants by using your favorite fillings.
2 to 3 cups sushi potato*
1 pack nori wrapper (seaweed paper)
*THE SUSHI POTATO:
5 pcs. boiled U.S. hash-browns, crumbled
1/3 cup Japanese rice vinegar
3 tbsps. white sugar
1. In a bowl, combine crumbled hash-browns, rice vinegar and sugar.
2. Stir well to integrate. Refrigerate until ready to use.
1. On a sushi mat, place a sheet of nori and top with sushi potato. Lightly press down to make it adhere to the nori.
2. Lightly brush with wasabi paste.
3. Line one edge of the sushi potato with fresh tuna strips.
4. With the help of the sushi mat, roll tightly into a tube. Slice.
1. On a sushi mat, place a sheet of nori and top with sushi potato. Lightly press down to make it adhere to the nori.
2. Lightly brush with wasabi paste.
3. Line one edge of the sushi potato with fresh salmon strips.
4. With the sushi mat, roll tightly into a tube. Slice.
1. On a sushi mat, place a sheet of nori, and top with sushi potato. Lightly press down to make it adhere to the nori.
2. Line with kani, mango strips and shredded lettuce. Pipe with Japanese mayonnaise, and, with the help of the sushi mat, roll the stuffed nori tightly into a tube. Slice.
THE CONDIMENTS:
1 cup Kikkoman Sauce
1/2 cup wasabi paste
1 pc. lemon, cut into wedges
1. Pour Kikkoman Sauce into condiments bowl.
2. Serve sushi/maki with Kikkoman Sauce, wasabi paste and lemon wedges.
