So, my teammates have recognized that I love pastries and I really love trying pastries and food, particularly Street food, In other countries. So they said I should blog about the pastries I eat, So here’s Part 1 of a many part series… hopefully.
I have a critique paragraph about each pastry and I have 5 categories I rank them in, plus price if known, on a scale of 0-100, though most pastries will rank above a 60 cause I love almost all pastries. The categories are flavor, moisture/texture (is it what it’s supposed to be, soft and gooey, hard and crispy, doughy, moist, etc.), creativity (which is huge with Asian pastries), other (don’t ask, I felt I had another category as I waseating the First pastry but couldn’t put my finger on it… this category will Likely be scrapped), and overall, with a recommendation.
NOTE: The money conversion rate is 45 Filipino Pisos to 1 US Dollar
1. Purple Sponge Cake (purple might be a type of yam… at least the purple ice cream in the Philippines is Yam and Coconut)
Flavor – 90
Moisture – 68
Creativity – 88
Other – 93
Overall – 83
Cost – ?, maybe 7 Filipino Pesos (approx 15.5 cents)
The purple color adds fun to a tasty pastry. The flavor is nice and light, a sugary overtone to a delicate “sponge cake”, not sure what it technically is In Asia. The moisture was solid but it occasionally left me wanting water even though the pastry itself was moist. This was the one downside of this pastry. I would Likely buy a whole cake of this and serve it at a party.
2. Pastry Roll with Bread Crumbs on top and a meat roll inside (type of meat unknown, it’s Asia! Haha)
Flavor – 93
Moisture – 88
Creativity – 71
Other – 85
Overall – 91
Cost – ?, maybe 12 Pesos (approx 27 cents)
Light, sweet, buttery flavor, very similar to a Club cracker but stronger and better, with salty meat overtones. The meat is a friendly addition to the buttery flavor, almost like eating crackers and salami, though it’s unknown what the meat actually is. The crumbs almost felt like they we’re trying too hard as they got stuck around my lips a bit, though my mustache might have factored In there a bit. The unknown meat might downgrade this pastry for some, but the Club cracker flavor for a savory pastry is fantastic. I could eat this one over and over and over…
3. Twisted Pastry Roll with filling on top (maybe chocolate?) and shredded cheese on top of that
Flavor – 73
Moisture – 36
Creativity – 95
Other – 81
Overall – 79
Cost – ?, maybe 7 Pesos (15.5 cents)
First bite was disappointing. Hadn’t reached the cheese or filling yet and the dough was firm and chewy, almost tough like jerky. It wasn’t hard and crunchy either. It was a real let down. The chocolate filling was an odd taste and almost overpowing, not a True chocolate flavor but kind of a pie filling chocolate flavor, seemingly fake. After a meal this might be a wonderfuldessert pastry, but by itself this as try is lacking. The cheese and chocolate was super unique but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The saltiness from the cheese blended Well with the chocolate and helped temper the strong, almost awkward chocolate flavor. It actually could’ve used more cheese to balance out the chocolate.
4. Meat/Cheese Pastry Roll
Flavor – 77
Moisture – 84
Creativity – 84
Other – 80
Overall – 81
Cost – ?, maybe 11 Pesos (25 cents)
This was an average, awkward pastry. It looked savory but it had a sweet taste on top. Similar to the buttery taste, but sweeter and not as good. Good moisture, a teeny bit chewy, but soft and delicious. However nothing really stuck out to me about this pastry. It was unique, worth the try, but nothing special, nothing really good or bad.
5. Purple Cake (not sponge)
Flavor – 54
Moisture – 22
Creativity – 72
Other – 75
Overall – 48
Cost – unknown, “bad” gift from teammate
Yeah… the Sahara Desert might have more moisture. Someone had bought this and asked me to try it after them… That’s always bad news… ok, not always, but… you get the picture. Nothing special other than being purple, minimal taste, super duper dry. The only cool thing was that it was purple but since I’ve already had a purple pastry, it’s not as special.
6. Chocolate Donut
Flavor – 91 (Frosting – 97 Dough – 80)
Moisture – 71
Creativity – 50
Other – 89
Overall – 88
Cost – ?, 12 Pesos (27 cents)
So, the dough of the doughnut, nothing special, a very plain, normal donut with chocolate icing. The look… very, very plain… it’s just a normal doughnut. BUT, the frosting was probably the best chocolate frosting on a doughnut I’ve ever had. I can’t fully describe how good it was. It was the Perfect chocolate flavor, sugary but not too sweet, it held together as frosting on a doughnut should, not super messy but almost flakey. It was near perfection. The doughnut itself wasn’t super moist and was a bit chewy, but for a doughnut, the dough can be overlooked for the great frosting. Buy, buy, buy. I wish I had a dozen right now.
7. Plain Pastry
Flavor – 92
Moisture – 82
Creativity – 68
Other – 81
Overall – 87
Cost – unknown, free from ministry
Plain, flakey, buttery, sugary goodness. This was a boring, unspecial pastry, but the buttery, sugary goodness on top just made it something delicious. It looked like a cinnamon roll shape, but it was yellow and browned with sugary drizzle. It was crusty and flakey on the outside and soft and a good chewy on the inside. It was a strong, delicious pastry even if nothing stood out.
One final note… I will try to add pictures of most of the pastries later… but one step at a time with limited internet and limited space on my tablet to download pictures (have to borrow laptops to through pics/videos on my external hard drive… it’s a process when you’re living simply! haha)
