A taste of Korea in Quezon City

MANILA, Philippines — When it comes to food, fresh and natural is the way to go.  Food should not be just healthy, it must also – believe it or not – taste better.  But unlike instantly-prepared food, the fresh variety takes a little longer to make.

The guy behind the counter at the newly-opened Tom N Toms Coffee in Phase 2 of UP Town Center asked me if I can wait 10 minutes for my order  – Spicy Italian Pretzel.

I ignored the child in me who cannot wait to try the food being prepared right before my eyes. I managed to flash a weak smile.

Finally, the round brown object the staff gave me lit up, along with my eyes. I got the pretzel and never looked back.

The pretzel was soft, warm and yummy; the citron tea that went with it, sweet and refreshing on a warm Friday afternoon.

Ateneo Women's Volleyball Team trying the newly opened Korean-themed diner. Photo release

“Everything here is fresh,” assures owner Jason Barcelon. “That’s why you see the food being prepared for you. The dough is fresh. Pretzels are prepared daily. Everything that stays past 48 hours is thrown away. But based on experience, our food doesn’t stay that long. Turnover is fast.”

One cannot see a convection oven in the store. That is because not a single item in the menu is reheated before it is served.  Everything is reportedly prepared on the spot.

Since the franchise comes from Korea, Barcelon and his wife, Haidee, import 90 percent of the ingredients all the way from Korea, even the strawberries. What Tom N Toms does not import is the banana for the smoothies.

“Our bananas taste great!” Jason, a Filipino, proudly points out.

So upbeat is he about the store that he plans to open it 24/7 by next month.  That is good news for call center agents in the area and students burning the midnight oil for an exam, term paper or thesis defense.

Barcelon also plans to pull out all the stops and open “three to four branches a year.”

As it is, Tom N Toms has three more branches: Bacolod (where the Korean master franchisee lives), Cebu and Boracay. Every branch has the same offerings, but bestsellers vary from place to place.

Peter Kim, representative of Tom N Toms Ltd. Korea in the Philippines, reports that sugar-based items are bestsellers in Bacolod. This is not surprising as Bacolod is the “Sugar Capital of the Philippines.”

Cebuanos, he adds, produce their coffee-based items with passion. “Cebu is more citified than Bacolod,” he explains. So, in the cafe, people can have something that keep them awake for longer hours. These include Café Americana, Café Latte, Café Mocha, Cappuccino, and others on the menu.

Boracay is another story. Peter observes that vacationers in the island count honey butter bread as their favorite. 

Coffe latte Photo release

Manila, on the other hand, is still everybody’s ballgame. But stiff competition, disparate lifestyles, and bigger purchasing power make it doubly exciting. Add to this the fact that the store owners must deal with conservative commercial establishments that refuse to gamble on the untried.

No wonder, the Barcelons have been planning Tom N Toms’ Manila launch for close to a year. “We were already familiar with the brand from Korea, and found the concept of preparing the food in-store from scratch very refreshing, especially nowadays when it’s common for coffee shops to merely heat the precooked food before serving it. Another thing that caught our attention was the wide variety of beverages that cater to a more diverse clientele,” reveals Haidee.

So, she and Jason reached out to the head office in Korea and got the Metro Manila franchise.

Korean trainers from Tom N Toms flew to Manila to guide two of the Filipino staff on retaining the store’s original flavor and concept. Peter, who has stayed long enough in the country to observe the people’s lifestyle, predicts smoothies and coffee will be the favorites of busy Manileños who need all the energy they can get to cope with the daily grind. With Manila’s hectic pace and UP Town Center’s cosmopolitan crowd, the forecast is as good as fulfilled.

 Meanwhile, let me try that mango-flavored bingsu.