Baby Pat, The Pig & Palm

A whole lot of warm memories melt in your mouth the minute you bite into a Baby Pat ensaymada — memories of your lola, your mom, your favorite cook; Christmas Eve; the day your children were born and your hospital room was flooded with flowers and sweets; and girl bonding over a cup of coffee or hot chocolate.

And after you’ve licked your lips after the last creamy bite of the ensaymada, new memories are made.

“That’s because we bake pleasure,” says entrepreneur Pearl de Guzman. The memories that each ensaymada is laden with begin with Pearl’s own.

“Baby Pat began with my love for my mom — to reciprocate her love and to uphold her legacy in baking and the business she set up with Pat’s Cakehouse in Cavite City in the ‘70s,” Pearl, wife of Secretary for Climate Change Commission Manny de Guzman, continues.

When Pearl became a mother herself, she named her children Patrice and Patrick. So both children can lay claim to being the “Baby Pat” on the label of their mom’s ensaymada (and other goodies).

The Philippines doesn’t lack for scrumptious ensaymada that I dare say it is one of the Top 5 bilins of overseas Pinoys, along with bottled tuyo and Chocnut. So, what makes Baby Pat a cut above the rest?

For one, it weighs more than the rest. Each ensaymada weighs between 150 and 175 grams.

“My ensaymada recipe was developed through my years of baking and constant desire for perfection. I also use the best ingredients available. I personally make also the ube halaya for the Ube Ensaymada from the most purple of available harvests from the farmlands of Tagaytay and Bohol,” she reveals.

Baby Pat has at least a dozen flavors, and they are color coded, so unlike a box of chocolates, you know what you’re going to get. They include Speculoos, Nutella, Latik, Tablea, Ube, Peanut Butter Chocnut, Vigan Longganisa, Sweet Ham, Majestic Ham and Bacon.

“I modernized the classic ensaymada with the blend of traditional and contemporary flavors using delightful spreads from here and abroad,” shares Pearl.

Friends and strangers alike easily warmed up to Baby Pat ensaymadas. One satisfied customer, whom the De Guzmans didn’t know personally, wrote Pearl: “Your Ube Ensaymada is by far the best I’ve had! Very moist, chewy, buttery, and how the ube filling is in every square millimeter of the dough...”

I’ve tasted the ube and the Gruyere varieties and truly, each square millimeter is packed with pleasure. I taste the butter in each bite of the ensaymada, which is dense with goodness (siksik) but soft to the bite.

With her mother’s legacy to uphold, and her children’s names on the label, Pearl can’t help but bring perfection with the pleasure of every bite of Baby Pat. It will melt you.

(For inquiries, contact Pearl at [email protected], www.facebook.com/mybabypat, @mybabypat on Instagram and 0917-7901127.)

The Pig & Palm

He calls it his “love letter” to his Cebu-born wife.

On July 26, Michelin-star British chef Jason Atherton and his wife Irha, a Cebuana, will open their first restaurant in the Philippines, The Pig & Palm. And it will be on the island of Cebu, recently named the sixth best island in the world by New York-based Travel+Leisure.

Jason says, “It has always been Irha’s dream to bring some of the success of our restaurant group, The Social Company, back to her hometown of Cebu. It gives me no greater joy than to open a restaurant here as my love letter to her — my wife and co-director of the company.”

Together, Jason Atherton and Manila-born head chef Tim dela Cruz have developed a menu of modern tapas-style sharing dishes, interpreted using the best of Filipino produce. As suggested by the restaurant’s name, dishes will celebrate Cebu’s reputation as a destination for pork, with a focus on pig-based plates sourced from local farms in Cebu. Dishes on the menu will include Jamon and Manchego toastie with quail eggs, Lechon de leche with spiced pork-fat roasted carrots and herb dressing and pulled pork burgers with spiced tomato chutney and avocado. In addition, a brunch menu will be served with a range of inventive egg-based dishes.

The pig-based specialities and the location — Cebu, a world-renowned tropical isle — are why it’s called “The Pig & Palm.” Oink!

The Pig & Palm is the 16th restaurant worldwide for the Athertons’ critically acclaimed restaurant group The Social Company, which holds three Michelin stars and spans London, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dubai and Sydney. The restaurant has been created in collaboration with their business partners, Cebu-based property developers Chris and Carla McKowen and architect Lyndon Neri, with the aim of bringing a taste of Spanish gastronomy to Cebu in an informal, contemporary environment.

Located in the MSY Tower, Cebu Business Park, the 57-cover restaurant will offer a modern Spanish tapas menu with a focus on pork dishes. A 25-cover stand-alone bar will serve innovative cocktails and bar snacks.

Chris and Carla McKowen add, “Cebu is one of the best islands to live in the Philippines and a foodie destination in its own right. We’re having fun taking inspiration from our surroundings and creating a space where you can enjoy all the treats Cebu has to offer, redefined by the creative taste buds of chef Jason Atherton and the design eye of Lyndon Neri.”

With a reputation for award-winning and innovative cocktail bars, group bar executive Jamie Jones has created a drinks menu for The Pig & Palm’s bar that blends traditional Filipino fruits and flavors with British cocktail styles. The McBandaq combines locally produced rum and root beer with carnation cream and fresh banana, blended and served in a milkshake cup.

(The Pig & Palm is open from Tuesday to Sunday for breakfast, lunch and dinner from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. For reservations, e-mail [email protected] or call

0929-4814668. The reservation line is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) (You may e-mail me at [email protected].)