Bread Talk

Well, this has been the talk of the town for quite some time since it arrived in Manila. Breadtalk has probably been around for a year already, based on the first news I heard last Christmas. A lot of people came around saying that its highly recommended, but personally I felt that it may be naught for me because the quality of the bread sold at Breadtalk is different from the standard bread quality in the Philippines. Considering that bread quality in Hong Kong is pretty good for standard side street normal bake and bread shops, I assumed that this would be the same. Similarly, I've also received news that it is similar to the breads sold locally (Hong Kong), I didn't think much of it the first time it was mentioned to me.

Finally I had the chance to pass by one of their shops located in Glorietta 4 last Saturday and this Friday, so I figured I might as well try it out for myself rather than judging from heresay. Upon arriving, the environment is less to my liking. Perhaps it seemed to me that the shop is too bright and too "orange" for my taste, and the layouting seems somewhat stuffy, particularly in a country like the Philippines where its year round hot and humid. Its made even worse for the fact that the actual baking is done at the store, and the internal seems like a hot oven on a humid day, and even worse, its situated right beside the G4 entrance.

Actually, I never would've tried it if not for the fact that one of my Hong Kong Fil chi friends mentioned that their spicy pork floss bread was extremely good because of the sauce, and not exactly the pork floss. Owing that all Hong Kong bakeries have their own generic version of the pork floss bread, I previously thought nothing of their famous "pork floss" (this was always talked about by my Philippine friends earlier last year) until the "sauce" was mentioned.

Passing by, I grabbed a piece of the spicy pork floss bread(at P45 per piece at the time of this entry, I personally thought it extremely expensive). The lines were long, but I was pleased to find out that the pay counters were extremely fast, compared to Philippine standards. This was a definite plus for me. I paid for my bread, and tried it out.

My friend was actually right. The pork floss aside, it was the sauce that made the whole thing taste more than the usual pork floss bread. Its also the reason why I went for seconds today, as I've tried it already last Saturday. The spicy combination is just right to ellicit a differentiation of the Breaktalk market against other Hong Kong bakeshops (there are now several Breaktalk stores in Hong Kong) but I personally think that its not enough to warrant a steal in the bread and bakeshop market in Hong Kong. But for the Philippines, it was a smart strategic move, as there are no existing bread and bakeshop of this kind to offer competition (There's also a similar strategy with Fitness First gyms, but that is another posting altogether)

The other shop selections are pretty much similar to Hong Kong bread shops like Maxims (美心西餅), Saint Honore Cake Shop, Arome Bakery etc., although I must admit that since a lot of people do buy from Breadtalk, most of its bread are freshly made out of the oven consequently have a more superior quality compared to the ones I usually have in Hong Kong (all their breads feel like they've been lying around the try for hours already.. there's no more of that warm, spongy texture that you get from freshly made bread) as can be seen when I also tried their pizza bread.

All in all, the feedback is pretty good, at least for Philippine standards. Its distinctive in its own way, and it will likely get a good chunk of market share since it seems like its the first of its kind. The spicy pork floss bread is good, and its nice to have seconds, but not really warranting for daily consumption as it comes off more as a mid-end luxury. Nice, though.