Comfort food—food that reassures—is dilferent things to dilferent people.”
In the past year or so, I have developed a taste for places
that serve excellent comfort food some have stuck with me and have become my
go-to places. Others, if not most, try
too hard.
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When I I crave comfort food or even when I think about it, I
think of simply composed dishes that are
packed with bold and savory flavors that, for each and every bite you have of,
takes you to another plain of reality (or fantasy). And as I’ve already quoted in the past, if
you order the same dish twice (in this case visit or wish to visit the same
place again and again) then you know you are on to something.
To my mind, nothing beats comfort food. For one reason or another it is just there on
your top five every single time. It picks not predisposition or inclination. No rhyme or reason neither a season. But good to great comfort food is hard to
find. Others fight against your
childhood expectations and experiences while others just miss the mark at all
point. But once in a while you are grazed
with comfort food perfection, so much so that it takes you to back there even
before you left.
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In this feast I visited this popular bakery for food writers
and blogger alike, Mom and Tina’s Bakery Cafe – Katipunan Avenue. This simple family owned business has been
given so much “kudos” and “stars” on the net.
So, this time I’ll share with you my own experience and my take on this
hyped-up bakery café.
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Upon entering Mom and Tina’s Bakery Café, “homey” may hit
you in the face, but I did notice as the people found their way into the café it
began to get a little bit too noisy and your seating and walking logistics
begin to become an issue. This isn’t
exactly the place you would go to if you wanted coffee and dessert to just talk
and relax. But these things are not of
import. Not so much anyway.
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This feast begins with their pies. Why dine at a bakery/café and not order their
pies or pastries, although in this case, I sampled savory pies.
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Their BACON AND SPINACH QUICHE leaves a lot to be desired,
both in presentation and in taste. To be
honest the people in my table could not stomach the smell or aroma of it. Something just didn’t’ sit well. I suspect it was the cheese used in baking
the quiche. I could not taste the “bacon”
in the dish (at least the name had “bacon” in it) and the cheese used together
with the spinach was too heavy. The
flavors were just flat and monotonous.
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Next I sampled their CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM PIE, which was
quite bland to be honest. Just lacking in flavors and seasoning. Chicken is not as flavorful as pork or beef on
their own since they are leaner and mushrooms are just earthy and sometimes
bland, as such both components of that pie needed a serious help in flavor and
seasoning department. Compared to the
Former pie, at least that one had the cheese going for it, which is why I didn’t
bother taking another go at it.
Here’s where I struggled with both pies was that their
crusts were possibly underdone a tad bit, it had no bite to it and there was
not enough browning to it. It could have
probably used a few more minutes in the oven.
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Next I took a swing at their pasta selection ordering their
CHICKEN SPINACH LASAGNA. It is very
rare that you get to eat a dish and you get both flavor and cookery on the money. Unfortunately, this is not one of those
times. Now, it could be a bad day at
the kitchen and it turned out that I would be experiencing it on my first try,
so, no judgment here, just observations.
First of, I must commend them on their lasagna, the tomato sauce was
salty and sweet and the cheese they used added a nutty flavor to it.
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A few things I would call them out on is that It could have
used a lot more chicken, and a little acidity in the sauce just to balance out
the richness of the cheese and tomato paste.
It was a little to heavy. Another
observation is the pasta sheets were mush! I believe the pasta was precooked to al dente
or over al dente then assembled and cooked off in the oven to melt that
cheese. Speaking of cheese, the cheese
they used did not melt well enough. In
fact, it was a cross of chewy to a slight bite to it. I would have used melting cheeses like
cheddar, or Monterey Jack or Mozzarella.
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After treating myself to that, I sampled two (2) of their
entrees, first their ROAST PORK. Its
relatively thin slices of roasted pork with a generous amount of gravy sauce
lathered on it with a side of apple sauce, mashed potato and buttered
veggies. As it should be the star of
the dish was the pork, and for the most part it did not disappoint. The pork was tender but lacked seasoning,
which was totally alright since their gravy had flavor enough to help it and
adding the sweetness of the apple sauce to the mix compensates for the
saltiness and richness of the gravy.
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Some things that did not quite hit the mark, like the
veggies, that are claimed to be fresh were the exact opposite, they were frozen,
and dare I say they possibly could have been those grocery bought packed mix
veggies in the frozen food section. The
mash potatoes were a bit of a let down, it had a dense, almost pasty
consistency to it, it could have used a little more moisture to loosen it
up.
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And the final dish of this feast, their CHICKEN
RELLENO. A family recipe that involves
stuffed chicken sliced and served with java rice and a special sauce. I have to say, this was a treat, I have no
clue what is in that stuffing but it was so good, I am salivating just thinking
about it, it took different forms on your palate. It was sweet, salty, and savory all at the
same time. However, it was a bit too
dry, but it was compensated for by the sauce the spread over it. The color of it didn’t sit right with me, it
was rather unappealing at but the flavors are there.
There’s a lot of hype riding on this family owned
business. Most blogs and write-ups I’ve
seen rate them a 4.5 or a 5. But my take
on it is purely based on my experience and how I experienced it, should I join
the “rating” bandwagon, I would give it 3 out of 5.
Mind you these are first impressions, and this may very well
be an isolated incident or a stroke of bad luck. I have yet to try other branches and other
dishes that may kill the “hype” but here is the thing, I’ve been to every
branch of some of my favorite comfort food spots, and their consistency is good
across the board. My question to you is,
“Shouldn’t Mom and Tina’s Bakery Café be the same?“.
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Like I always say, (and I’m an advocate of this) every resto
deserves a first go around, sometimes they deserve a second one, as far as I’m
concerned Mom and Tina’s has earned a 2nd go around from me and then I’ll
decide if this potentially lives up or even surpasses the hype and ultimately
be claimed as a “comfort food go-to” resto.
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