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Sunday, March 02, 2014

Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills

Pandesal salt bread at Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills

Filipinos love to eat it for breakfast, but pandesal can be eaten any time of the day. At Pandesal (it means “salt bread” in Spanish) Bakehouse, they bake the soft, fluffy, slightly sweet, yeasted buns in small batches around the clock. Chances are the buns will still be warm from the oven when you get your mitts on them. And you can watch the whole production process: the proofed dough stretched out into long ropes, cut, rolled in fine breadcrumbs and then proofed again before baking.

Get them for 40c each or a dozen for $3.60. Have them with butter or jam for afternoon tea, or make like a local and have them dunked in tea for breakfast.

Ensaymada with cheese, Spanish bread and pandesal at Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills
[L-R]: Ensaymada with cheese $2.50, Spanish bread 80c and pandesal 40c each

But wait, there’s more: Spanish bread are little log-shaped loaves filled with a paste of butter and brown sugar. Ensaymada with cheese is another fluffy sweet bread, rolled up in a scroll and sprinkled with sugar and - you read that right - grated cheese. It sounds crazy but it works. Really.

Adobo pork at Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills
Adobo pork

Customers flow through this tiny bakery non-stop on the weekend – it’s mostly locals but also Filipinos who have travelled from several suburbs away. There’s a whole heap of Filipino treats for homesick expats including a rotating mix of hot dishes in a covered bain marie.

Callos beef  tripe, bicol express pork, caldareta stew, palabok and dobo pork at Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills
[Clockwise from top]: Callos beef tripe; bicol express pork; caldareta beef stew; palabok; and adobo pork $8 each

They have adobo pork, caldareta beef stew, callos beef tripe and bicol express pork in coconut gravy when we visit. The callos beef tripe is particularly good with tender honeycomb tripe, peas and carrots in a tomato stew. Get a medium-sized takeaway box for $8 and dinner’s sorted. Check the freezer too for embutido (a Filipino meatloaf) and kikiam, a tasty mix of sweet pork mince and five spice wrapped up in bean curd sheets.

Leche flan, sans rival ube and mango cake at Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills
[Clockwise from top]: Sans rival ube $4; mango cake $4; and leche flan $7

Don’t forget dessert, either. There’s taho sweet bean curd in syrup, ube purple yam cake and leche flan, the Filipino version of crème caramel made with condensed milk. And if the sans rival meringue with French butter cream is a little too sweet, get a cup of cold ready-made Milo to go.

Empanadas at Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills
Empanadas $2

Rolling out dough for pandesal at Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills
Rolling out the dough into long ropes

Cutting dough for pandesal at Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills
Cutting the proofed dough into buns

Weighing the pandesal dough at Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills
Each bun is weighed to make sure they are a consistent size

Pandesal, Spanish bread and ensaymadas with cheese at Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills
Pandesal, Spanish bread and ensaymadas with cheese ready to go

Fresh pandesal hot out of the oven at Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills
Fresh pandesal hot out of the oven

Pandesal Bakehouse, Beverly Hills


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Pandesal Bakehouse
16 Tooronga Terrace, Beverly Hills, Sydney
Tel: +61(0)416 105 344

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday 8am-5pm
Saturday 8am-2pm

This article appeared in the February 2014 issue of Time Out Sydney in my monthly Food & Drink column Eat This! [Read online

Read more of my Time Out Sydney reviews
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posted by Helen (Grab Your Fork) on 3/02/2014 12:05:00 am


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