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.
[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
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.
[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.
[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 $2
Rolling out the dough into long ropes
Cutting the proofed dough into buns
Each bun is weighed to make sure they are a consistent size
Pandesal, Spanish bread and ensaymadas with cheese ready to go
Fresh pandesal hot out of the oven
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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
posted by Helen (Grab Your Fork) on 3/02/2014 12:05:00 am
22 Comments:
At 3/02/2014 3:49 am, Padaek said…
The pandesal are such pretty buns. :) All the food look delicious! Love ube to bits. :)
At 3/02/2014 8:33 am, foodiezee said…
Yum...I miss pandesal!
At 3/02/2014 10:42 am, retrodaze said…
What a great addition to beverly hills! That side of the station is a bit dead compared to the other side so it's good to have some new places opening up
At 3/02/2014 2:11 pm, Hannah said…
Ensaymada, tripe, ube. That's my order. Delivery please. Ta Helen. x
At 3/02/2014 5:42 pm, Chris @ MAB vs Food said…
I love how they weigh each bun to make sure they are all the same size! These breads look great. Will definitely drop by next time on my way to Hurstville
At 3/02/2014 5:54 pm, chocolatesuze said…
the ensaymada looks so fluffy but i ah i only have eyes for that flan!
At 3/02/2014 6:52 pm, Michael @ I'm Still Hungry said…
Sugar & grated cheese? Is this another one of those interplays between sweet & savoury that inexplicably just works? I'll try that at home first I think :P
At 3/03/2014 9:10 am, john | heneedsfood said…
Love places like this. And it looks like you had dinner set for a couple of nights with all of those takeaway boxes!
At 3/03/2014 9:30 am, Papagana said…
Wow I drive past this place every day and never bothered stopping - know what I'll be buying tomorrow!
At 3/03/2014 10:47 am, Sherrie @ Crystal Noir said…
Oh yum puffy dough sounds amazing!
At 3/04/2014 11:58 am, tina@bitemeshowme said…
ohhh dammmnn
shame i dont post anymore im getting out of the blogging scene!
At 3/04/2014 9:26 pm, Cara @ Gourmet Chick said…
Love the look of the pandesal and that there is a suburb in Sydney called Beverley hills - something I did not know!
At 3/04/2014 9:36 pm, Christina @ The Hungry Australian said…
It's 9pm at night and now I feel like fresh buns. I'll bet that place smelled AMAZING!
At 3/04/2014 10:24 pm, Adrian (Food Rehab) said…
Woah, fluffy indeed! For a hot minute there I thought you actually in LA considering there are also a tonne of Filo bake houses there too LOL!
I'm here next time I'm in yo hood.
At 3/05/2014 10:08 pm, Amanda@ChewTown said…
That certainly is a bakery with an impressive product offering! I think I'll need to try some of those pandesal buns soon.
At 3/06/2014 12:31 am, Sara | Belly Rumbles said…
This is only up the road (across a bridge and up the road some more). I need to hook this on to a Hurstville trip very soon, looking delicious.
At 3/06/2014 8:28 am, angela@mykikicake said…
I have never tried a pandesal bun..I feel like I'm missing out!!!
At 3/06/2014 10:26 am, JJ - 84thand3rd said…
You always find the best places ;D I still get my hair coloured down near Beverly Hills, now we have a perfect excuse to detour slightly for lunch!
At 3/07/2014 12:42 pm, Unknown said…
Damn those Salt bread rolls look good. I love the idea of cheese filling & crunchy sugar crust, (yes I am wacky!) as for Empanadas, so there!!!
At 3/09/2014 11:32 pm, Amanda @ Gourmanda said…
I've really only had Filipino food once or twice, but really enjoyed it! I didn't have pandesal bread though - it looks delicious.
At 3/11/2014 7:27 am, Ramen Raff said…
Whoa!!!! The pandesals looks so legit! So does their beef caldereta and ensaymada! Looks they used 2 cheeses on that fluffy ensaymada. Been meaning to visit them. Your post just gave me that push. Cheer Helen
At 3/13/2014 8:21 am, Charlene @ aus2usa said…
Adobo and those bread and flan! That just reminds me of when my friend hosts his annual party at his place. Ah! can't wait to try them all out!
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