Our dear friend, Pia Lim-Castillo, has been in the process of setting up and opening a bakery in Pasay City called Panderia Lola Glo. Regee and I visited her yesterday to look around the bakery and also to buy some of the mouthwatering goods on display.
The bakery itself has been built on the site of Pia's former childhood ancestral home (which was rebuilt just next door) and it will be completed when the garden is created around the existing structure. It is already an oasis on Taft Avenue Extension but when it turns bright green it will be a little haven in the midst of a very busy part of Pasay. And to ensure this, Pia preserved every single tree--incorporating two of them into the structure! (See photos later).
As soon as you walk in, you are overcome by beautiful aromas wafting across the room from the oven and the still warm trays where freshly baked delicacies are cooling. I think there is nothing on earth as tempting as the smell of baking bread or pastries. Panaderia Lola Glo (named after Pia's mother) proves that point in spades--or should I say in pandesals?
Pia has about four people working in the bakery (one is on leave at the moment) but I think Pia herself counts as three extra people as she is the one creating the selections, testing all the goods, training the staff and generally making the bakery operational. She is the CEO and is in partnership with three other family members. This is a very entrepreneurial family. Panaderia Lola Glo is not the first foray into food--one of her sisters runs the renowned Cafe in the Ruins in Baguio, which we visited several years ago and found it so good that we had breakfast, lunch and dinner there!
Her goodies range from divine cinnamon rolls (which we had for breakfast this morning) to pandesal, chocolate and peanut cookies (which we have also tasted). While the bakery has only been open for one month, there is a lot of foot traffic and family and friends are placing their "special" orders and can pick them up at Pia's house. And just the other day, she received a huge order from a well-known restaurant for her duck siopao. News travels fast in Pasay!
Please click on "Read more" below to see more photos of the bakery.
Above and left is the huge commercial baking oven together with the proofing oven where the doughs are left at a low temperature for the yeast to do its work and "raise" the bread (or other baked goods using yeast).
To the right is a wood-fired brick oven (pugon) which sits outside the bakery on the verandah. This is where some of the pandesal are baked and become pan de sal pugon. Of course, they are a little more expensive than those cooked in a conventional oven because of the wood fuel costs.
Below you can see the tray where the wood coals have been consumed. We have not tried the pan de sal pugon yet but they will have a a subtle but quite different taste--like anything else cooked over fire. That is a treat that still awaits us.
Quite apart from the bakery, I was also impressed by the trees already present in the "future" garden. In the photo above, from L to R, you can see part of the mango tree that has been incorporated into the bakery, a kapok tree, a small malunggay tree, two coconut trees and a banana tree (all three bearing fruit) and, on the far right, part of a duhat tree (Java or Black Plum). And in the photos below you can see on the left a tree (can't remember the name) that is growing through the roof; and to the right, the mango tree that is now surrounded by the verandah (and in the distance, you can see Regee holding up all her purchases from the bakery)!
We look forward to visiting the bakery again when the garden is installed. The bakery itself opened about one month ago. I will definitely enjoy sitting in the shade of all these beautiful trees while sipping coffee (Pia, will there be coffee?) and consuming pandesal, cinnamon rolls, duck siopao, cookies, bacon rolls and whatever other creations Pia comes up with.
We wish Pia and her family partners every success for the future. The only downside is that when Panderia Lola Glo is well known, the traffic on Taft Avenue Extension will triple or quadruple!! Ah well, Pia even thought of that because I did notice that the MRT or LRT light rail train runs right along the side of the bakery!!
Maybe Pia will employ people (like they do in the province) to stand by the rails offering their wares to the passengers hanging out of the train window? Or maybe the light rail trains are just too speedy for that form of commerce!
And while on the subject of trees, can anyone name the gorgeous tree in the photo above which we saw in Dasmarinas Village on the way home from the bakery? A huge cash prize for the first correct answer!
The bakery itself has been built on the site of Pia's former childhood ancestral home (which was rebuilt just next door) and it will be completed when the garden is created around the existing structure. It is already an oasis on Taft Avenue Extension but when it turns bright green it will be a little haven in the midst of a very busy part of Pasay. And to ensure this, Pia preserved every single tree--incorporating two of them into the structure! (See photos later).
As soon as you walk in, you are overcome by beautiful aromas wafting across the room from the oven and the still warm trays where freshly baked delicacies are cooling. I think there is nothing on earth as tempting as the smell of baking bread or pastries. Panaderia Lola Glo (named after Pia's mother) proves that point in spades--or should I say in pandesals?
Pia has about four people working in the bakery (one is on leave at the moment) but I think Pia herself counts as three extra people as she is the one creating the selections, testing all the goods, training the staff and generally making the bakery operational. She is the CEO and is in partnership with three other family members. This is a very entrepreneurial family. Panaderia Lola Glo is not the first foray into food--one of her sisters runs the renowned Cafe in the Ruins in Baguio, which we visited several years ago and found it so good that we had breakfast, lunch and dinner there!
Her goodies range from divine cinnamon rolls (which we had for breakfast this morning) to pandesal, chocolate and peanut cookies (which we have also tasted). While the bakery has only been open for one month, there is a lot of foot traffic and family and friends are placing their "special" orders and can pick them up at Pia's house. And just the other day, she received a huge order from a well-known restaurant for her duck siopao. News travels fast in Pasay!
Please click on "Read more" below to see more photos of the bakery.
Above and left is the huge commercial baking oven together with the proofing oven where the doughs are left at a low temperature for the yeast to do its work and "raise" the bread (or other baked goods using yeast).To the right is a wood-fired brick oven (pugon) which sits outside the bakery on the verandah. This is where some of the pandesal are baked and become pan de sal pugon. Of course, they are a little more expensive than those cooked in a conventional oven because of the wood fuel costs.
Below you can see the tray where the wood coals have been consumed. We have not tried the pan de sal pugon yet but they will have a a subtle but quite different taste--like anything else cooked over fire. That is a treat that still awaits us.
Bacon rolls fresh from the oven
"What shall we bake next?"
The duck is cooked in preparation for duck siopao
Chocolate cookies
I had one of these peanut cookies straight from the oven--but had to let it cool down first!
We look forward to visiting the bakery again when the garden is installed. The bakery itself opened about one month ago. I will definitely enjoy sitting in the shade of all these beautiful trees while sipping coffee (Pia, will there be coffee?) and consuming pandesal, cinnamon rolls, duck siopao, cookies, bacon rolls and whatever other creations Pia comes up with. We wish Pia and her family partners every success for the future. The only downside is that when Panderia Lola Glo is well known, the traffic on Taft Avenue Extension will triple or quadruple!! Ah well, Pia even thought of that because I did notice that the MRT or LRT light rail train runs right along the side of the bakery!!
Maybe Pia will employ people (like they do in the province) to stand by the rails offering their wares to the passengers hanging out of the train window? Or maybe the light rail trains are just too speedy for that form of commerce!
OMG - the bacon rolls look divine!
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