French with a local touch

CEBU, Philippines – Authentic French breads and pastries are now within your reach as Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino’s patisserie and boulangerie, Madeleine, introduces its newest lineup of breads, cakes and pastries created especially by the hotel’s new pastry chef, Benoit Laboureux.

Although Madeleine has already been known to serve delectable French desserts ever since it opened its doors in the Queen City, this pastry shop still continues to amaze as it consistently innovates to satisfy the Cebuanos’ meticulous palate.

With Chef Benoit on board, Cebuanos are surely in for a sweet treat as he has carefully integrated the techniques that he has acquired from the places he has worked in such as France, Hong Kong and Japan with local ingredients to come up with desserts that will match their taste. With 22 years of experience as a pastry chef, Benoit shared his enjoyment in using ingredients from the Philippines in coming up with new favorites.

“Local ingredients are very interesting. I like using mangoes, kalamansi and coconut,” Chef Benoit said.

With that, Chef Benoit created the Island Cake, a dessert slowly making noise among the hotel’s guests as it uses mangoes, bananas, coconuts and a hint of malibu that gives off that island vibe in every bite.

Aside from the Island Cake, Madeleine also boasts of new cakes such as the Crunchy Choco Baileys, Lemon Tart, Mille Feuilles Vanilla, Choco Orange Grand Mamier, Sphere Choco Green Tea and more.

One of the new things to look forward to at Madeleine are their new breads, as well. According to Chef Benoit, he was lucky enough to be one of the few people to have a grasp of one of the oldest recipes of baking French bread. With that, Madeleine is the only place in the country where one can have a truly authentic French bread.

The recipe, which uses less yeast, also incorporates fresh grape and apple juice, which have been fermented for four days, making the breads more traditional with bursting natural flavors.

Madeleine is located at the Gourmet Walk of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino and is open daily from 7:00 AM to 12:00 midnight. For inquiries or reservations, please call (63-32) 232-6888 local 8629. Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino is located at Salinas Drive, Lahug.