Des(s)ert flower power

You look for the FLP Bldg. on Tomas Morato Ave., the stretch between the Morato-Timog roundabout and ABS-CBN. Across Virgin Cafe, you’ll see the Belo Medical Center occupying one wing of the FLP Bldg., and if you even blink as you’re driving by, you’re bound to miss the patisserie/bistro that’s called Fleur de Lys. Occupying not much more than a sliver of the building’s facade, blink at your own peril. While unheralded and barely publicized or promoted, if word of mouth was worth its weight in gold, than Fleur de Lys is the Fort Knox of heavenly desserts and comfort-food quick-lunch fixes. One of the best-kept secrets of Quezon City foodies, Fleur de Lys is the brainchild of chef Jackie Ang-Po.

As you enter the establishment, don’t be fooled by the ground floor, which basically consists of the dessert display counter and a couple of tables. With the mezzanine dining area, Fleur de Lys sits around 35 people upstairs, while up to 12 people can be accommodated at the al fresco tables in front of the shop. If some people out there think Jackie’s face strikes a familiar chord, it’s because she spent some five years on television, on Heny Sison’s cooking show, and her formal culinary education came via the California Culinary Academy on Polk St. in San Francisco. Open at 10 a.m., the midnight closing time extends to 1:30 a.m. on weekends. Given the Quezon City location, Fleur de Lys offers very competitively-priced meals. A full lunch or dinner comes in at under P250, and the desserts come in individual mini-versions or slices that range from P65 to P110. Having established all that, let’s now turn to Jackie and the food.

As with most chefs I’ve met, Jackie has a great sense of humor, and displays flashes of this as she expounds on the mission vision of Fleur de Lys.

"I began the patisserie as a way to upgrade and bring forward the concept of fine dessert dining here in Quezon City. People would comment that it was only in the hotels or in Makati that one would find an up market-style establishment with quality desserts. Fleur de Lys is named after my grandmother-in-law Flordeliza Po, and precisely because it’s located in Quezon City, the challenge was to make imaginative use of ingredients, not sacrifice flavor or the portioning, and yet keep the prices competitive. Sabi nga ni Vicki Belo, who loves our warm chocolate cake, ‘It’s so yummy and yet so cheap!’" And Jackie laughs, recalling how that is so much the Vicki we know, always looking for the best when it comes to chocolates, and yet appreciating value for money.

I’m one of those suckers for healthy drinks, indulging in soda every so often, but on the lookout for something less carbonated when I can. The orange-lemongrass and the grasshopper mint iced tea drinks put me in the right mood immediately. Among the main courses available for lunch, the two pasta dishes I’ve tried and can heartily recommend are the adobo flakes and the aligue and garlic. Using linguini as the preferred choice of pasta, the Filipino twist to the sauces worked excellently. The adobo is creamy adobo sauce topped with pork adobo flakes and fresh tomatoes, while the other is pure baby crab fat with garlic chips and lemon. Well? We can indulge once in a while, right? Other interesting items were the Spanish sardine pasta and the crumbled beef chorizo pasta. Jackie mentioned that Kris Aquino holds their putanesca in high esteem.

Like a true sugar junkie, I tried four of the desserts, and between gulps of satisfied savoring, I’d count the Mango Macadamia Embrace and the Dulce and Gobanana as the ones I’d fight tooth and nail for! Myrna Segismundo of 9501, the resto on the 14th floor of ABS, readily contributed her Fleur-avorite as the Macadamia Nut Tart (called Nuts About You in the menu). Jackie averred that they had a lot of fun creating playful names for the menu items. Besides the Dulce and Gobanana, what caught my eye was Mint For Each Other (a chocolate chip and mint cheesecake).

Located in between the studios of ABS and GMA, it’s not surprising to find that denizens from the world of show business patronize Fleur regularly. Mylene Dizon and Amy Perez love its cheesecakes, and Jackie catered the seventh birthday party of Ai-Ai de las Alas’ child. Even the cake at Heart Evangelista’s 18th birthday debut was whipped up by Jackie.

As the concept of all-day comfort food dining is the cornerstone for Fleur’s existence, one finds that savory herbed waffles and fruit/dessert waffles are served the whole day. Ditto for Filipino breakfast-type fare that includes choices such as chicken galantina, chorizo hamonado, spicy bangus, and garlic tapa. There are blended cold coffee and chocolate concoctions, specialty dessert coffees using 100 percent Colombian coffee beans and special flavored and herb-infused hot teas.

With sincere humility, Jackie mentions that she’s never staked her reputation on main courses and food. "I am a pastry chef par excellence and extraordinaire." And she starts giggling, "I will be very insulted if you won’t compliment me on my ‘children’ – my desserts. With the soups, salads, paninis and pasta, I stuck to what was safe or easily recognizable. What experimentation there is had more to do with availability of ingredients and thinking Filipino, even if I’m using a bed of pasta or the panini concept."

Given that I had food authorities like Myrna Segismundo and Jill Sandique readily gushing about the creations coming out of Jackie’s little kitchen and ovens, the humility may sit well on Jackie’s head, but it’ll have to share space with a pasty chef’s toque that has "Respect" written all over it.

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Fleur de Lys is located at 305 T. Morato Ave., Quezon City. Call 372-0631 for inquiries and reservations.