Monsee's Cafe

Nestled along the stretch of Katipunan fronting White Plains is a quaint bakery, Monsee's Chefs and Bakers, also known as Monsee's Café. The bakery’s beautiful white exterior is highlighted by two red doors. We've passed by it a couple of times but were hesitant to drop in, and we're kicking ourselves for that.

The first time we were there, we bought some bread to try out at home. This time, I was determined to have lunch there. The interior of the bakeshop reminded me a lot of the bakery from the movie "Its Complicated”. Although not exactly the same, many of the elements are similar like the predominantly white color scheme and even the chalkboard on top listing the products available.

We stepped up to the counter to order lunch, but what caught my fancy was this plate of assorted Danish, with the peach Danish pastry calling out to me, saying "EAT ME!" Before I had even decided on lunch, I knew what I will have for dessert.

Spicy Sausage (P165). Garlic sausage sautéed with onions with two scrambled eggs and rice. The sausage slices was not spectacular nor spicy, but good enough to get me to dessert. The scrambled eggs were soft and fluffy, a good choice.

Chicken Relleno (P165). Three slices of stuffed chicken with two sunny side up eggs and rice. Irene was regretting not picking scrambled for her eggs since the sunny side ones were not runny. The chicken relleno (stuffed chicken) was really good though and I like it better than the spicy sausages.

On to dessert, or more specifically the Peach Danish pastry (P65). Topped with slivered almonds, it was beckoning to me to devour it and devour it I did. The peach half, situated so brightly in the center like the sun, was very crispy. You would think something like this would be uber sweet, but the reality is that except for the slight sweetness of the peach, everything else was just right even the custard holding the peach down. I immediately ordered two more to bring home.

Cinnamon Roll (P65). Irene loves cinnamon rolls so she picked this as her dessert pastry. There was a lot of cinnamon paste interspersed throughout the pastry and again, this was not too sweet like the peach Danish.

Spanish Bread (P10/each). We bought a dozen to bring home. These were the main reason for the return to Monsee's since Irene loved them and has been craving for more.

Mango Sansrival (P130). I saw this in the refrigerated display and was told it was sansrival. I don't particularly like mangoes, but the dessert looked interesting so I bought it. I took a picture at the store first since it might get damaged during transport, a welcome relief from other snooty stores forbidding me to take pics even of stuff I pay for. I ate this one the next day, it was a different kind of sansrival, very soft instead of chewy or crunchy. It had soft layers with nuts in the middle and topped with cream and mangoes. I found the dessert too sweet and would skip this next time.

I'm so glad to have discovered Monsee's Café with its wonderful breads, pastries and nice meals. I can't wait to go back next week to try the other things on the menu as well as buy more bread.

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