BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — When I heard there was a “Rebel Bakehouse” in Baguio, what came to mind was Haruki Murakami’s short story The Second Bakery Attack, where a bored couple decided to rob a bakery in the middle of the night.
Or did their yeast rise in the arms? Or were they NPA surrenderees who used their reward money to build the bakery?
I was about to ask them these but when I first went there all I thought of was how heavenly their croissants were and their coffee which gave me pleasant dreams when I managed to sleep. I have returned a couple of times to try their vanilla pain suisse, pain au chocolat, leche flan danish, and other pain-full concoctions.
The bakery is out of the way located along Naguilian Road, a few kilometers away from the city. It is situated beside and behind a gas station like a hideout but it has become a very delicious secret among residents and tourists.
My last trip was when I joined the Gastro-Art led by Venus Tan last weekend. At the front, featured artist Clinton Aniversario set up his pinhole camera and processed the plates.
Inside were his works as well as those of Robelyn Carantes-Gurang. Clinton described himself as a jack-of-all-trades, master of none although he was just being a shy mango. Clinton already built a museum in Pugo, La Union, in 2018. Among the pieces were a huge chess set, woodcarvings, paintings, and his more than 200 vintage cameras.
For Rebel Bakehouse, Clinton chose six pieces including four woodcarvings. Robelyn was a mainstay of art fairs in Baguio specializing in laser-cut wooden clocks and displays. She later honed her craft and techniques and created larger multilayered and colorful collages.
When we went there, a trader from Isabela went to the bakery for some croissants and bought three works including Clinton’s painting entitled Restoration and Robelyn’s Moon.
It was while drinking coffee that I realized how minutely exquisite these two artists’ works were. While talking to Rebel’s Danica Santos I learned that they are sourcing their coffee from Naguey in Atok, Benguet, through Kalsada.
This meant that their beans are single-sourced mostly coming from one backyard in Naguey.
Kalsada, a specialty coffee distributor created by my friend Carmel Laurino of Seattle, also ensures that their coffee is organic and the farmers are given fair wages. Rebel coffee drinkers consume a ton of Naguey beans in four months.
Of course, it is the croissants that made the Rebel Bakehouse rebellious. The four owners have high-paying jobs and had their “existential moments” during the COVID-19 pandemic, thinking there must be more to being a doctor or a building contractor. They perfected their croissants, selling a thousand in two weeks during the pandemic.
In 2022, they started their physical bakery. Using social media, they were able to retain some of their bread through likes and even angry emojis (I mean who would hate croissants, but there are some).
They soon were able to build up their unique croissants and whole hot meals.
They now have a branch in Maginhawa St. in Quezon City and pop-ups in Rockwell and Power Plant Mall. For the Gastro-Art, they set up a menu that they said they would incorporate soon for the public’s palate.
We started with a bread roll and cascara jam. Cascara is the skin of the coffee berries which they turned into a jam. You can really taste the cascara if you used to eat the berries as I did then.
Their Cordillera green salad is a concoction of broccoli, French beans, and French fries on a swirl of pesto sprinkled with cheese.
Kiniing sweet potato croquettes is Igorot pork jerky mashed with potato.
Pinuneg stuffed cabbage roll is an Indigenous blood sausage wrapped in cabbage and steamed siomai like with alfalfa sprouts. This is followed by bite-sized pinuneg and pulled pork pie, which I adored.
Dessert is calamansi tart, which took all the umay off.
After the artwork and food, all hot issues have been withdrawn and reset for tomorrow’s battle. It would be another reason to return to this hideout at Naguilian Road. – Rappler.com