weendend update, part 3

to finally cap off what seems to be the longest weekend evah! allow me to document the events that transpired last monday. feeling guilty that my cousin get bored to bits whilst putting around at home. i decided to take him out after lunch to see robinson's place and the new midtown wing they built.

again, nothing much to do here but to go to malls i'm afraid. while we were there, kuya recommended us trying this resto n the top floor called secret recipe. they were supposed to carry the best cakes he has every tasted. now, either he did that on purpose since he knows i'm addicted to cake, or... nah, he did that on purpose.

i was able to manage to bring my mom along since she often just stays cooped up at home. shoppercising isn't really an ideal way to achieve fitness but some activity is still better than none. upon stepping in to the new mall, we immediately set ourselves to the top floor. like druggies craving for crack, we (i) eagerly sniffed out this resto to satiate my growing craving for pastry! as you can see, i don't like to dilly dally. why delay the inevitable i thought?

secret recipe is a malaysian franchise that's supposed to offer award winning food choices ranging from their laksas and curries to their roasting and of course, their dessert.

caaakke... uuhhfexggghhh....

kuya had dessert there the other day and was raving (a TAN trait i'm afraid, we RAVE as much as we RANT) over the cakes. being a new brand, he was rather unsure of the quality of the products. upon asking for the servers suggestion, the server confidently offered a money-back guarantee to my kuya if he tries their award winning marble cheesecake. now, knowing my brother, i'm pretty sure he was sold more to the cockiness of the server more than the cake. some people i guess respond more to dares than anything else. lucky for the server, kuya swooned over the cake. i can't really remember what adjectives he used to describe it, but owing to his being rich in words, it sure made it sound GOOOOD. good enough to purposely whisk 2 other people with me to share what would be an orgasmic experience.

since there were 3 of us, we decided to order 3 different cakes. variety not gluttony. on the table were kuya's suggestions, the infamous marble cheesecake, the white chocolate macadamia nut cream cake, and our server's suggestion, the chocolate banana cake. i had the cheesecake, cousin the cream cake and mom, the chocolate cake. we dug in.

the cheesecake was indeed good. the texture of the cream cheese matrix was of a very smooth consistency, almost velvety as slips and slides rather easily against your palate. not too sweet not too salty, with a hint of sharpness. it was rich but not heavy, which is how cheesecakes i believe should be. being a marble cheesecake, i would have wished i could have tasted more teases of chocolate. the slice i guess i had had little in it since there wasn't really any play in the flavor. i also did not prefer the crust. traditionally, cheesecakes are served with a graham cracker crust. this version however was on a oat and nut based crust. though i have to hand it to them for their reinterpretation, i didn't quite enjoy biting into the gritty crust, most especially i felt that the nuttiness of it was rather overpowering the taste of the cake.

the white chocolate cake was truly delightful. i have had white chocolate cakes before but none as good as this one. particularly of just one thing. secret recipe's version make you actually taste the white chocolate. the cake was basically layers vanilla based spongecake inter layered with what i think is white chocolate cream and topped with white chocolate icing. it was divine!!! again, not too sweet despite the generous amounts of white chocolate yet the taste was unmistakable. this one by far is something i will definitely go for again, and again, and again!

finally, the chocolate banana cake. similar in structure with the cream cake but this one uses chocolate spongecake layers, inter spaced with a layer of mashed banana. the taste was quite interesting since the sweetness of the banana worked quite well will the bitter snap of the chocolate. i just wasn't quite sure of the texture of the banana filling. i don't know, somehow moist spongecake juxtaposed with slimy slabs of banana doesn't really agree with me. taste wise, it was still rather dead on with a careful balance of sweet, salty and bitter. a good complement with a nice cup of java, i'm sure.

having treated ourselves with them 3 deadly sins, i asked cousin for his verdict on the dessert. his response wasn't surprising. i knew we were done for the moment those cupcakes touched his tongue.