Grilled Ensaimada by Red Ribbon

Grilled Ensaimada

(Php38.50)

Sometimes, the simplest food, the most commonly available and oftentimes the cheapest ones are the most delicious kinds of food that you will ever have. For me, it's Red Ribbon's Grilled Ensaimada. 

I know it's been on the menu of this wildly prolific bakeshop for the longest time, but not once have I given Grilled Ensaimada a second look before. In fact, my love affair with this food item only started a couple of months earlier this year, rather accidentally because I ordered it while I was waiting for somebody in one of the bakeshop's many branches and I thought it was only polite that I had an excuse to stay there. 

Now, I would go to Red Ribbon precisely for that reason- the Grilled Ensaimada. I often pair it with black brewed coffee, to complement if not cut the sweetness of it. 

The heat of the grill does something magical to the classic Filipino pastry, transforming the otherwise already tasty ensaimada into something so delightfully complex yet comfortingly familiar. I love the crunch and salty-savory flavor of the cheese topping that gets toasted during the grilling process and the disarming flavor of the grilled sugar and butter crust- almost burnt, but not just yet. Add to this the fairy-dusting of powdered sugar and solid dollop of butter- just... perfect.... There's nothing like the sight of cold butter slowly melting into the hot ensaimada.

It's a good thing there's a Red Ribbon branch just outside the gate of our house. Nevermind I have to cross a four-lane national highway to get there. Gotta have my Grilled Ensaymada.