Finally! Brera Delicatessen, the retail outlet of S & L Fine Foods is now open! Located on Yakal Street, in front of their wholesale operation, Brera carries everything that S&L Fine Foods sells wholesale, with just a little mark-up in prices for retail customers. I LOVE this store because it has a great cheese selection, a growing cold cuts selection, several whole hams, pasta, grains, olive oils etc. S & L Fine Foods has been expanding rapidly over the past year, and they are also gearing up to open a new meat shop, but more on that in a month or two. I had been meaning to write about Brera since it opened a few weeks ago, but forgot my camera… On my most recent visit to S&L, I finished up a large wholesale purchase, and the owner of the shop asked if we would like to see something…
Mrs. MM and I followed the owner into the bowels of his wholesale operation and he opened the door to a huge chiller. Inside, I gasped after seeing the incredible stash of Parmiggiano Reggiano and the Grana Padano which I wrote about in this post the other day! Probably 100 whole wheels of cheese! Amazing. And yes, these are located just on the fringes of the business district in Makati. The chiller isn’t open to the public, so I was grateful for the invitation to see it. Thanks S for the impromptu tour!
Brera’s relatively small retail store (maybe 70 square meters?) has a lot to offer, but I suspect there will be dozens and dozens more products that will be added to the roster in the months ahead. Hanging above the chilled display cases are whole hoofed hams (iberico, serrano, etc.). There are also several great prosciuttos, sausages, and other cured meats in the chillers (though I worry about meats too close to the bright sunny window out front, I wonder if the sun will affect the meats in the longer term). There are no vegetables, herbs or fruit on offer at this point. The cheese selection at Brera is terrific by Manila standards. If you recall, S&L was my source for the Burrata cheese, mini-mozzarellas, parmesan, a gorgonzola and cream cheese, and lots of others I featured here. Mrs. MM had a heyday picking out some of the smelliest, yummiest cheeses she could find…
The cheese, oil, pasta etc. prices are amongst the best value in Metro-Manila. I think these folks are definitely going to give bigger, more established wholesalers of similar products a real run for their money!
Cheese…
…and more cheese…
…cold cuts…
…prosciuttos and hams.
Greek and Turkish olive oils in different grades, balsamic, red wine, white wine vinegars, a nice mild apple vinegar (not so easy to find one in Manila), pomegranate molasses, etc.
Good pasta in dozens of shapes and sizes…
…arborio rice, bulgur wheat, lentils and other grains.
Large jars of capers in salt…
…bottled pasta sauces. Bottled artichokes, sweet bell peppers, chilis, onions, etc. They also carry nuts, a very small selection of wines, some dried fruit, etc. Brera Delicatessen is definitely worth a visit if you get excited by food stores! And wait until you see what they have in store at their meat store!
Call S & L Fine Foods / Brera Delicatessen, on Yakal Street, Makati at 843.2996 or 843.2997.
135-B Yakal St.
San Antonio Village
Makati City
39 Responses
wonderful news!
wish they could also include local cheeses, hams, etc. along side the established brands.
This way food lovers get to taste both international and local flavors. Hope you could share the idea to the owners, MM. Thanks!
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am speechless, can’t wait to visit this store!!
I’ve been there. Love it! Super place, expecially for the cheeses,
Marketman, they’ve got Burrata? I’m so there!
I would not touch a cheese product called Burrata.
it seems so unreal to find a place like this in manila. have to visit this when i get home in june. thanks for the tip MM!
OMG! Such a haven! Look at all that cheese, pasta and, my fave, capers! So green with envy right now! *all googley eyed* I wanna cry now… :,(
Mr. MM, do they have an online store and deliver to other cities?
Off Topic…@Sister….Thank you for the “jar” I got thru MM. Can’t wait to have it with some brioche and scones in the morning! ;-)
How do they keep their burratta fresh, honestly? Its shelf life is supposed to be all of 48 hours. Even here, where we’re relatively close to the production region, we’re urged to buy it from specialist shops which only have deliveries on certain days, and then we’re told to consume it immediately. How does it get to Manila in good condition?
What’s the address? I’m going there tomorrow just for this! Gonna look around O_O!!!
KUMAGCOW, I just added the address, up in the post. josephine, I am not sure if the burrata they send is pasteurized or what, but it’s good for a week or so after it gets here… brought in by airfreight. I featured the burrata here in a previous post. Also another post using the burrata, here. kAI, no they don’t have an on-line store. The retail operation is just an adjunct to their wholesale one. It is a response to public clamor to have access without having to buy like a restaurant does. footloose, hahaha! You have to taste it. Vanessa, burrata comes and goes QUICKLY. So if you have your heart set on it, call first to make sure they have it. On a recent delivery, it was a mad scramble and I think some local chefs bought it up in a couple of days at most! Antonette, I think we also have to hope that local cheese manufacturers are willing to have someone else distribute their products…
wo
ohoo! This is tops
on my list for my next trip to Manila!
Good find MM. Love all the cheeses and cold meat you’ve shown. I will definitely visit this place on my next trip to Manila.
#5 footloose… much less put one in my mouth hahahaha
How are their prices compared to Santi’s for the cold cuts and dry goods?
Dear MM, I am saying this again ( I think I have posted this before) — Can I be you’re assistant? It amazes me how you “discover” these stores. How I wish we had those stores here in Pampanga too.
look at all those cheese! and the prosciutto! why does it have to be in makati? i’m so clueless when it comes to that place
WOW!!! will definitely visit this place! thanks, MM! :D
How’s the parking situation?
oh my God with those cheese selection, i need to go there for the Grana Padano, though dairy products is a no-no in my diet…forget all those diet! thanks for sharing.
Oh my gosh! Now I have to save a lot to splurge a lot at S&L. Hmmm. My phrases stranglely resemble their initials. Ha ha ha.
Bingo! I passed by the store last week (after weeks of planning- although i live just 2 blocks away hehe). I found the salame quite affordable, better priced compared to the other deli found a few meters down the road (although, they have more stuff to offer). A variety of affordable organic pasta also caught my eye. Looking forward to more offerings at Brera :)
foodie heaven but I imagine hell for the wallet..nice to know though, that we have a store like this in makati..thanks
Thank you for the post! This is very very very good news for my cheese-loving partner in crime and for my pasta-obsessed household in general!
Been here several times. It’s so easy to explain where it is as it’s making a left turn in Ayala where there is a no U turn sign after crossing Buendia. I always come back here because the people are so nice even if they know I am just a small fish. Try their Italian sausage for spaghetti.
I send different shape & varieties of pasta to my staff (children’s ministry) in Quezon Province, plus bottles of different sauce & vinegar too. The sauce & gravies, they don’t know how to use it, so when I call they inform me its been sitting in the shelves for months. Hindi nila alam kung para saan daw yon, and they also ask bakit kung ano-ano ang lasa nung vinegar. To them, tama na yung suka na gawa nila home-made from coconut juice. The pasta they cook it, but they think no big deal about it other than the shapes are interesting. They did not care much if it was potato noodles, egg noodles, wheat pasta, wheat vermicelli, etc, etc.. sa kanila, parang pansit lang daw ito… hahahaha… at first it irritate me dahil especial ang mga ito sa akin… pero in the end I understand them. This post makes me smile thinking.. my shelves in the province is a little section of the store…except for the cheeses. When I do come for my annual visit, I bring diff. cheese, and their comment.. bakit daw yung iba, may itim-itim, yung iba maalat, yung iba may amoy. Hahahhaa…at yung iba parang mayron daw amag na balot at malambot ang loob.
wow, finally a retail store! my friends and i bought from S & L a few times before and we were happy with the prices. but because we could only buy in bulk, we had to divvy up the items between us sometimes, and that was hassle. thanks for the heads up, MM!
oh.my.gulay! the whole time I was reading this post i kept telling myself how can i explain to my husband my next credit card bill – those cheese!
My goodness!!!! I live and work in Makati so this is AWESOME! Thank you MM!
Just saw that yesterday and wondering if it was open. Thanks for the feature. Will definitely visit.
Thanks for sharing MM!
nice post! :P i saw organic cheese!! cant wait to visit their store soon!! :P
Thank you for adding excitement to our lives, MM! I so feel the energy in the comments with this post! Whew!! Can’t wait to go to this store!!!!
They have Taleggio cheese!! And gorgonzola!! Ricotta!! Brie! OMG I will definitely go there!!
Brera? As in Brera in Milan?
Thank you so much for the heads up on this store! Dropped by this noon and got some stuff for a pasta dish. Good cheese finds and the prices are cheaper compared to most supermarkets we go to. Parking was a breeze on a weekday as well. The proprietor was also kind enough to give a tour…:)
Very good range of quality products and real italian cheese and parmisan… the best in town!!!
You guys happen to know howmuch a wheel or maybe kg of grana padano cost? Tia:)