Santa’s gift to Manila foodies craving good bread and pastry — Maison Kayser! I wrote about Maison Kayser opening in New York about a year ago. So imagine my surprise and delight to find out they were opening in Manila. A well-known Parisian chain, they seem to be aggressively marketing themselves and expanding all over the world — they probably have close to 100 branches globally. I guess they have figured out how to prep their doughs and pastry and freeze or refrigerate them and ship them to far flung areas… as I can’t imagine some of this pastry being made from scratch in a warm tropical setting… At any rate, regardless of how they do it, they opened their first shop in Rustan’s Rockwell a couple of days before Christmas and we specifically went for a visit to check them out the day after they opened…
The little shop has that characteristic Kayser feel… white tiles, marble, stainless steel, glass, and a few color accents. It looks decidedly upscale. The afternoon we visited, most of their breads and pastries had been wiped out, but we managed to purchase some pain au chocolat, two rolls, a couple of eclairs and half an hour later, returned to buy three fresh croissants that had just been delivered. The eclairs were delicious and at PHP120 each, not outrageously priced, as I had feared. The chocolate croissant was good, but the pastry had gotten a bit soggy…a huge risk in the humid Manila weather. The croissants were very good, and at PHP75 each, a little less than they are priced in New York, if I recall correctly. The croissant seem physically smaller here, and less puffed up, see photos of New York ones here, but they were delicious.
Mrs. MM was speaking with one of the owners of the franchise (one of three friends who partnered for this venture) and she said that they have 2-3 more outlets planned, mostly in mall settings. While I am ecstatic that Maison Kayser is here, I am a bit perturbed that they are mostly in malls, as that means you can’t buy a fresh croissant until about 11am or so… that DOESN’T help when you want to eat it fresh out of the oven for breakfast! For now, the baking is done at a commissary in Las Pinas and breads and pastries transported to outlets. I think this affects the quality of the breads and pastry a bit, but we were told that they will be baking in the store in a few days. I think they rightfully rushed to open before Christmas, and I wish them well in the busy days ahead.
We purchased two rolls, actually what looked like large Kaiser (not Kayser) rolls and the next morning, I made a ham, tomato and triple cream cheese sandwich with mustard, and a side of macaroni salad — a post Christmas dinner feast. The bread was very good, but a bit chewy. I should have toasted it longer to dry it out a bit. But I am quibbling. Clearly, I am thrilled to have Kayser in the neighborhood.
Congratulations to the Maison Kayser in Manila!
22 Responses
I hope the croissants are really Parisian gooood! Will drop by soon.
Your macaroni salad looks so rich and delicious!
Their brioche and financiers are yummy!
Thanks for sharing. At last, brioche to buy. I’m just too lazy to bake one. I wonder how their croissant compare to Paris Delice? Yes, wished they are not in the mall. Why not magallanes or forbes near the church?
Do you know if the goods are imported and then baked from frozen? Or are they made from scratch in the Philippines?
The simple joy of a croissant and a cup of coffee…yum.
If I had my druthers about me, I would hedge my bets that the operators chose malls for their climate control, which favors the process of the product.
But then again, baguettes are also made in Vietnam.
My one regret on my weekend trip to Paris was not having tried Kayser’s famous breads. Great to know that they are now in Pinas. Yey! And double yey as the prices are not too bad! I like savoury more than sweet, bread more than sweet pastries so this is awesome news. Will def check Kayser one of these days. Does this also mean that the Philippines are now in the map of those other Euro bakeries/delis? It sure feels that this is another sign that Pinas is going up the ladder and that’s good news!
They are made from scratch here in the Philippines by two French Kayser chefs
Val, cool, good to know that. How long before they leave it to the pinoy chefs to take over? I hear in other Asian locations, the chefs were sent to France for several months to learn how to do it… Is the butter and flour from France as well?
I just came back from a trip to Manila and I missed the opening… :(
Yes, I am curious as well if the butter and flour are from France.
So happy they are finally open! And yes I did feel that this was Santa’s Christmas gift to me, heehee :) Agree with you on the chocolate croissant though but I think this should be solved once they start baking in premises. I also bemoan the fact that they are in the mall so we can’t get their goodies for a nice, freshly baked, weekend breakfast spread. But at least they are here, yay!!
Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season MM! All the best to you and your family!
I just got back from HK this afternoon and specifically added a visit to the Kayser branch at Ocean’s Terminal to my itinerary only to find out now that they just opened a branch in Makati. I’m laughing at myself right now. Anyways, I absolutely loved their white chocolate and macadamia cookies but was a bit disappointed with the almond and chocolate croissants. Maybe I should have stuck to plain croissants.
I think this has more reasonable pricing as compared to Paul Boulangerie Cafe in SM Aura where a piece of macaron costs 250pesos… though huge i still find it overpriced.
Lois, I had a croissant and pain au chocolat at the new Paul boulangerie a few weeks after it opened and I thought they were pretty bad. The croissant was particularly chewy and unpalatable and I wasn’t thrilled with the pain au chocolat. I promised to give them another go when they got settled. Mrs. MM had the croissant at Paul on another occasion and thought it better than I have described above, but she did say the Kayser one was notably better. I do wish all these fancy schmancy bakeries well, and hope all will thrive, but I suspect there is a limited market for top end baked goods… Thankfully, their margins are so big that maybe they’ll do reasonably well…
My husband and I just walked-in at the Eric Kayser place in HK’s Ocean Terminal last October with no idea if it was a genuine French outfit or not. Hahaha! All we knew, we wanted to we eat lunch where they do not serve Chinese food. And since the look (and feel) was quite good, we just went inside and ordered. :) We had salad and fish — and it was wonderful. We had a pleasant time. Good to know they’re here in Manila!
they have 2 branch in singapore now although they are not doing well compare to Paul. I still prefer maison though :)
Our best lunch in HK last week was at the Eric Kayser place in Ocean Terminal. They offered a buffet of salads, soup, serrano ham, pastries ( the best lemon tarts i’ve tried), and bread of course! The kids kept going back to get Fig bread. There was a choice of entrees, my boy and I got coq au vin while hubby and daughter ordered seafood risotto. My only regret is not buying his cookbooks from there…they’re much more expensive at a local bookstore.
Does the local Kayser shop carry fig bread? :)
Better to eat Eric Kayser’s baguette in a day. Manila weather is not like Paris.
Just bought their croissant yesterday and I must say it is fabulous!!!
I was just wondering…are there no good bakeries in the Philippines that offer these products? Establishments that are actually owned by Filipinos? Or do the Filipinos generally prefer their bread and what-have-you French?
I bought one of their cookies with nuts. I was very disappointed with it. The nuts used were stale. Cost of the cookie was more than PH 75 per piece. I just threw it away after the first bite.
Also, at the time of visit at the store in Rockwell, there were several flies on the breads. the baskets/trays were not even covered. They should do something about it.
I won’t spend that much money for breads/pastries for the quality that i get. Less expensive breads with good quality are available and served at a more sanitary/hygienic outlet elsewhere (e.g. Cafe France or French Baker).
Marketman, I was delighted to see Eric Kayser next to Happy Lemon is Promenade yesterday. They are still on a soft opening. We had seed and honey whole wheat which went well with their brewed coffee, my son had latte with butter croissant. For dessert, we had their salt caramel eclairs. I hope they get to have the buffet of salads et al just like in Hkg’s Ocean Terminal branch but I doubt since it’s not that spacious. Still on soft opening, thus staff are quite rattled and some aircon units were not working. I hope they get to fix everything for me to enjoy my coffee fix next week!
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