Celebrate Chinese New Year in style with very realistic, koi-shaped tikoy (nian kao) from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Makati. Tikoy is a milky Chinese rice cake dipped in egg and fried, but Mandarin Oriental has the best tikoy among all those I’ve tried. Presentation-wise, it’s already quite a thing to behold, but what makes the koi-shaped tikoy so divine is that doesn’t absorb oil the way tikoy from the streets do. The result is a soft, chewy pastry that almost melts in your mouth and travels smoothly down your throat as you shiver in delight.
The Chinese believe that tikoy must be offered to the kitchen god a week before the Chinese new year so that the god can give them a favorable testimonial upon their death. According to their beliefs, the more tikoy you offer, the more the god’s mouth will be filled with the sticky sweet cake to say anything bad towards you. I’d really rather eat the tikoy myself, though!
It’s really too bad that at this part of the Trinoma Blogger food tour, my stomach was close to bursting from all the delicious samples I’ve tried at other restaurants. Because of that, I wasn’t able to try the other Kapampangan delicacies prepared for us Mangan. I was, however, in the mood for dessert and made a beeline for the puto bumbong when I first spotted it. I normally associate this kakanin with the Christmas season, so it was a very pleasant surprise to see it sitting there in its deep purple glory.
Mangan’s delightfully chewy puto bumbong is made out of real galatong (sticky rice) and fresh pirurutong, which gives it its purple color. Served with a pat of butter, grated coconut, and muscovado sugar (cane sugar), it was the perfect dessert to satisfy my craving for sugar. I was also able to grab a few bites of their moist bibingka – another native dessert that you must try at Mangan. The puto bumbong and bibingka cost around 90 pesos each.
Mangan is located at the second floor of Trinoma, at the outdoor restaurant area.
Dolor’s Kakanin is perhaps the best commercial kakanin you can find in urban Metro Manila. Their flagship branch is located in Malabon and apparently, Dolor’s is so popular among the residents that it’s customary for them to give Dolor’s kakanin as presents to friends and family outside the Malabon area. After trying their rich, assorted kakanin, I now wish I had friends in Malabon so I could get some more whenever I see them! Dolor’s kakanin is available in three different bilao sizes: 190 pesos at 11 inches, 170 pesos at 10 inches, and 140 pesos at 8 inches. I wish the box came with a description of what each kakanin is called, though. The purple one is ube of course, but I have no idea what the rest are. That doesn’t make the sticky rice cakes any less capable of satisfying your sweet tooth though!
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I’m always on the lookout for yummy kakanin that the stall owner actually owns.
read more Buying Kakanin
By popular demand, I am featuring another kakanin stand which I dropped by at the second floor of the SM Las Pinas branch.
Continue reading Kakaning Pinoy
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