My mom is now over her Dulcinea cream puff addiction because there's a better cream puff brand in town.
I've heard of Happy Cream Puff since way back in 2009 as during that time I was studying in a Japanese language school in Makati and after class I'd often hang out at Little Tokyo. I remember that there was this newsletter/magazine given out for free, and inside it were ads, articles, and tips for Japanese expatriates in the Philippines. Almost every issue of that magazine had ads for Happy Cream Puff.
We never really made it because we'd often be so enamored in what Choto Stop and Little Tokyo had to offer that we barely had the time to go to Happy Cream Puff. When my classes ended in mid 2009, it was also quite impractical for folks based in the heart of QC (near TriNoma, SM North, Walter Mart, Centris, S&R and whatnot) to make a trip to the depths of Makati just for one establishment.
This is why I was so happy that during our visit to Shang plaza a few weeks ago, I saw a banner that there was already an outlet of Happy Cream Puff open and I just had to convince everyone to go there and try it. Mama was reluctant as she claims that I'm already too fat hahaha, but I convinced her to go for it because I knew that deep inside her heart was a desire for cream puffs, one of her favorite foods.
Last time we went there, we got a box of 14 with mixed puffs in it, but the caramel puffs proved to be more popular which is why we ended up getting a whole box of caramel mini puffs this time.
For those who haven't seen this branch yet, they're in the 5th floor of the new wing at Shang Plaza, near Kettle and Shana. If you're approaching Kettle, simply go northward a little more and you'll get here, too.
Without any thought, we got everything caramel except for coconut caramel. The box of 10 was Php250, and I think their box of 14 is Php350.
They had a lot of chocolate coated puffs but we ignored them because we were so in love with the caramel puffs.
And I am now planning to start an online campaign to convince my mom to allow me to have a croquembouche as my birthday cake for my 21st birthday. I call these cream puff trees as the fancy French name is too difficult to pronounce.
I also got a jar of their pudding for Php150. I think there's a shortage of legit pudding jars here in the Philippines which is why they just have this rounded jar right here (as in in other countries, there are stadardized milk jug shaped glass jars that are sold in baking stores for pudding).
The pudding itself is very yolk-ey. I mean the puddings I've tried so far are either concentrated on milk, cream, or caramel. The texture of this pudding is in between the jelly texture of leche flan and the creamy mushy texture of the usual pudding. I think they purposely made their pudding resemble leche flan a little bit to cater to local tastes.
Unlike the usual bakery-made puddings, too, there's a caramel sauce in the bottom. I've seen sauce in morinaga, meiji and generally in Japanese commercialized puddings, but not in a lot of the puddings you see in bakeries and patisseries.
Nonetheless, it's dreamy and the caramel sauce underneath combined with the pudding itself just has the right sweetness (or maybe because I'm a sweet tooth).
Don't judge me yes I ate this whole jar by myself.
And this was the box of cream puffs.
Oh look at those cute little babies.
I like how they have reminders on the box for lazy folks like us. We always go by the smell principle, but reminders like these do help.
Up close this is how the cream puffs look like. I especially loved the leftmost ones, or the ones with roast almond on top, because the roast almond has got this nice, smoky flavor that goes well with the rest of the puff. It's also drenched in caramel so it's like biting into an almond shaped caramel chunk.
I prefer the ones with whole almonds more than the sliced almonds...
The chocolate topped ones were okay, but generally I was craving for a crunchy thing to gnaw on.
Let me tell you that this pristine box was emptied in less than two days, and as it is the two day timespan is already considered as very long compared to the last time we brought home a box. My dad is all pakipot and says that these puffs are just so-so, but ends up eating the most.
In general, what I like about their puffs is that there are a lot of toppings to choose from, and the cream is very good. I think their cream is a bit thicker than Beard Papa's, and is also made with real vanilla. I also like that the cream has a mellow flavor, and it feels more like custard rather than vanilla-flavored something. The shell itself was also okay in terms of taste and texture. I have tried making cream puffs before, and I am aware that making the shells taste this good is not an easy thing to do.
The only thing that saddens me is that I personally think that the caramel coating could be thicker to provide more crunch factor. And since a lot of people who are buying these will also take them home and refrigerate them, a thicker caramel coating also means that the humidity of the fridge will not immediately make the caramel thin out and protect the puff from sogginess. This is where Dulcinea won-- their cream puffs' caramel coating is so thick that they can survive a week in our fridge and the caramel would still be crunchy.
As for the puff, I understand that these are small puffs and some are just caved in, but it helps if the puffs have equal amounts of cream in them as I have noticed that some puffs had more cream than others (especially the more hollow ones).
I have no idea why but I have this penchant for seeing half eaten cream puffs. This one happened to be a more hollow puff which is why it was brimming with cream. That aside, I think you can see how rich the cream is.
Another photo of a half eaten puff, just coz I said so. Overall, I can say that I'm a happy customer, and if they were to open a branch nearer to us, I'd be having this more often.
And yaay that's it for this field trip!
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