Mehl & Zucker - Your Friendly Neighborhood Artisan Baker

I'm not much of a bread person until I made my own bread in a culinary school. We had an Italian chef instructor who speaks Canadian English and very good French and of course Italian. He speaks with gusto and enthusiasm about bread and everything else about food. When he speaks, everyone listens and with his good sense of humor, everything he said is very convincing and inspiring.

There's another chef instructor from Denmark from the same school but has lived in Vancouver for so many years. He had convinced me that a warm potato bread smeared with duck fat goes very well. I had seconds for both after that. In fact, for him, every dish should be cooked in duck fat while fish sauce should be an all-purpose seasoning and condiment. He can't live without both.

Going around Vancouver and visiting different bread shops opened up my eyes to the different varieties of bread available. Although making breads in a hotel school in Switzerland has been an advantage, I wasn't able to appreciate bread making during that time. But the exposure in Vancouver was really a great experience for me to discover that there's more to bread than just sweet white bread. Until today, I'm still not a fan of it unless I'm very, very hungry and it's given to us. I don't like the sweet taste and aroma of it. I like it when it's sour and the dough has developed its flavor before baking it. So, yes to sourdough bread, Olive Fougasse and Walnut Ficelle.

Then Mehl & Zucker at Streetscape, Maria Luisa Road Banilad opened on the last quarter of 2015. Although I'm not a frequent buyer, I'm delighted that Cebu has other options of artisan bread around the neighborhood and this one is the nearest to visit.

Visiting a former student who is now managing the shop was also a delight. I was honest with him that posting it on my blog would mean more exposure but not a review, even telling him that it might not get any attention because I haven't blogged in a long time. Having studied in Switzerland, I'm supposed to know a few German words but since it was a long time ago, I just have to ask Alfred what it meant. It's flour and sugar. How could I ever forget two simple German terms used a lot in baking.

Alfred served us the plain, chocolate and almond croissant. Almond croissant has been mom's favorite and so is mine. It was gone before I would even take a photo. They serve different types of European artisan breads but they also have a few selections of cakes and macaroons. Aside from the French baguette, they also have Multi-seed Walnut, Rye bread and Country Whole Wheat Bread. If you're looking for single serving breads, they have the croissants, bagel, ciabatta, pretzel and soft rolls. They are also offering prepacked products such as bread sticks, grissinis and crackers to pair up with your soup or cheese plate. If you're looking for other classics, they have the cinnamon roll, Danish pastries, muffins and apple strudel. If you're looking for something sweet, almost every boulangerie would serve pastries such as cheesecakes, macarons, opera cake, carrot cake, tiramisu and so much more. You can visit Mehl & Zucker's website for more bread and pastry selections.

They started serving breakfast as well along with soups and sandwiches that you can order all day. But when J visited 2 weeks to buy me some almond croissant, he mentioned that it would be a good place to have a quiet and relaxing breakfast which he haven't done for a long time.