In 8 short years, The Abaca Group has grown into an empire of sorts, starting with the award-winning Abacá Restaurant in 2006, followed by the Condé Nast-ranking Abacá Boutique Resort in 2008. They delved into a variety of cuisines soon after with Maya Mexican Restaurant; A Café, an all-day breakfast place; Tavolata, an Italian trattoria; Phat Pho, a Vietnamese noodle shop; and Beqaa, a Middle Eastern kitchen.
Most recently, The Abaca Group added to its fast-growing empire with the Abaca Baking Company. Located in Crossroads Mall in Banilad, the Abaca Baking Company is a strictly from scratch bakery. Jason Hyatt, founder of The Abaca Group, says, “We’ve always tried to control our product from start to finish, so this bakery is a natural progression for our group as we can now manage every aspect of our operation, including anything baked.”
The Abaca Group has introduced many firsts to Cebu, and it has continued to do so with the new bakery. Hyatt shares, “We are the first in town to use only 100% unbleached flour in our rustic loaves that are produced from hard American wheat. Being unbleached means it’s more natural and less processed, and we believe this will ultimately give us a better-tasting and healthier product. We use long ferments of up to 36 hours, which really bring out the flavor and texture of our breads. We don’t use improvers or pre-mixes of any kind. We only use 100% New Zealand and Australian butters, not blended ‘French’ butters, in our laminations. We also use Tahitian vanilla beans, home-brewed extracts, the finest 60% and 70% European chocolates, and absolutely nothing artificially flavored or colored.”
“This is in keeping with our policy of keeping our products as natural and as real as possible. If something can be made by hand, then we’ll make it by hand. For all of our restaurants, we are working and will continue to work with local farms to grow all of our greens, heirloom tomatoes and most of our small vegetables. 60% of our vegetables and herbs are organic,” continues Hyatt who personally knows The Abaca Group’s farmers and has visited most of the farms they are buying from directly.
These days, farm-to-table or nose-to-tail are simply buzzwords and are all the rage in the culinary world, but the fact is, that’s what The Abaca Group restaurants have always been about since they started in 2006.
The Abaca Group has been successful because it has always anticipated what the market wants, and lately, no doubt in response to the growing number of mass-market chains in town, what the market has been wanting is to know where their food comes from. With their products made entirely from scratch, the Abaca Baking Company fills that very want.
The bakery opens at 7:00 AM, and you may want to get there just in time before their best-selling all-butter croissants, rustic breads, bagels, and scones run out. At 8:00 AM, you can take your time and have breakfast as the Abaca Baking Company will also offer the same straightforward good food that has made A Café a hit among the breakfast and brunch crowd. Expect their familiar skillet breakfast, fluffy French toast, and hands-down the best Eggs Benedict in town. Come April 1st, the bakery will go into full operation and stay open until 10:00 PM from Sunday to Thursday, and until 11:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.
So far as the look of the Abaca Baking Company goes, The Abaca Group connoisseurs will notice that the bakery is a bit of a departure from all The Abaca Group establishments that came before it. Sure, there is the same Abaca Group formula of warm wood and sexy lighting, but there is an injection of color and whimsy through playful murals and clipboards hand-painted by local design studio, Happy Garaje. With the Abaca Baking Company, it’s as if The Abaca Group has decided to be a kid again.
While the first floor has high counters and bar stools for those who may only have a few minutes to spare for a handcrafted pastry or a hefty-portioned sandwich, the upstairs area features low lounge seating and USB sockets for on-the-go power, encouraging guests to hang out for as long as they’d like. There’s also traditional restaurant seating, ideal for those who may want a more leisurely meal enjoyed under dreamy string lights hanging from the ceiling and amidst cool contemporary art for sale and on rotation courtesy of Qube Gallery.
Perhaps owing to their Instagrammable products and hipster-friendly space, the Abaca Baking Company has already made fans out of a younger crowd that may have found previous Abaca Group establishments a tad unapproachable before.
Whether by chance or by design, The Abaca Group has managed to offer both something comfortingly familiar and excitingly new with the Abaca Baking Company.
ABACA BAKING COMPANY Cafe & Coffee House is located in Crossroads Mall, Banilad. For inquiries, call 032.262.0969.
The Abaca Group also owns and operates Abaca Boutique Resort and Restaurant, Maya Mexican Restaurant, Tavolata Italian Restaurant, Phat Pho Vietnamese Kitchen, and Beqaa Middle Eastern Restaurant. Visit www.theabacagroup.com.
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