It was just as Covid hit when I was in Philippines last. Haven't been to Blairs but have been following his posts.
The Belgian Beer Garden stocks Smoked Bacon, Smoked Hams, also cured Pork Neck which is a big favourite of many people, The Guy who makes all this is Danish, he also has just started to make a kind of continental Sausage, On a visit to Holland I was given a gift of this type of Sausage from the Butcher who made it, I thought it was terrible and had a suggestion of sweaty socks in the mix, far removed from a good Scottish Haggis. The above Pork products are much more reasonably priced than any where else at P750 per Kilo other places are charging around P1000-1200 and just ripping people off.
The Baker at the front of Octagon sells a very good wheat Bread and I would suggest if you try this, you will no longer consider Gardenia as decent?
I find the "Frankensteiner" wheat bread at Rollin' Pin much better than Gardenia (which is palatable alright), Ichipan I don't know.
Funny you mention Gouda cheese as I found a place that sell's 2 year (non-smoked) and loving it. Four year aged Gouda is my favored cheese, but have not seen it here. If any Member has never eaten a 4 year aged (non-smoked) Gouda cheese yet.......... it is awesome! Tart and tangy melt in your mouth greatness and you use so much less cheese as it is so tasty and strong.
For practical reasons I don't care for the fresh made stuff because it molds and goes stale quickly as I don't eat bread all that often, maybe a loaf per week max. I buy around 4 loafs at a time and freeze what I'm not using. I need something with preservatives and I prefer stuff with nutritional information on the label. I also prefer to reduce the number of stores I shop at. Gardenia and Ichipan are usually available at all the major grocery stores (though hypermart struggles with the bread most of the time). Acceptable taste, price, and convenience.
I've had it. It was good but the one time I bought it it had mold and was stale within 2 days. I'm not interested in leaving the house every time I want some toast or a sandwich. While fresh stuff tastes better it just doesn't last as long...I have to eat 2k calories of bread in a day or two or throw it out, no thanks. Gardenia/Ichipan holds up much better (a week or more). Suits my needs and lifestyle much better.
Yes, that is certainly an alternative, and for the lazy ones among us, you don't even need to learn how to.... I have a pretty sophisticated bread machine that does everything automatically, just need to put in the ingredients.
