For the Love of Cheesecake 2: House of Silvanas Takes the (mini) Cake

September has come and gone (here in the Philippines at least but it is still September in the US as of this posting.)  First of all, there are a few things to be thankful for the month of September.  As I have mentioned a couple of days ago I just reached the big 4.0 and September also marks the first year of my blog.  Time does fly so fast.

Some of my favorite posts where my take on the best blueberry cheesecake I have ever tasted.  (See For the Love of....Cheesecake!  and "Unboxing" a Becky's Kitchen Blueberry Cheesecake.)  Since then I have been on a look out for places that offered blueberry cheesecake as well as revisited some old favorites.

This one is from Yakimix.  Like every buffet the serving of the cakes are bite sized so this one is just a teaser. The cheesecake is more on the sweet side and the graham crust is too thin.

This came from my favorite Italian restaurant Italianni's.  As you can see I tasted it first before I can even take a picture :)  Well even though this is one my favorite places the cheesecake was a little bit of a let down.  This is the same cheesecake base as their sister resto FlapJacks but as you can see there is no real blueberries in it but just syrup.  The serving size is a bit big and it would take two to three persons to finish it.

This hefty piece is from Bob's a famous cafe in Bacolod.   This cheesecake is screaming CHEEEEESE!  And is a bit on the salty side. Also the crust is not made of graham crackers and a bit nutty . Bob's now has a branch in Makati along Dela Rosa St.

This one is from Market on the 5th at St Luke's Medical Center.  It is on the sweet side but it was quite OK. A bit expensive though for the serving size.  I think I was paying part of the hospital with it :) And I didn't come there for a check up either.

But if you are looking for value for money as well as being yummy then try out these mini blueberry cheesecakes from House of Silvanas

I was very careful with it because I thought that the cheesecake base might be too soft but lo and behold the base is more cake than mouse.

There is even an ample graham crust.  But the only one let down on this version is that there are no whole blueberries on the topping.

And since it is my birthday month what would be more fitting than to have one whole box of Becky's Kitchen Blueberry Cheesecake for my birthday.

This is truly a little piece of heaven here on earth :-D

Happy Birthday Executive Lunch!

"Unboxing" a Becky's Kitchen Blueberry Cheesecake

The term unboxing has usually been reserved for new high tech computer products.  I came across this term during the launch of the iPad where first buyers (those who usually waited in line for long hours for the store to open) made a vlog of their unboxing of the new gadget.  According to Wikipedia, unboxing has been labeled as a new form of "geek porn."

So now I am "unboxing" not a tech item but as I have promised in my review the Becky's Kitchen Blueberry Cheesecake which I have judged in my recent post as my favorite cheesecake by far.  http://execlunch.blogspot.com/2011/02/for-love-ofcheesecake.html

So you have to take out the tape off the tape on each side...

Are we ready for this?

And here you go my friends.  Our first look at a Becky's Kitchen Blueberry cheesecake.

Yup, I just bought a half cake this time since we are celebrating...uhm...err... Earth Hour!  That's right we are celebrating Earth Hour so that is why we are having blueberry cheesecake :-p

Ready to have a big slice...

Don't worry I am not having this slice just for myself I am sharing this with my wife :)

And the verdict, I really love Becky's Kitchen's Blueberry Cheesecake I believe most of the fine qualities of the cheesecakes that I have sampled in my previous blog entry were combined with this one.  And the price is very reasonable too.  Aside from the store located at Bautista corner Pablo Ocampo St (Vito Cruz) where I bought this cake there is a branch at Community Center Suha St Valle Verde I Pasig City so people from the Eastern Metro wouldn't need to travel that far to sample these.

Bon Appetit!

For the Love of....Cheesecake!

I love Blueberry Cheesecake!  I first tasted this heavenly dessert about 19 years ago.  It was at Sugarhouse back when they have their good old branch at Greenbelt.  At times I ate this dessert at Cafe Rizal and if I am looking for a budget variety I would buy a whole box at Red Ribbon.

The landscape of GB has changed through the years, Cafe Rizal is now gone and Red Ribbon has stopped selling Blueberry Cheesecakes (a pity!  Bring it back!)  So here are a couple of restaurants where I have tried their variation of the blueberry cheesecake and my take on them.

This one is from The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.  This is quite good as the crust is just semi creamy which makes sure that the base is intact, the blueberries are whole and full and every time you take a bite each piece bursts with blueberry juice.  The downside is that this one of the priciest of the lot in proportion to the serving size.

This one is from Flapjacks.  It is not too creamy (more flour on the base) and the graham crust is not too sweet.  The serving size is proportionate to the price so it is best to have that special someone to share this cheesecake with you (yihee sobrang cheezy, lol!)

The picture above is Cheesecake Meliza's version of the blueberry cheesecake.  This cheesecake is also more flour based and what I have noticed is that the topping is too sweet.  And the whipped cream didn't really help the cause either.  For a cost of 76 pesos the serving is quite small.

Now this one is a bit of a sorry state as you can see in the picture.  I can not dare say anything bad against this though (c'mon this is cheesecake, if Friends' Joey loves sandwiches that much I consider it a sacrilege to say something bad about the cheesecake no matter what its condition is.  Save the Cheesecake!)   I would let this store to remain to be unnamed as well.  (What's that?  You can read the name of the store in the picture?  Oh well...)

This my friends is Conti's, enough said. No just kidding, well the first cheesecake I tried was a bit frozen but it does taste good.  It has a cream base and the graham cracker crust blends well with the taste.  I needed to have another try before I can say that this is my favorite cheesecake so far so I tried it another time.

Now this one is not frozen at all so I can probably say that Conti's cheesecake is my favorite commercially available blueberry cheesecake thus far.

But wait, a challenger awaits...

This large tray of blueberry cheesecake comes from a friend of mine as a Christmas gift (I understand his brother who is a chef made this.)  The graham crust is not too sweet (a tinge of salt to counter the sweetness of the base and the topping.)   It was simply heavenly, I hope it does become commercially available.

And my verdict, the best place to get yourself cheesecake comes from this place.  

No explanation nor description can do justice.  You simply have to try it to understand why I believe they offer the best cheesecake in town.  And I would tempt you by not showing you the picture of the Blueberry Cheesecake just yet.  I would post my Becky's Kitchen experience one of these days.

Happy Heart's Day!