Honey butter, salted egg and truffle potato chips

Charlon King Rancap and Melody Rancap, who met, fell in love and got married while working in the same hotel, had another thing in common: a deep love for food flavored with salted egg. A restaurant at the hotel where they worked served a fantastic salted egg shrimp dish.

“We really got addicted and my husband tried creating the potato chips version of it,” said Melody.

This was around the time salted egg potato chips were a huge food trend both in the Philippines and other countries like Singapore. “They were so expensive!” said Melody. Eventually, she and her husband decided to sell a more affordable version of the pricey snack.

They started the online business because they needed the extra income, said Melody. She was pregnant with their daughter Peyton and they named the business after her: Peytato.

A year ago, they quit their jobs to focus full time on their online food business. Today, Peytato serves potato chips in different flavors, most of which have a touch of salted egg: original, garlic Parmesan, spicy and our favorites, honey butter and truffle.

Original and truffle are their bestsellers, said Melody. The chips are affordable—an 80-gram bag of the original salted egg is just P70 while the truffle is P150.

Unlike many salted egg chips available in the market, theirs isn’t made using flavored powder. “We use natural ingredients—from the potatoes to the salted egg sauce, truffle oil and honey,” said Melody. “We don’t put any curry leaves or salted egg powder to enhance the taste. Our ingredients are simple but could satisfy your tastebuds with that real salted egg goodness.”

We’re hooked. We say, try all the flavors and pick your favorites. We love alternately eating the honey and truffle chips for that sweet-salty combo. We’ve been ordering the chips to give as gifts to friends and family members, too.

(@peytato.ph on Facebook and Instagram)

Best New York cheesecake

When an Inquirer editor retired recently, Inquirer president and CEO Rudyard Arbolado ordered her thank-you cake from 3K Cheesecakes. “Best homemade NY cheesecake,” he said. He’s a fan of their carrot cake and brownies, too.

Dothy de Dios Pedralvez is the woman behind 3K Cheesecakes. Her bestsellers are the New York cheesecakes, brownies and three-cheese garlic milk buns.

“Our products are made-to-order, customers are guaranteed to receive freshly made products from premium ingredients,” she said. (@3kcheesecakes on Facebook and Instagram; 3kcheesecakes.com)

Award-winning Filipino craft chocolate

The growing Filipino craft chocolate industry is something we can all be proud of. It’s always a big joy to discover new brands making delicious chocolate right here at home.

1919 Chocolate is one such brand. This award-winning, family-owned, tree-to-bar craft chocolate maker uses cacao beans from heirloom Criollo cacao trees in their estate in Malvar, Batangas—an estate that has been passed down through four generations.

Their 62-percent Dark Chocolate bagged its second silver award under the tree-to-bar category of the Academy of Chocolate 2021 (United Kingdom). The 70-percent Dark Chocolate won the bronze.

Both chocolate bars shine in their simplicity—they are decadent treats with no need for frills. Other offerings include the crowd pleaser Milk & Cereal Bar (love the mixture of crunchiness and creaminess) and the yummy pastillas-tasting Toasted Milk + Strawberry White Chocolate. The Horchata Bar is a must-try, too—made with almond and rice milk, cocoa butter, sugar and cinnamon, it’s a soy-free, dairy-free, vegan-friendly treat, just like many of 1919 Chocolate’s products.

1919 also sells 100-percent premium tablea made with pure cacao beans which you can use for hot chocolate, champorado and baking.

Don’t miss the Hey Cacao! Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, too. This yummy treat, made with just four ingredients—cacao nibs, raw cane sugar, roasted hazelnuts and salt—is so good you’ll end up eating it straight from the jar. That’s what we did.

(facebook.com/1919Chocolate; @1919chocolate and @1919cacaofarm on Instagram; 1919chocolate.ph)

Shrimp, Parmesan, rocket salad and snow crab toast

Bun Appetit’s Lawrence Cua and Iya Jimenez-Cua are the king and queen of lobster, serving the country’s best lobster rolls (they use claws and knuckle meat of Maine lobsters) along with other seafood delights.

Their food is consistently good, and that includes the newest additions to their menu. The garlic noodles with US scallops is a new twist on an old favorite. It’s available in half and whole trays. The Shrimp, Parmesan, Rocket (SPR) salad is our new Bun Appetit obsession: pan-seared shrimp skewers, Parmesan and arugula with honey-lemon dressing. It’s so good, we can eat it every day. (And we might.)

The snow crab toast, which will be available starting tomorrow, is another must-order: snow crab leg meat, cucumber, ebiko, dill and cream cheese on sourdough. So pretty to look at, so satisfying to eat. (Bun Appetit is at The Grid, Power Plant Mall, every day and Salcedo Market on Saturdays; @bun_appetit on Instagram; bunappetit.shop)

Carb care package

Who doesn’t love baked goods? The Daily Knead offers Carb Care Packages that you can send to loved ones. Each package includes some of The Daily Knead’s best offerings—truffle three cheese croix, ham and Gruyère cheese croix, apple caramel turnover and surprise pastries that change weekly.

The Daily Knead is every carb lover’s dream come true. They bake fantastic breads, cakes and pastries—from cookies, brioche and babkas to croissants, sourdough and manchego ensaymada.

Our favorites are the pain au chocolat (of course), dulce de leche braid, strawberries and cream Danish, calamansi pinwheel and the chocolate brioche babka. Ugh, so good.

(@thedailyknead_ on Instagram; thedailyknead.com.ph)