The Cake Club is not all about cakes. It has not only good cakes and desserts but also a proper meal.
The new branch at Bonifacio High Street Central serves real food.
The Cake Club started out as Diamond Hotel’s pastry shop. A kiosk was later opened at Power Plant Mall at Rockwell for those craving for the bakery’s popular cheese ensaymada and mini cakes. Now in the Taguig branch, The Cake Club has become a full-service restaurant.
Diamond Hotel executive chef Nickolai Stoyanov describes the menu as “international.” It is lean and edited, and includes well-thought-out starters and mains, desserts and ice cream. Drinks include Malongo coffee, Hediard Tea, beer and wine.
Diamond Hotel president Cecilia Ang said The Cake Club—the restaurant—was established to make more people aware of the cuisine at Diamond Hotel. According to Diamond Hotel GM Vanessa Suatengco, some entreés are bestsellers from Corniche, Diamond’s in-house restaurant.
Slow-roasted beef belly
We recently had lunch at The Cake Club and had for starters the Roasted Red Beet Soup with goat cheese, green apples and toasted walnuts, and Hobart’s Spicy Tomato Soup with tomato jam and fresh basil.
Red beet may be acquired taste to some; try this soup if you want something new. The tomato soup is a safer but spicier choice.
There are two salad choices. One is the GM Salad (GM is for general manager) served on a crunchy parmesan basket. It has pan-roasted mushrooms, baby greens and shallot vinaigrette. The other is Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tart Salad with white-wine vinaigrette dressing.
For first-time diners, chef Stoyanov recommends the Slow-Roasted Beef Belly—tender beef slices with honey-roasted baby carrots, brown rice and a dollop of horseradish cream.
Kids would like the slightly sweet Roast Chicken, half-chicken with a siding of haricot verts, mushrooms and potatoes.
Non-meat items
Non-meat eaters may try the Baked Salmon, juicy salmon slab with crisp skin, served on a bed of spinach and fragrant saffron risotto. Other veggie choices are the Red Beet Burger with goat cheese, walnuts and arugula on halved ciabatta roll, and the Porcini Mushroom Crepe in light cream sauce.
The Cake Club also offers specialty sandwiches and burgers such as the Grilled Reuben, homemade corned-beef sandwich with sauerkraut, emmental cheese and thousand-island dressing; US Angus Beef Burger; and Lamb Burger with cheese and yogurt.
These burgers (which are quite big, and may be for sharing) may be paired with the Sato-San’s Mentaiko Spaghetti, a spicy cod roe and dried seaweed pasta in cream sauce.
Super moist chocolate cake
The strength of The Cake Club is still the dessert selection. The inviting cake display which greets you at the door shows off delicate mini cakes. We love the Ispahan macaron cake with raspberries, lychee and rose essence, and the Super Moist Chocolate Cake that melts into a smooth chocolate crème in the mouth. Both have ice-cream counterparts.
Non-chocolate desserts are Vanessa, pistachio macaron with fresh strawberries, and Mont Blanc, chestnut paste on an almond crust.
Ang came up with desserts with local flavor—the St. Honore Ube, ube ganache in puff pastry, and Cecilia, a glammed-up buko pie.
“We also have Danielle, a sugarless white chocolate raspberry cheesecake,” Ang added.
If you are dining on a weekend, check out the Weekend Treats—Le Reve chocolate parfait, L’Obsession mango-coco parfait and chef Stoyanov’s Foie Gras Macaron.
The Cake Club’s simple and cozy interiors makes it an ideal after-dinner place. With the new menu, it hopes to be known as a restaurant that serves filling food with hotel-like service.
The Cake Club is at Bonifacio High Street Central, Taguig. It is open 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Monday-Thursday and Sunday; 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Friday-Saturday. Call 6213176.