The Breakfast Store

I just got home from a 23 hour flight from the Philippines, so I'm jet lagged and still in the process of unpacking my bags.  And my mind is bursting with all the stories that I want to share with you.  I've got piles of notes and gazillion pictures to share. But quite frankly, I don't know where to start.  So let me start with breakfast... just like how most of us start off our day.

When I say breakfast what I mean is to literally share with you  a specialty shop called The Breakfast Store. The blue and white themed store catches your attention when you pass by Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City, Philippines. 

Let's hear it from the shop owner, Sigrid, what  the store is all about.


Breakfast has always been called the most important meal of the day. In my family, we had celebrated birthdays over breakfast. I carried that on over to my own family now.. Then last Christmas, we gave out gifts of cacao balls (chocolate balls for breakfast) to family and friends. Everyone started asking where they could get more of it,  That's when we started exploring the idea (over breakfast of course) of coming up with a store that would sell everything for breakfast. So when we thought of an apt name for it.  I simply suggested, The Breakfast Store because it is what it is - no pretensions. You come into the store with a clear idea of buying items you will have for breakfast! 

As you enter the store, there's a charming blue table that greets you and it is where you find the specials and samples that the store offers.

That day, I sampled tomato jam preserved by local artisans.  It was my first time to have tomato jam so it was a pleasant treat for my taste buds.

I call their kesong puti (Filipino cheese similar to a cottage cheese) kesong puti on steroids, as it was oozing and bursting of new flavors.  My favorite was the cheese with herb and garlic.  I thought that it would make any breakfast special, with specs of herbs the local artisan blended with the cheese.

Also, I had this chilled taho.  Taho is a sweet blend of tofu and special syrup.  It's usually peddled in the street around the neighborhood and it's usually served warm.  It was the first time for me to have it chilled and it was a refreshing treat on a hot summer day.

What is breakfast without coffee , so at the breakfast store, they sell locally grown coffee beans from different parts of the country.

They sell everything that pertains about breakfast and they didn't miss out on the plates as well.  I adore these plates designed by Lanelle Abueva Fernando, a well kown handmade ceramic artist in the Philippnes.

My favorite is the longanisa or sausage from Tuguegarao.  It's tangy, garlicky and a tiny piece would demand a spoonful of rice (oh my carb loading).  They also have other longanisa variations from other parts of the country such as Lucban in Quezon, and the famous Vigan longanisa... now really please pass the fried rice and eggs and I'll be ready for the day!

I love breakfast, as their sign says, but with what the store offers this maybe an understatement.  Once you come in, you're definitely in breakfast heaven!