GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
Bringing bibingka to New York City and back to Manila
New York City seems like a dream—a place where there are a million things to do and see and (of course) eat. Given the chance, some might fly off to the Big Apple the first moment they could...but hold up. You know there's no bibingka in New York, right?
It doesn't seem like a big deal, but if you've lived in another country for a year and more, you'll know what it's like to exist without sweet, succulent mangoes or turon or pichi pichi. And come Christmas, you're going to be dreaming of bibingka. Nothing else captures the taste of December's festivities better.
As a young girl Eileen Formanes enjoyed the spongy not-quite-a-cake-but-definitely-a-dessert treat and when she moved to New York City, her cravings never truly disappeared.
"Growing up, I remember enjoying bibingka during Christmas and I knew I wanted to share that experience with the folks here in New York," Formanes said.
In 2013, she said goodbye to the corporate world and brought joy to people's lives through one of her favorite Filipino foods.
"The recipe started with me fooling around in the kitchen," Formanes told the press at Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong on April 21.
Her experiments gave birth to "Bibingka-esk" and as the name suggests, it's bibingka...but not quite. Her flagship flavor, My Original, is an official disclaimer and she readily admitted , "I'm not pretending this is a traditional bibingka."
Unlike the more classic bibingka, Formanes' baked bites are baked in an oven instead of a clay pot heated by fire. It may not have the smokey flavor, but it earns points for being gluten-free.
She started with seven flavors, which she began selling in fairs around New York City, beginning in her own neighborhood in Queens.
Formanes bakes everything on her own and her creations have found fans in Grub Street, The Hester Street Fair, Bryant Park, Taste Asia, Sweet Spot Festival, Long Island City Flea and Food, Queens Country Market, Astoria Nights, Queens International Night Market, and Store Pop-up.
She's grown enough to start an Etsy shop and she's hoping that one day, the treats would've travelled all over the US.
The goal, Formanes said, is to bring Filipino food to the forefront. She explained, "Filipino food in New York is the underdog of Asian cuisine."
Along with other Filipino food places in the big city like Maharlika and Jeepney, she hopes to do something about it because she believes that we have a lot to offer.
"I am very proud of my Filipino heritage and I want my fellow Pinoys to know that even though I am on the other side of the world, I am a Filipino first before anything else. I have always said that I want the bibingka to be the next chocolate chip cookie," she said.
Formanes has actually created a Chocolate Chip Binky (her short hand for bibingka) and nine other flavors on top of the initial seven, which brings the total to 16.
The best sellers are ube and Formanes' original, but you can also try turon-flavored bibingka (yes, that exists!), chocolate, strawberry, blueberry, cinnamon, pumpkin, banana, and, for that extra Christmas kick, "Quezon de Binky."
Bibingka-esk actually tastes a little like a less airy puto...but it might be hard to sell that to the Spanish-speaking population in New York.
Taste it for yourself and visit her pop up store at 5/F Main Wing, Shangri-La Plaza, Mandaluyong City, open from April 22 to 24. — GMA News
