When Siopaos Get An Upgrade

While at a shoot, I was introduced to Gourmet Pao, which gives me a better outlook on siopao. Before I was used to siopao being bola-bola or asado and most of the time, they dissapoint me when all I get are like an ounce of fillings.

Yep, these are actually siopao, but instead of the usual fillings, we get fillings like sisig, corned beef, ham and cheese, and tuna. At first, I was apprehensive to try because I'm not really a siopao fan, yet after I tried one, I had a second one on my way home.

Model Mikaela Lagdameo-Martinez is the woman behind this novelty snack, and since she was present during the shoot, I actually got to talk to her and ask about the business and the products. She's happy that the business is doing really well. There's currently a stall in Alabang Town Center (near Yellow Cab) and she plans to open another one soon. Gourmet Pao also delivers too, for an extra charge of course. And whaddya know? She even said sometimes she delivers them herself. "And it works!" she says.

The flavors have creative names such as Dancing Queen (cheese, ham, egg, and bacon), Sosy-Sig (pork sisig and egg), and Maxi-Moo (corned beef and egg). "Moo because of cow, " Mika says with a giggle. The fun names are quite catchy. How do you determine which is which? The little colorful dots would tell you so. The bestseller happens to be Pesto-Veggie, which is a hit among vegetarians as well.

Speaking of health, these varieties also come in wheat dough. Okay, before you get all apprehensive and icky with the wheat dough part, we were assured that it tastes as good as carbohydrate-ful white dough. When you close your eyes, you think you're eating white dough, but it's just brown. So none of the grainy, flaky, stuff we don't like with health food. The dough really is something. It's not tough and leathery. And nope, they didn't scrimp on the fillings. The size is huge, bigger than my palm, so it's definitely not something that cheats on you. I ate my siopao straight from the ref so it was kind of cold, but I was told it's better heated (Heat it in the steamer or rice cooker).

If interested to order Gourmet Pao, you can contact them at their email addresses: gourmetpao@yahoo.com or gourmetpao@gmail.com. You could also contact them at 211-1099 and 0917-5377726.