A craving for ensaimada had me spend a Friday-the-13th afternoon at The Granary at Richmonde Hotel Iloilo. Their gigantic version of this pastry was and is still the talk of the town ever since it opened four months ago. And who said that day was a unlucky when the usually out-of-stock specialty of the house had a few pieces available enough for my gastronomic needs.
I had them heated to bring out the softness of the pastry as well as to create a delicious gooey mix of cheese, butter/cream and sugar that I love to "dunk" the pastry bread in. This is often overlooked by those who order the ensaimada who just have it as it is, thus missing the deliciousness of the pastry. And with that I can finish 2 or even 3 of these in just sitting!
But I just had one that time for me to have space for a "side" order of Spaghetti Prawns Aglio y Olio (which costs 3x as much as the ensaimada). I love olive oil based pasta so this was default order. The serving was too small for me, even if I had an order of ensaimada, I could easily finished a double order. The pasta was a bit dry as I am fond of having it swimming in oil (I should should request for that next time). But the taste was good - flavourful in every forkful, the (3) prawns were cooked perfectly; and presented nicely too.
All in all it was worth the travel all the way to the Iloilo Business Park and looking forward to another visit at The Granary at Richmonde Hotel Iloilo.