I'm a sucker for freshly baked goods so when errands brought me to this plaza, I knew I had to swing by San Honore. This is a kiosk inside the Hayward Island Pacific. Ironically, I later realized there is also a San Honore located in the Island Pacific in Union City, which is closer to my house.
Rating Breakdown:
2/2 Stars for Taste --
I heeded the reviews about getting the freshly baked pandesal and oh my goodness. I wasted no time stuffing those warm fluffy pillows into my mouth. Delicately crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, the best way to enjoy these is fresh from the oven. They are slightly sweet and I honestly didn't need any sort of spread to accompany it. I have never had bibingka before so I had to order some to try -- for noobs like me, it was like a coconut mochi with small bites of cream cheese inside and salted egg on top for contrasting flavor. I enjoyed it but my husband and mom weren't big fans. The putok (starbread) was good but nothing special, kind of like a dinner roll with a crispy sweet top. We also ordered a taho to try. My mom and I found that there was an offputting sour taste, we prefer the East Asian style Tofuhua served with ginger syrup. I ordered the chicken empanada to add some savory into the mix. The shredded chicken filling was salty sweet and kind of reminded me of the flavor of pork floss, not bad.
1/1 Stars for Value --
It was $5.99 for a dozen pandesal and they are each about the size of two American dinner rolls combined. The bibingka comes in an order of three for $9.99. Putok came 4 for $5.99. Empanadas were $3.25 each, two could probably fill an average stomach, maybe three for those with larger appetites. The taho was $5.99 and was the only thing that I found slightly overpriced.
1/1 Stars for Customer Service --
The server was very nice and entertained all my questions. There were samples in the front that they gave you a toothpick to self serve. Germaphobes might be aghast but honestly I don't think germaphobes would be looking to buy baked goods in an Asian supermarket. The hot pandesal came in a paper bag, but they also gave me a plastic bag which I inferred that I could transfer them to once they cooled.
Bonus star because I'll be back when I'm craving carbs and also to try some of their other sweets. I have my eye on the ube cheese rolls and ensaymadas. Who knows, maybe I'll try Union City location too for comparison. read more