Naga City’s toasted siopao now in Makati

I got rather excited when I saw in my Facebook wall feed that an acquaintance, Monica, just opened their shop of toasted siopao in Makati City yesterday! The shop is Golden Wowie and that’s great news for someone who has been visiting Naga City and tasted this wonderful but cheap morsel there.

For the uninitiated, Naga City is not only known for pili products and as a gateway to Caramoan. It has a vibrant food scene and there are two very popular food products: kinalas and toasted siopao. The latter is rather small, as seen in the photo below but its also filling and cheap at just P8.

Now that there’s toasted siopao in Makati City, how does it compare with the one in Naga City?

First, a background information: I was told by Wowie de Leon, Monica’s husband, who is from Naga City that there are only four big players there. 3N, one of the big four and originally of Libmanan, Camarines Sur has now branched out in Metro Manila with an outlet in Pasig.

Wowie and his business partner have actually visited all four and they have settled and liked one, although it has no advertised name but supplies many bakeshops in that city.

The difference with 3N, which is more popular is that first, the filling is ginigisa, sauteed, packed and brought to Manila. On the other hand, Golden Wowie’s supplier has a commissary in Cubao that actually supplies three other branches here in Metro Manila but under different brand names.

There’s still one but very important difference: Golden Wowie’s filling is steamed. That means the lard or oil is just deposited off. For the health conscious, this is even quite welcome. Like those sold in Metro Manila, it is still an affordable P9.

I bite into one. The bread is dense and toasted just right that doesn’t render the outside dry, burnt or too crisp and the inside still soft. It’s heavy, in fact, even at just two pieces, would be enough. I like the filling very much. It’s not greasy with just the right amount of saltiness. The piece of hard boild egg adds to the flavor and offers a different texture.

Golden Wowie’s Toasted Siopao is along Villena St. in Makati City’s poblacion, just behind Rockwell. It’s just a few meters from the Poblacion public market and just a few minutes walk from Makati’s old church. Toasted siopaos are baked every hour.

It’s a great snack too! Do check it out!

My thanx to Monica and Wowie who offered me a paper bag’s full of toasted siopao!

Golden Wowie’s Toasted Siopao
Villena St. (right infront of House of Laurel)
Poblacion St.,
Makati City
09178173245
0600H-1900H