Angeles Food Trip: Cafe Fleur by Chef Sau Del Rosario

Sisig Paella at Cafe Fleur, Angeles City — *Sisig* Paella at Cafe Fleur, Angeles City

Aside from Chef Claude Tayag, there’s another Angelean chef who has reached celebrity status: Chef Sau Del Rosario.

Chef Sau is an accomplished chef and restaurateur. He was born to a family of chefs spanning four generations, studied in a culinary school, and has travelled to many parts of the world, most notably France, to expand his culinary knowledge and experience. He has published a book in 2015 entitled 20 Years of Love and Cooking, chronicling his culinary journey, and has been featured in many articles and TV shows. This Angelean chef is so famous that he was even included in SPOT.ph’s Top 10 Cutest Chefs in Manila list!

He has two restaurants in Angeles: 25 Seeds (which I recently discovered) and Cafe Fleur. Although I’ve been to 25 Seeds, I haven’t tried their dishes extensively (I was there just for coffee and desserts). So for this series, I’m writing on Cafe Fleur. (I do hope to come back at 25 Seeds one day and sample Chef Sau’s farm-to-table masterpieces.)

Cafe Fleur used to be located in Miranda St., housed in a quaint, renovated ancestral home with cute (yes, that’s how I describe it) interiors. But in my visit last May, I learned that they relocated to the Dycaico Ancestral House, where 25 Seeds can be found. I was a bit sad because the house in Miranda Street is, for me, part of the Cafe Fleur experience.

Here are some pictures of the old venue:

As of May 21, the new venue of Cafe Fleur was still under construction. So it’s sharing room with its sister, 25 Seeds.

Now let’s talk about the food. But let me disclose something. I go to Cafe Fleur more for the desserts and drinks. So I’ll be featuring only 3 dishes in this entry, which is a shame. I promise to try more dishes in my future visits and will update this entry when that happens.

I tried one of their bestsellers, the Crispy Pork Belly + Truffled Macadamia Kare-Kare. The macadamia-peanut sauce is rich, creamy, and perfectly sweet. The ratio of fat and meat in the pork belly is 50:50. That’s outrageous! But it adds to the flavor. Of course, you can always remove the fat. Then you get a good crunch from the sitaw (green beans). This dish is simply amazing!

Crispy Pork Belly + Truffled Macadamia Kare-Kare (P475)

Another bestseller is the Lamb Shank Caldereta. The meat is tender and the sauce has a strong tomato taste, with a hint of saltiness. This dish is also good!

Lamb Shank Caldereta (P575). It also looks good! — Lamb Shank *Caldereta* (P575). It also looks good!

In one of Mark Wiens’ (Migrationology) visit to the Philippines, he went on a Filipino food tour in Pampanga, along with KF Seetoh and the Makansutra team. They visited Chef Sau who prepared the group a Sisig Paella. And the food vlogger loved it! So I have to order this one.

I can confirm that it’s awesome! It’s fattily good! I even had half of it for takeaway, refrigerated it, reheated the next day, and the taste even became better!

Now let’s talk about dessert. As I’ve said, I went to Cafe Fleur for this. They have phenomenal cakes and cheesecakes. One of my favorites is the Salted Egg Bibingka Cheesecake. Aside from its richness, this cheesecake is really simple. But what makes it really good is the toppings. The flavors and textures from the salted egg and burnt cheese take this cheesecake to a higher notch!

Bibingka Cheesecake — *Bibingka* Cheesecake

Another favorite (and perhaps my favorite among all the desserts) is the Salted Tablea Dulce de Leche (I’m not sure if this is considered a cheesecake). It’s fudgy and just perfectly bitter. The sweet caramel, the bitter tablea, and the salty salt (I need an an adjective to pair it!) complements one another well. A bite of it brought me to dessert heaven! (Unfortunately, as of May 21, Cafe Fleur removed this from their menu. Huhu. I’m hoping that they bring this back, together with the Choco Sapin-Sapin. I’m crossing my fingers!)

Another dessert (drink, actually) worth trying are the Batirol drinks, which are frappe made with chocolate tablea from Davao. There are unique varieties, including polvoron (a kind of crumbly shortbread) and Choc Nut (a popular Filipino bite-sized snack made of chocolate and peanuts). Unfortunately, it wasn’t available when I visited Cafe Fleur at 25 Seeds. But I’m positive it will make its way back to the menu when Cafe Fleur’s new venue gets finished...I hope.

I will definitely come back at Cafe Fleur to try more dishes and desserts.

Other entries in the Angeles Food Trip series: Finding the Best Sisig at Its Birthplace | Downtown Cafe by Chef Claude Tayag