IN French style bakeries and cafés, you usually find delicious artisanal breads such as focaccia (Italian flat, leavened, oven-baked bread usually in rectangular form, as it is cooked in a pan) and ciabatta (a crusty Italian white bread similar in shape to the French baguette but flatter and more airy and soft on the inside). But you don’t usually find more exquisite and sophisticated breads like fougasse (beautiful Provencal-type French flatbread with slashes forming leafy and head-of-wheat patterns and topped with herbs and olives) and schiacciata (a large Tuscan bread that is thin, crusty and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside; often used to make delicious sandwiches).

In a new bakery called Bea & Bianca Bakery-Café & Deli that is about to open in Taguig on 10 July, bread lovers will find such exquisite breads, freshly baked and ready to be enjoyed both in the store or at home. It even offers such interesting items as sunken babka (a sweet, yeast-based loaf that is both bread and cake, moist and lovely and, in sunken form, is extra flavorful; of Ukrainian, Polish and Israeli origin), Southern Style biscuits (freshly baked flaky biscuits similar to scones) and bagels (doughnut-shaped Jewish bread with a crisp crust and dense interior; often eaten as a sandwich with cream cheese spread and smoked salmon).

Oh, yes, bagels! They actually started the business for husband-and-wife team Steven and Roan Montuano Rosario in 2019. Born and raised in the United States, Steven was craving for bagels but could not find decent ones.

“Most, if not all, were just like buns with hole, instead of something with a little toughness and chewiness,” says Roan.

So they made their own. In a Rotary meeting that they attended, they brought some bagels, and fellow club members started ordering, prompting the couple to create AmBagelCo, which has two meanings: American Bagel Company, and Ambagel which, in Pangasinan, meant “crazy” (“crazy over bagels”). When the pandemic hit in 2020, people continued to order, so the hardworking couple had to figure out a way to reach customers in Metro Manila while baking in Pangasinan. That was when Pan de Mya Bakery came to be.

From Plain and Everything bagels, they started offering four other flavors of bagels — Poppy Seed, Sesame Seed, Onion and Garlic, and Cinnamon Raisin — with seasonal flavors such as Cranberry Walnut, Gingerbread and Blueberry.

For their customers to enjoy their bagels even more, the Rosarios created two schmears, or spreads. One is the Smoked Bangus Cream Cheese Spread, which technically gives everyone the classic bagel sandwich experience of eating the bread with cream cheese and smoked salmon as filling. In place of salmon comes the bangus (milkfish). And for those who like their filling sweet, there is the Honey Walnut Cream Cheese Schmear. Both are available in tubs.

Finally, to maximize the delivery system that they put in place, the Rosarios also developed other American baked goods, including Southern Style Biscuits, Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, Pumpkin Pie, and Bourbon Pecan Pie.

What they did was collect orders every week, with a Wednesday cutoff for orders, Thursday production and transport to Manila in the evening, then Friday dispatch in Taguig. They were blessed to have found a courier partner who helped (and continues to help) make the system work, staying committed with them to Pan de Mya’s authentic bagels with zero preservatives and extenders.

Just recently, Roan’s chef brother developed new bread products, such as the fougasse and schiacciata. These new and exciting items will be marketed through their social media pages and will be available at Bea & Bianca Bakery-Café & Deli once it soft-launches at its location along A. Bonifacio Street, Phase IV AFPOVAI, Taguig, right behind Bayani Road.

It is something worth waiting for.