Dear Filipinos, we are experiencing a crisis of epic proportions… we just discovered that beloved “Tita” hangout spot Mary Grace Café has been hit with an ensaymada shortage!!!
About three months ago, Mary Grace Café released a statement on its official Facebook page explaining that customers will have difficulties in procuring a box of these ensaymadas due to global supply issues and a shortage of key ingredients—particularly the queso de bola. Until now, branches and kiosks around the country are unable to serve this signature pastry.
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“Like many companies and brands around the world, we are experiencing supply issues with our Ensaymadas, particularly Edam cheese from Holland (or queso de bola as we Filipinos call it),” confirmed Chiara Hugo, marketing director of Mary Grace Café and eldest daughter of Mary Grace herself, in an email interview with When In Manila. “We have always placed a premium on the quality of ingredients that we use in all our products and as much as possible we never compromise or take shortcuts and resort to alternative ingredients that are below our standards. This has resulted in temporarily ceasing production of our ensaymadas while we eagerly await our queso de bola shipment.”
Now, this may sound like a good time to despair over the unfortunate news. After all, how can we survive the -Ber Months without Mary Grace Café ensaymada? But there’s a silver lining… and it comes in the form of a new ensaymada variant, the Manchego Ensaymada!
Chiara told When In Manila that they’re bringing back this limited edition product after launching it on Christmas last 2021 to make up for the current classic ensaymada shortage.
“In light of our classic ensaymada (with queso de bola) not being available at the moment, we hope our regular customers will be open to trying the Manchego Ensaymada and discover a new cheese profile – manchego being milder and more on the sweeter side compared to the salty queso de bola,” she noted.
Mary Grace Café’s Manchego Ensaymada will be available starting this weekend and is said to be best paired with Truffle Honey.
And to those still waiting for the classic ensaymada to come back, don’t fret; Chiara assures that Mary Grace Café is not experiencing any supply chain issues with the rest of their key ingredients and hopes that it will remain this way.
“We always think of our customers who are at the center of everything that we do, and we are fully aware that they’re missing their ensaymadas… Hopefully we will be able to bake them very soon and make them available in all our kiosks and cafés,” she said.
(ALSO READ: 11 Places to Go to for *Really Good* Hot Chocolate in Metro Manila)
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