Yolk: Breakfast All Day

Yolk: Coffee and Breakfast
80 Tres Borces St., Mabolo, Cebu City 6000
Tel. no.: (032) 231 0411 
Price range: P170 - P310
Operating hours: Tuesday - Sunday   7:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.

            What better way to start the day than with a power meal – breakfast! Who doesn’t love breakfast? I know of people who wake up early even on vacation because they’re excited for the breakfast buffet when staying in hotels. Unfortunately, not everyone gets to enjoy this “luxury” (because these days, you’re lucky if you can have breakfast) even if they wanted to because often times, we have to choose between getting more sleep but missing breakfast or getting less sleep to make time for breakfast. Sometimes, it can be hard to choose between sleep and food, right? #workaholicproblems

            Did you know that you can be busy and lazy? Busy, because you have a hectic schedule – can’t get much sleep and can’t make time for breakfast – and lazy, because you just don’t want to go through the hassle of cleaning up after cooking breakfast. Well, that’s me. Hehe. I can’t stand seeing dirty dishes in the sink so I’d rather not cook if I know I can’t have the time to clean up afterwards.  So, for busy and lazy bees piglets like me, we may tend to skip breakfast often but it’s comforting to find a place that serves breakfast all day just so we wouldn’t feel like we missed out on the best meal of the day.

           

            There are several restaurants in Cebu that serve all day breakfasts but none that really devote themselves to serving solely true blue breakfast dishes all day (Silogan ni Gian or Sinangag Express don’t count, okay?). Until early this year, a cozy little café that takes breakfast seriously just hatched in a little nook in Mabolo – Yolk.

             You know it’s serious when they cook their eggs consistently to perfection. Nothing like perfectly cooked eggs to make your day, right? I’ve been hearing (and seeing) a lot (of photos) about this café but was too busy with internship to drop a visit. Finally, when my internship ended, I was invited to taste their dishes so I took my chance.

            Yolk may be hidden from the main road but it’s not difficult to find. It eludes itself from the busy streets enough to give you the comfort of getting away from the urban noise, supplemented with an extra cozy ambience from their homey, rustic interiors and warm lighting.

A favorite spot  

            They have quite a conservative menu that offers about 8 main courses, a salad, two kinds of sandwiches, and a healthy option.

            This was a night of reunion for me and Angeli of foodiecraft.com after more than a year of not seeing each other. Both of us have been abducted from the blogosphere by our school duties and finally, we are just awaiting graduation! Well, by the time I’d have posted this, she’d already have graduated. Along with us were JM of mytastefullife.blogspot.com and Hoven of mycebu.ph. 

JM, Babe for Food, Ms. Foodiecraft, and Hoven

            That night, we were served the best of the house – Eggs Benny, Chorizo and Eggs in a Pan, and All Beefed Up. These were all choices from the section of the menu where “It’s All About the Eggs”. And it sure was.

           

            The photos I’ve seen on Instagram and Facebook did not lie. The eggs were gorgeous. :’)

            But first, I had coffee while waiting for our food. Well, I chose Café Mocha because I wanted to try something a little more fancy than brewed coffee but without as much milk as latte. Little did I know that their coffee was something special. I realized this when I took a sip of my Café Mocha. I’m no coffee afficionado but I usually like my coffee black with just a maximum of two packets of brown sugar. I was blown away. It had the right balance of sweetness from the chocolate syrup yet a coffee flavor that refused to be overpowered. I was swooning over my cup of coffee.

               The man behind the kitchen, Chef Pepin, sat down with us and talked about his passion for coffee when I commented on how good their coffee was. The secret behind this was their beans imported from Singapore. Their special blend is from single origin beans from Ethiopia.

And then came the food…

Chorizo and Eggs in a Pan

            I’m not really the chorizo kind (it doesn’t feel right eating my own kind. Jk.) but my companions really enjoyed this. Maybe you would too if you really dig chorizos.

 

            Oh, by the way, the food may be cholesterol-packed with each dish having two servings of egg but you can tone it down with a choice of having your meal with salad and toast instead of rice. I love this option! Their salad is lightly dressed in vinaigrette which is a refreshing accompaniment to the heavy main course. :)

Eggs Benny

            This is a breakfast favorite but I can be quite picky with my Eggs Benny, too. The bread has to be resilient enough that it won’t become mushy too soon from soaking up the Hollandaise sauce and flowing egg yolk. Yolk got this right with their sourdough bread, toasted to perfection – crisp crust and chewy core. A local touch is added to this dish with the use of calamansi, our local lime, to make the Hollandaise sauce. The sauce was a little too tart to my taste but the eggs were cooked to perfection.

All Beefed Up

            This was probably a unanimous favorite, Yolk’s version of homemade corned beef. We loved how tender and succulent the beef was and the potatoes were a great accompaniment. And of course, the eggs buried along with it that remained perfect despite sitting on a sizzling plate.

 

            And for dessert, we had their special Espresso Panna Cotta, made with their house blend coffee! It was simply elegant, finished with milk for the “foam” and chocolate syrup to create a latte art effect. And lo, it tasted as lovely as it looked. It had the perfect balance of sweetness and coffee flavor, and most notably, the consistency of the pudding – not too dense and not too thin. I am not easily pleased by panna cotta’s or mousse’s because I’m all about texture, of which my favorite combination is crispy and chewy, but this deserves a recommendation. :)

            We were also given the privilege of having a coffee tasting. We sampled the house blend and the special blend. And I learned how to taste coffee, by sweeping off the crema and then scooping a little coffee to taste. This was truly the cherry on top of our meal.

            At the end of the night, I learned something about coffee; that its taste changes when milk is added. Chef Pepin explained that their Special blend coffee has a hint of Jackfruit in itself and when milk is added as in latte, the exotic jackfruit taste is replaced with a sweeter note as in strawberry. True enough, I was able to taste the jackfruit note in the pure special blend, however, I got more of a cotton candy-like flavor when milk was added. Maybe my palate needs more training for this. This experience really made me appreciate latte and the art of coffee. Thanks to the very passionate coffee lover Chef Pepin. :)

            Just a note, to share Chef Pepin’s love for coffee, Yolk’s beverage menu only offers coffee and juice. No softdrinks. :)

            It’s easy to fall in love with this place. The moment you step inside, it refreshes you as if you just woke up and you’re ready to start your day. I would definitely go back to try their other items like the Green with Envy (because I’m a sucker for spinach and kesong puti), It’s So Fluffy Pancakes (what’s breakfast without pancakes?) and their Goodness in a Jar for a lighter meal. And of course, their coffee is one to remember. In fact, I’ve added it to my “Crave-ables” list. :))

GUILTY. It's all good vibes at Yolk. :)

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What’s your favorite Yolk dish?

"To know Cebu, eat Cebu!" 

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Babe for Food

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