Lady M Cake BoutiqueA few days ago, I received what I dub officially the most depressing email ever about my beloved Manila. It has been two years since I left this perma-summerland for my current home, Manhattan. But no email had ever distressed me as much as this one.
What disturbing information did this email contain? Tales of mutinies, kidnapping, corruption, massive financial scams?
Not quite. The email was about cake. The 20 best cakes in the city.
Now how can tiramisu and depression even be together in one logical thought? Quite easily, when you find out that a good slice of cake in Manila will set you back P75 to P308 these days! Three hundred freakin pesos and change for ONE slice of cake?!? OMFG. The average price, it seemed, was about P120 per slice. I repeat, OMFG.
Even THE Lady M Mille Crêpes made out of 20 paper-thin crepes enveloped in sweet custard and topped with caramelized sugar *salivate* only run about $7.50 per slice. But that's from a posh Upper East Side cake "boutique"! It blows my mind that a piece of cake from Manila (an NY Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake from Chelsea Market & Café, ironically) costs roughly the same as a slice from Lady M.
Now I am not saying that these cakes do not deserve their price tags. They are fabulous, I'm sure. In fact, I'm already saving up for the King Oscar Cake that I intend to gorge on once I am within 50 feet of The Peninsula Boutique. But it really bothers me that there are P308 cake slices in a country where the minimum daily wage is roughly P325! It just underscores how prices have risen unrelentingly while salaries have remained firmly tied down.
What disturbing information did this email contain? Tales of mutinies, kidnapping, corruption, massive financial scams?
Not quite. The email was about cake. The 20 best cakes in the city.
Now how can tiramisu and depression even be together in one logical thought? Quite easily, when you find out that a good slice of cake in Manila will set you back P75 to P308 these days! Three hundred freakin pesos and change for ONE slice of cake?!? OMFG. The average price, it seemed, was about P120 per slice. I repeat, OMFG.
Even THE Lady M Mille Crêpes made out of 20 paper-thin crepes enveloped in sweet custard and topped with caramelized sugar *salivate* only run about $7.50 per slice. But that's from a posh Upper East Side cake "boutique"! It blows my mind that a piece of cake from Manila (an NY Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake from Chelsea Market & Café, ironically) costs roughly the same as a slice from Lady M.
Now I am not saying that these cakes do not deserve their price tags. They are fabulous, I'm sure. In fact, I'm already saving up for the King Oscar Cake that I intend to gorge on once I am within 50 feet of The Peninsula Boutique. But it really bothers me that there are P308 cake slices in a country where the minimum daily wage is roughly P325! It just underscores how prices have risen unrelentingly while salaries have remained firmly tied down.
To view this interesting article written by Vangie Baga-Reyes for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, click here. Warning: doing so can cause severe stomach grumbling and salivation.
My poor Philippines ... goddamit, will someone let them eat cake?
No comments:
Post a Comment