House of Silvanas (Filipino bakery w/ Silvanas), Daly City w/ pics

[hhc]

House of Silvanas is not very far from the in-laws and we finally stopped in. Tip: Turn after seeing City Heights sign on Gellert Blvd, then go down the hill, bakery on the left. Parking lot is kinda small.

It's a tiny bakery that has a bunch of Filipino desserts, the specialties are the Silvanas. They have 7 flavors: original, buko pandan, mango, mocha, strawberry, chocolate, & ube. Light & airy like macarons - I like them.

I asked for 2 of ea which is 14 for $12, or it's $1 ea if you don't want that many. They are kept frozen & recommended to eat frozen. If you eat room temp. they will get soggy the lady told me. If you have nut allergies you can't have them - cookies made w/ cashews.

From website: "A Silvana is a frozen cookie made with a layer of buttercream sandwiched between two cashew-meringue wafers, coated with cookie crumbs. Many describe it as a cookie version of a Sans Rival."

From website: "House of Silvanas Bakeshop specializes in Silvanas, Ensaimada, Sans Rival and other sweet delicacies."

They take credit card.

Hours:
Closed Mon
Tue-Sat 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Sun 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Website:
http://www.houseofsilvanas.com/

My pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hiketoomu...

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House of Silvanas
2055 Gellert Blvd, Daly City, CA 94015

[Halcyonwing]

Awesome. I used to order an entire box of these back home and eat them all myself. It's a miracle I didn't get fat.

[emily]

Thanks for this rec. I finally stopped by on Tues. and, while I have not yet tried the stash of Silvanas and Sans Rival I bought, the ensaimadas were excellent. Perfect breakfast buns that come in regular, cheese and chocolate varieties. The owner described them as a brioche, but they're much tastier than any brioche I've ever eaten. I also ate lunch at their (newish) restaurant next door - Chibog - and had a very tasty grilled chicken plate. I wanted to try one of the other offerings, but she told me this was the most popular. Will definitely be back.

[Peter Yee]

Uh, oh, now you've got me worried. I think the last Tong Kee was located next door to House of Silvanas. If that's gone, no more great vegetable beef stew chow fun to be had. :-(

[Melanie Wong]

Now you've got me worried too.

But I've checked the addresses: Tong Kee is in Suite 2 and Chibog is Suite 5.

[Peter Yee]

Whew. Thanks for checking! I better go get my fix while I can! ;-)

[hyperbowler]

Cool stuff. The cashew meringue reminded me a bit of a Cadbury Crunchie's texture. I really liked the contrast of the meringue to the thin layer of very rich buttercream.

This is definitely a word of mouth kind of place--- all the stores in the front of the strip mall were closed today, and you have to go down a side driveway to find the entrance.

[pilinut]

Thanks for posting this, hhc! It takes a real hound to suss out a place this obscure. I was wondering how long it would be before this place appeared on Chowhound. Answer: a few years. (Okay, I could have posted about it soon after it opened--mea culpa--but I was lazy and didn't think there would be much interest in silvanas. Interest in Filipino food seems to be pretty limited, and silvanas are not as popular, even in the Philippines, as fried bananas or sweet breads, probably because silvanas need to be frozen.)

Personally, I love almost anything with buttercream and meringue, so I've tried all the flavors of silvanas. My (and my family's) preferences: buco-pandan, ube, mocha, and mango, in that order. The sansrival is pretty good, too, just plain old buttercream sandwiched between thin, crisp layers of meringue, and sprinkled with nuts.

[Cynsa]

yum...I could eat buttercream and meringue... silvanas!

[Melanie Wong]

You approve of the buttercream here? I was so fascinated reading the report last night, I wanted some immediately. Sad to see that the place is closed today, as I did pass thru DC this morning.

[pilinut]

The buttercream is okay: not that nasty stuff made with vegetable shortening that you find on too many birthday cakes. But since the silvanas and sans rival have to stay frozen for the meringues to remain crisp, the buttercream will not be the soft, fluffy buttercream you find in most desserts. On the other hand, if you don't mind soft, chewy meringue, you could let the sans rival thaw out a bit and have softer buttercream, too. (But not to room temperature, which would probably make the dessert too squishy.)

[washingtonfamily]

How were the silvanas? San rival was one of my favorite cakes growing up. I realized later that I was basically eating sweetened butter with nuts and a little meringue -- yum!

[hhc]

Pretty good, I've ate 1/2 chocolate & 1/2 buko pandan. Light & creamy buttercream & crunchy cookie, sweet. Hope you can try it out & report back - closed Mon.