Lately I’ve had some pretty adventurous food adventures. (Is that redundant?) Believe it or not, I travelled to Brooklyn twice last week! For fun! Scary, I know!
One of the stops that I made was in Williamsburg at Manila Social Club. Manila Social Club is a Filipino restaurant that also hosts events like a monthly chef’s table or “Doughnuts and DJ’s.” The first time I heard about MSC and decided I needed to check this place out was from someone’s Instagram post of an Ube Donut. MSC is becoming famous for their Ube Donuts and I had to investigate what the hype was all about.
Before going into any more detail about my trip, I should explain what an Ube Donut is. Ube is a purple yam commonly found in Filipino cooking. It’s a bright purple color and has become increasingly more popular in recent years as an ice cream flavor, cake flavor, and obviously donuts.
I had visited the MSC website about a week earlier to see what information I could find about these donuts. Through the site, I was actually able to place an advanced order for a dozen Ube Donuts to be picked up on Friday. The donuts are sold by the dozen and cost about $40 plus tax. When filling out the order form online, you can select the pick up time. The reason for this is that the Ube Donuts are made fresh one hour before pick up.
Getting to the restaurant was very easy and everyone that I met could not have been nicer. I did have to wait about 20 minutes for my donuts to be ready, but I didn’t mind one bit. It was because the donuts were getting iced.
Ahhhh yum! I was so excited! My Ube Donuts were in the box and getting wrapped up for me to take home. I had to take a peek and see these little guys in person. And they did not disappoint! Nor were they little guys! These donuts were huge, like the size of my head. All twelve of them. They were beautiful also. Seriously, so pretty, bright dark purple with specks of white. They smelled like, I don’t even know what the best smell in the world is, but that was it. Like when you walk into a bakery and it smells so good that you can taste everything with your nose. That’s what the box of fresh Ube Donuts smelled like.
I paid for my donuts and then reality set in. “How am I supposed to get this box home?” It was almost longer than the length of my arms and wider than my chest. I had about a ten minute walk back to the subway and then needed to transfer trains at Union Square in order to get home. Of course, it didn’t help that it was freezing cold that afternoon. I considered looking for a cab, but figured I just spent $40 plus on a box of donuts, I probably shouldn’t waste my money on a trip from Williamsburg to Midtown. So, I decided to just go for it.
I took my box of Ube Donuts, with the smell penetrating through the cardboard with each blow of the wind, and made it down the subway stairs. “Shit!” I thought. “Where’s my MetroCard?” While magically balancing this box with one flat hand, I managed to dig around my bag and find the case I keep my MetroCard in. I put the case on top of the box and with the assistance of my chin, pulled the card out. Continuing to balance the donut box, I swiped the MetroCard and pushed my way through the turnstile. There was probably about an inch of extra space for me to fit the box of donuts through. I got onto the subway platform and luckily didn’t have to wait too long for the first train to come. All I wanted was to be in my apartment with my Ube Donuts safely placed on my counter.
About a half hour passed, but eventually I got what I wanted. I was home along with my twelve Ube Donuts. It was finally time to eat one! OH MAN! The consistency of the actual donut was very similar to a croissant or a popover in that it was extremely light and airy. The Ube flavor tasted sweet like a glazed donut, but had a slight Earthy aftertaste, as expected with a yam. I ate one donut and considered having a second before talking myself out of it. Instead, I decided to eat a second one after dinner.
Lately I’ve had some pretty adventurous food adventures. (Is that redundant?) Believe it or not, I travelled to Brooklyn twice last week! For fun! Scary, I know!
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