June 16, 2025
MANILA – There’s no shortage of fun in Manila when it comes to cheesecake. Yet amid the frivolity is a scholarly respect that two of Manila’s finest chefs have for the ubiquitous dessert.
Because when done right, experimenting with the burnt Basque cheesecake, a cult favorite among Filipinos, almost always guarantees a pleasurable finished product.
Mousse-like and creamy but light with every bite, the crustless, caramelized cakes of El Born’s David Amoros and Cheesecake by Chele’s Chele Gonzalez are perhaps two of the standout desserts in the city. Both are well-known to excel in matters relating to cheesecake (and more)—even beyond its traditional form.
Call it coincidence or not, the two chefs serendipitously released new versions of their creations nearly at the same time. The pair are akin to modern-day alchemists with the way they get creative with their cheesecakes that, at the end of the day, it is the customer—the fans of their work—who benefits from these concomitant cheesecake rollouts.
Despite the visual simplicity of Amoros and Gonzalez’s cheesecakes, the varying flavors and stories held within the simple dessert makes a statement of intent.
A cheesecake to wake you up
Take Amoros’ limited-time coffee and cacao cheesecake in collaboration with Yardstick and Cacao Culture. Despite its straightforward flavor profile, which leans slightly into tiramisu territory, the bubbly chef churns out a creation that hits close to home.
“I wanted to pay tribute to Filipino products and small farmers,” he says. “I’m a member of Slow Food Catalonia and all my restaurants in Catalonia were Kilometer Zero (Km0) slow food restaurants. That’s why I had to make a premium cheesecake with all the premium Filipino products I could.”
It’s a powerful rallying cry in support of the effort of “these people who work to have the best coffee and chocolate in the world,” he declares, citing the Yardstick coffee beans sourced from Sitio Belis in Atok, Benguet, and the local tablea from Davao City-based Cacao Culture.
With a little help from French pastry chef Nicolas Vergnole, who himself is a chocolate and ice cream specialist, Amoros’ cheesecake is truly special. Notes of cacao and the sprinkling of salt on top come into full force on first bite then the coffee cursorily takes over. Amoros truly has created a “gem… cooked from the heart”—something light in texture yet dense, almost cinematic, in flavor.
Eat a slice as a filling finish to a meal, the mini version as a meal unto itself, or, in true Filipino-style, a massive whole cake for sharing with as many as 10 persons.
Available at El Born branches in Mitsukoshi BGC and Power Plant Mall
Packed with pistachio
Pistachio in tarta de queso is a potent combination, and it’s inevitable that Gonzalez jumps the gun on utilizing a trending ingredient and turning it into a movement.
And why wouldn’t he? When he painstakingly took his time—four months to be exact—to perfect this recipe. The pistachio tarta de queso may reference the pistachio chocolate trend in Dubai sparked by acclaimed Filipino pastry chef Nouel Catis, but Spain itself is a hotbed of the green nut (sometimes dubbed “green gold”), with pistachio plantations and production centralized in Castilla-La Mancha.
In fact, Gonzalez seems to extract the cultivar’s earthy intensity into the base of the gooey cake and pushes against its greenish-yellow, chartreuse-like prettiness. A bite delivers an impactful depth; it’s buttery, citrusy, and cheesy (using two types that Gonzalez doesn’t want to give away).
Yet there is no ambiguity here: Gonzalez has crafted another solid dessert that soars past the pistachio trend.
Available at Burnt Basque Cheesecake by Chele in Podium Mall