Lunch With The Grahams | Part 2 - Mrs. Graham's Macaron Cafe

After the great lunch at Mr. Graham's we moved onto dessert next door at Mrs. Graham's! Loved the contrast between the sandwich shop's clean whites and greens to Mrs. Graham's warm and cozy reds and browns. I can't get over how instagrammable the storefront is! Haha!

A fun thing about both joints is that they have board games you can borrow! :)

Cookies and cookie shots!

There's a tiny nook near the cashier where you can grab some calligraphy gear and washi tape! At the time, the Pentel Brush Writers were on sale! I didn't get them though since I wasn't looking for a yellow one :(

Clefairy and Pokeball Macarons!

And who could forget Pikachu?

Adorable and unique flavors can be found here at Mrs. Graham's.

Reese's Macaronut = Macaron + Tiny Donut on top!

Bibingka & S'mores.

Simpler flavors with Salted Caramel, Baileys, and Mint Chocolate.

Even the lamps were macarons! So cool that Mrs. Graham made these herself! The top and bottom lids are actually electric fan cass! So cute!

Other than macarons, there are also cakes you can try! Cereal Cheesecake omg.

And Matcha Crepe Cake.

Here's a clearer photo of the Pokemon-inspired macarons. :D

The first things we tried were the cakes!

The Cereal Cheesecake easily earns an all-time favorite spot for me. It's just such a colorful treat for the senses! It's a classic cheesecake tweaked with a graham-cereal crust, topped with caramelized cereal that easily brings me back to my childhood eating honey stars! Despite all the sweetness going on though, the Cereal Cheesecake is quite balanced. The sweet toppings and the crunchy crust is balanced out by the light and creamy filling that isn't too sweet and has a slight lemony tang. Gorgeous cake worth trying! Even people who're a bit sensitive to sweets might love this! :)

The Matcha Crepe Cake on the other hand was a mixed bag for me. It's tough for crepe cakes nowadays especially since Paper Moon has been pretty much dominating on this dish. However, I've always felt that though Paper Moon's crepe cakes were soft and yummy, I found it to be a bit boring to be honest. Their fillings lacked a bit of depth. For the most part, it was just cream. This is where I believe Mrs. Graham's Matcha Crepe Cake shines. The filling in between crepe layers is a dense, creamy, almost gel-like consistency that packs a lot of true Matcha goodness - very similar to my favorite TWG macaron fillings. However, I do wish that the crepes were a bit softer or fluffier. It was a bit of a challenge to slice but it's not difficult to eat. It's a good dish but I think it can be better texture-wise. :)

Now, for the main event, the macarons!

My camera lens couldn't handle super close up shots so I'll just talk about my opinion of each macaron. You can refer to the photo above for visual reference! :)

Four Cheese - Definitely the most interesting of the bunch, it's a creamy and cheesy little macaron with brulee-ed Parmesan and Emmental cheese on top.(Not sure, though) Then, the filling is made of two other cheeses. Possibly Blue Cheese and Cheddar? This macaron is a combination of salty and sweet and definitely something I would order again. You are almost immediately surprised by the combination of the cheeses when you take a bite. It's really a lot of fun to eat!

Ensaymada - I loved how adorable these were! Just like tiny little ensaymadas! Flavor-wise, I really do believe it's how an ensaymada would taste if it were turned into a macaron. Slightly cheesy and salty, but sweet and fluffy for the most part - just like an ensaymada should be!

Bailey's - I was particularly excited for this one as I love anything Bailey's flavored, but I was ultimately a bit disappointed since the sweetness of the macaron cookies took over and the Bailey's in the filling was way too subtle. Hopefully for the filling, there can be a better Bailey's-to-sugar ratio.

Churros - The flavor that stood out the most here is the cinnamon which normally lightly coats a classic churro. The filling is gel-like and dense, just the way I like it. It's just the right amount of sweetness. Nothing jumped at me that much with this one.

Strawberries Dipped In Chocolate - Definitely one of the most attractive macarons ever, this flavor features a sweet strawberry ice cream-reminiscent flavor with the very slight darkness of the chocolate coating. It's one of my favorites of the bunch but I bet it would be totally amazing if the tartness of real strawberries were introduced to this macaron.

Reese's Macaronut - One of the most balanced macarons of the bunch, the Reese's Macaronut is a pretty little thing to behold. Unlike most of the other macarons, it wasn't too sweet especially with the Reese's-flavored filling and Reese's bits on top. The Doughnut isn't too sweet either and had a more full-bodied chocolate flavor which I love. Sweet and slight salty is always an awesome match.

Bibingka - Similar to the Ensaymada, I felt that it was a great interpretation of the traditional Filipino snack. It's sweet but slightly salty because of the cheese. It's especially great when you bite a part that has the salted egg. I think this flavor would shine more if it was a bit cheesier and the salted egg were given more of a chance to stand out.

Bittersweet - I really had high hopes for this one because in almost every macaron shop, I usually love the chocolate flavors for the full-bodied deep taste. Though the Bittersweet Macaron was a lot less sweeter than the others, I felt like it lacked depth and was still a bit too sweet to be considered bittersweet. I really believe this macaron would be a knock-out if there was less sugar or more dark chocolate in the filling! :)

We also got to try the Cheetos Macaron which was my personal favorite of the bunch! It's yet another sweet-salty flavor and I loved biting the cheetos bits on top of the macaron. The filling itself is a strong but sweet thick cheddar cream. So good!

I really love that Mrs. Graham's macarons have the thick gel-like filling that's very similar to TWG's Macarons. I just think they pack so much more flavor and depth compared to the usual buttercream that we encounter in most macaron bakeries. A general note though is that the macarons in this cafe can be a bit too sweet that it affects the integrity of the flavor that it's supposed to be. I feel like I favored the more cheese-based macarons more because they had the salt from the cheese to balance out the usual sweetness of macarons. I feel that a slight tweak to the sugar content of the fillings can make a world of a difference! :)

That being said, I'd definitely go back for the cheesecake and Four Cheese Macarons! Maybe next time, I'll also get myself one of their cool milkshakes!

Thank you so much for having us, Mrs. Graham! :D

Mrs. Graham's Macaron Cafe is located at 51 Scout Rallos Street, Laging Handa, Tomas Morato, Quezon City.