Assuming a reference to hi-speed WiFi connection, quite possibly 5G Coffeehouse’s additional draw, Ricardo Guinto offers a far simpler explanation. “There are five of us in the family, five Guintos, so…,” he chuckles. After a semester of BS Entrepreneurship, a sabbatical turned the young, first-time entrepreneur’s infatuation for specialty coffee into a full-blown love affair. Rabidly pursuing his education in coffee and training under notable local stalwarts, he struck out on his own to convert his family home’s garage space into a coffee bar in August of 2019.
While coffee was the raison d’etre, it was in croissants that the shop received much buzz for and, well, struck the proverbial gold. As with coffee, it also all began with an epiphany of sorts after having tried one at Tymad Bistro. “I fell in love with it,” Guinto shares. “It became a passion. More of an obsession.”
Croissants became his quarantine project. In true GenZ fashion, he eschewed formal culinary education and dove deep into the YouTube rabbit hole. Good old trial-and-error made for a lot of both literal and figurative eating of his mistakes. “My very first attempt…was just so bad. Not a croissant at all. Very “bread-ey”. Very oily. Very hard to digest,” he reminisces. As with his coffee, he also took on a collaborative learning approach consulting industry insiders he idolizes and made friends with online. One of them is a rather helpful French pastry chef based in Korea that he found and now follows on Instagram.
Their classic offering is by no means basic. Using a French butter brand specific for use in croissants, the flagbearer is a honeycomb of layers registering a taste and mouthfeel of both bread and puff pastry. Day-old croissants are stuffed with nutty frangipane, drizzled with heady homemade rum syrup, showered with shaved almonds, and dusted with confectioner’s sugar in the almond variant. Heavy cream and freshly-made custard fill another with slices of fresh strawberries in their classic strawberry croissant to round out their bestsellers.
Those with a fancy for the fancier would delight in their Strawberry Danish Croissant, one with a bed of homemade strawberry jam and smothered in diplomat cream; and the Strawberry Pavlova Croissant, their classic packed with the house strawberry compote, diplomat cream, lemon curd, meringue biscuits and, of course, fresh strawberry slices.
Their Banana Croissant swaps in sweet ripe banana slices and is drizzled with dark chocolate in a flavor pairing that couldn’t go wrong.
There’s the only pleasure in their Pain Au Chocolat. This flaky and buttery roll oozes molten centers of surprisingly fruity chocolate batons from Zamboanga brand, Gasa. The same local chocolate is used on a homemade chocolate custard slathered onto their plains with whipped cream and topped with chocolate batons and shavings for their Double Chocolate Croissant.
Those with a lean-to green tea would find their matcha — the classic filled with homemade matcha-infused custard, white chocolate ganache, and finished with a matcha dusting.
Pushing the envelope, Guinto presents takes on other baked favorites in croissant form. The classic Banoffee Pie is now a pain au chocolat filled with frangipane, bananas, and caramel, topped with more frangipane and drizzled with more chocolate. Apples stewed in cinnamon and sugar join frangipane, Italian meringue, and graham bits in a double-baked croissant in his Apple Pie.
A collab with another local pastry magician, Franz Ivan Dy, produced the aptly named Rhapsody Croissants Versions One and Two. The first iteration has cheesecake cream filling piped into their day-old classic croissants, topped with Italian meringue, baked, and torched to finish while the second introduces a tangy note in lemon curd with the Italian meringue topping left untouched.
After raving about the array of goodies, this writer casually remarked on Guinto having saved on some of the overheads operating out of the family property. “I actually pay my parents’ rent for this space,” Guinto corrects. “Operating as any regular business would is good for my growth as a businessman.” I concur with the steady stream of walk-ins, drive-bys, and delivery service riders that the ovens here are a gold mine but I’d say the prized nugget here is this one.
5G Coffee House is located at San Antonio Village, Apas, Lahug, Cebu City and is open for walk-ins daily from 9:30AM to 5:30PM. For more updates, check out its Instagram and Facebook pages.
Photography Ezekiel Sullano
