Food Post: Tymad Bistro (in Cebu)

On a beautiful Saturday last week, my brother Dino and sis-in-law Juvvy treated me to breakfast at Tymad Bistro, which is just a walking distance from their home.

What is ‘Tymad’?  Tymad means “good house” or “good restaurant.” The word is actually from a Celtic language that originated from Brittany in France, where crepes came from. (source)

I regretted being in semi-‘pambahay’ clothes when we went there because the place is like a hotel restaurant inside!

French books are on display for browsing or reading (if you can read French, hehe).

I learned about this French bakery / café when my parents brought home a box of Tymad Bistro’s butter croissants from one of their trips in Cebu.  Tymad Bistro is actually popular for its delectable French crepes and galletes but we have only tried their croissants and already it’s love at first bite!

Oh how I love their classic butter croissants!  Theirs have a mild sweetness that I do not find in most butter croissants.  And I like that because usually I put some fruit jam over my croissant to add some sweetness into it.  This one from Tymad Bistro I can eat as it is, without need of strawberry jam or butter on the side.

For our breakfast, Juvvy and I had a butter croissant each, which we paired with hot chocolate (for her) and black coffee (for me).

Dino chose Pain au Chocolat (chocolate croissant).  I’ve tried this as well and it’s also good but I like the plain flaky goodness of butter croissants better.

I also ordered this Mushroom Omelet which is good for sharing.  It came with a serving of salad with baby tomatoes and olives!   The omelet is okay, nothing fancy but the salad is super good!  I will order this again   =)

Tymad’s pastry selection is filled with the finest cakes, desserts and French pastries baked fresh everyday!

I took home some of these Beignet with Nutella for AJ and he loved it.  Beignet is the French version of the American donut.  It looks like a very big ‘munchkin’ but this one, in my opinion, is less oily and has better-tasting dough.

On the other hand, Dino and Juvvy took home Kouign-amann cakes for Liam.  It’s his favorite.

The name Kouign-amann derives from the Breton words for cake (“kouign”) and butter (“amann”).  It is a round crusty cake, made with bread dough containing layers of butter and sugar folded in, similar in fashion to puff pastry albeit with fewer layers (from Wikipedia).

I should’ve I bought some of these to try, too.  Liam can finish off a big chunk of kouign-amann in one sitting.  But I felt so full after our happy French breakfast I could not think of anymore food to eat, hehe!   And I think we all did, because on our way back, we decided to take a cab instead of walking home!

Tymad Bistro  |  Maria Luisa Road, Banilad, Cebu City  |  (032) 239 7385  |  Open daily, except Mondays at 07am-10pm (Tuesdays to Thursday), 07am-11pm (Fridays to Sundays)  |  tymadbistro.com