Cover Pan de la casa (Photo: Boronas)
Pan de la casa (Photo: Boronas)
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The former head chef of Preludio will offer his signature pan de la casa with a sweet-savoury glaze, as well as breakfast and lunch items and beverages inspired by his Colombian heritage at Boronas
From the now-shuttered Preludio and Bacatá to his casual Colombian restaurant, Latido, chef Fernando Arévalo’s signature bread roll, the pan de la casa, has been a constant highlight in his menus. “Since Preludio days, many people have told me that they wanted to buy the bread,” enthuses Arévalo. For the uninitiated, these soft loaves of bread are slathered with a sweet-savoury glaze of fermented mushrooms and maple syrup. But it was only when Covid-19 hit in 2020 when he fully realised its popularity. He recalls offering Preludio deliveries when the restaurants had to close temporarily, and lets on that they were selling “40 boxes of bread per week”.
“It was clear that people wanted the bread,” expresses Arévalo, birthing the idea of opening a standalone bakery someday where guests could easily have access to the rolls without having a full meal at the restaurant. That time has finally come, as Arévalo has opened Boronas, a Colombian-inspired bread and sandwich shop at Asia Square Tower 1 on March 19.
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Above La Mañanera
Above Pan y Fiesta
La Mañanera
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Beyond the pan de la casa, Arévalo has expanded the menu with filling breakfast and lunch items, namely the La Mañanera, a sweet corn arepa (flat bread) topped with egg and avocado, and Pan y Fiesta, a Colombian-inspired pulled pork sandwich. There are also caffeine pick-me-ups, including the robust Cafe Colombiano and latte, and Chispa de Panela, a lime-based drink with coconut and palm sugar.
The bakery is open from 8am to 5pm on weekdays, and as we arrive on a Wednesday morning to check out the offerings, we see just a few of the signature rolls on display. Arévalo tells us that the bread is handmade daily in the bakery’s main kitchen and they only make 300 pieces each day. Minus the bacon fat that was previously used as a finishing touch to the sticky glaze, Arévalo shares that the recipe remains the same in the eight years that he’s been making it.
How did he come up with the recipe? The idea started from his days at Preludio when he decided that bread should be a highlight of the meal. “Back then the trend of restaurants serving [good] bread didn’t exist… the bread service was pretty much this thing that no one liked,” he explains, adding that it was this thought that he wanted to challenge. Working with his then-pastry chef Elena Pérez de Carrasco, they tried over 25 different types of bread, from brioche to variations of sourdough before finalising the rye roll.
The sticky glaze came from Arévalo wanting something that “makes people lick their fingers”. After reading a book about fermentation and learning how to ferment mushrooms, he created a glaze by reducing the fermented mushroom water (a byproduct of the process) and mixing it with a bit of maple syrup. “It results in a balance of sweet, savoury and umami,” he adds.
Just two weeks into the launch of Boronas, Arévalo’s enthusiasm for the bakery’s potential expansion is palpable, with plans for multiple outlets across Singapore. Following the success of Boronas and Latido, he’s clearly just beginning.
Boronas
Address: 8 Marina View, 02-16 Asia Square Tower 1, S(018960)
Credits
Images: Boronas
Dudi Aureus is the senior dining and travel editor at Tatler Singapore, covering the city’s most exciting restaurants, global travel trends, and the personalities shaping the culinary and lifestyle scenes. She also serves as co-jury chair for the Tatler Best awards in Singapore, celebrating the very best in hospitality. When she’s off duty, she can often be found at a favourite hole-in-the-wall Thai spot, savouring a perfectly balanced pad thai.
