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A post shared by Jeeves De Veyra (@venividiburp) on Aug 21, 2018 at 1:18am PDT

MANILA -- M Bakery, Manila’s own version of famed New York cupcakery Magnolia Bakery, is finally opening its doors to the public on Wednesday afternoon at the Bonifacio Global City.

Magnolia Bakery opened as a cozy shop in New York’s chic West Village. It skyrocketed into pop culture fame with its cameo in HBO’s much-loved “Sex and the City” series and has since opened branches around the United States and all over the globe.

Now Manila joins New York, Boston, Chicago Los Angeles, Seoul, Mexico City, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait City, Riyadh, Amman and Doha in the list of cities that can now partake of the bakery’s cupcakes and legendary banana pudding.

The local team shortened the name to M Bakery as they felt it would make recall easier and also trendier for millennial foodies.

“We’re seeing who opens first, Manila or Washington DC,” joked Eric Larios, Magnolia Bakery's director of franchise operations. “We’re humbled when someone wants to bring us to their landscape, both culturally and part of the food scene and sweet scene. We want to bring cupcakes to every corner of the world."

Larios is in Manila for six weeks with a team of front-of-house and kitchen specialists from abroad to help open the new branch. It is very important to give the same experience as in New York as many Filipinos have already made the cupcake pilgrimage in the US.

“It’s all those things, the nostalgia, the décor, the level of service,” Larios stressed.

Members of the Magnolia Bakery team in New York are very particular with the people they work with. They ended up with a group that ticked all the boxes of being proven experienced business people who are passionate about the brand and understand the level of work and commitment to bring Magnolia Bakery to another part of the world.

The local team spent weeks in the US immersing themselves in the operational, cultural, and management part of the business.

Of utmost importance to the M Bakery team was keeping the prices affordable for the local market. Admittedly a little more expensive than other local cupcakes, P120 is still cheaper than $5 per cupcake in the US.

“We didn’t alter anything with regards to serving size. Whatever you buy in New York, you get the same here. It is the same size,” insists M Bakery managing director Stewart Ong.

Candy Lu, owner of Cagayan de Oro dessert favorite Candy’s, is in charge of the kitchen. She said that while they did have to source local ingredients, they had to adhere to Magnolia Bakery’s strict quality control and tolerance levels. That said, a lot of the ingredients are still imported.

She takes special pride on the freshness of the cupcakes and baked goods coming out kitchen. “Products are freshly baked every day. We do small batches and we do hourly baking. Every hour, we get the aroma of freshly baked goods wafting around the bakery,” said Lu.

Here are some of the goodies that are waiting at M Bakery:

The Carrie Cupcake, named after "Sex and the City" lead character Carrie Bradshaw, is just one of the 250 kinds of cupcakes that M Bakery offers all year round. If this is any indication of the other cupcakes, this is surprisingly balanced. The vanilla cupcake itself is not that sweet. Instead, the full swirl of icing provides the sweetness and the flavor. Photo by Jeeves de Veyra

Chef Candy Lu tinkers with one of the M Bakery cakes. All of the cupcakes can be ordered as full-sized cakes meant to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries or any other special occasion. Photo by Jeeves de Veyra

Local social media has been on M Bakery Banana Pudding overload these past few weeks from the lucky ones who have been invited to the previews. It is deserving of the hype as this indulgent combination of heavy cream, bananas, wafer and cake bits was enough to convert this dessert agnostic. The local team wisely made a small serving that’s reasonably priced at P145. This also comes in medium and large tubs. Photo by Jeeves de Veyra

M Bakery will be open as early as 7 a.m. and will offer coffee paired with Bundt cake or their muffins. Perfect for walkers, runners, cyclists, and weekend athletes who call the BGC area their morning training grounds. Photo by Jeeves de Veyra

While there are flavors that have an Asian flair like the coconut, lime, and banana showcased in cupcakes and pudding, there is a a special ube halaya cupcake that will only be available in the Philippines. Photo by Eric Larios

But M Bakery is not only about pudding and cupcakes. It also serves cool chilled cheesecakes like the Caramel Pecan and Red Velvet. The Calamansi Icebox Bar is a variation on the cheesecake and is only available here in the Philippines. M Bakery even has nifty thermal bags to keep pudding and these chilled goodies cool for the drive home.

As the doors open on Wednesday at 2 p.m., the first five customers will receive vouchers for one large serving banana pudding every month for one year. The next 95 customers, meanwhile, will get a free small tub of banana pudding with a minimum purchase of P500.

M Bakery is located at the lower ground level of One Bonifacio High Street on 5th Avenue corner 28th Street in Bonifacio Global City.