BEST KNOWN for their ice cream (it’s in the name), Sebastian’s Ice Cream founder Ian Carandang has brought back to his menu grilled cheese sandwiches, including a Pride Month favorite, the Rainbow Grilled Cheese, made of mozzarella cheese dyed the colors of the Pride flag.
During a visit late last month to The Podium branch at the Ortigas Center, we attempted to do a social media-style cheese pull, the better to reveal the sandwich’s colors (and failed).
In a Facebook message, Mr. Carandang said that there’s really no agenda in putting the LGBTQ+-friendly sandwich on the menu. “No, no statement there. Nothing beyond ‘if people want it, I’ll sell it.’ Rainbow Grilled Cheeses are a thing being sold even by ‘non-gay’ businesses, and enjoyed by non-gay audiences (usually kids and people looking for content for the ‘gram). Since we brought back the Grilled cheese sandwiches we might as well have them there as well.”
There were other sandwiches on the menu: he introduced us to the Crusted Grilled Cheese, a mozzarella and parmesan grilled cheese with a toasted cheddar crust. “The cheddar takes on all these wonderful new notes of flavor and a light crunch,” he told BusinessWorld. It’s a tad heavy when you’ve had a first sandwich, but otherwise would make for a nice quick lunch; with all the creamy saltiness of the cheeses melding together. It’s served with ketchup and shoestring potato fries, which work well to cut through the sandwich’s richness (we also suggest having this with a nice soda).
To spice up the sandwich, one can add options like garlic and jalapeño; and all the sandwiches on the menu can be topped with a cheddar crust.
“Grilled cheese is one of my absolute favorites even from childhood. It’s one of those concepts where it really is perfect the way it is,” Mr. Carandang said in a Facebook message.
As for the sweet side of the menu, he’s added more options for multiple scoops. They now offer triple scoop cups, and the Penta Combo Cup (up to five flavors).
“I usually have to scale down in serving sizes and assume people don’t eat as much as me, but I love that this is not the case after all,” he said.
He also introduced us to the Sundae Cones, a single scoop on a cone dipped then sprinkled with toppings: our server suggested vanilla ice cream with a caramel dip — who were we to argue? We asked that to be topped with chopped almonds, and the caramel dip hardened into a shell, making for a nice contrasting texture.
Mr. Carandang has had to raise prices from P135 for a scoop to P150. “No one wants to raise prices willingly. Well, I don’t anyway. Anything that makes it less accessible to people, I’m not comfortable with,” he said. “But bills and employee salaries have to be paid.”
He noted that he had not raised prices since before the COVID-19 pandemic. “We held out as long as we could, but the way basic goods went up causing everything else to go up really ate into our buffer,” he said. He also noted that milk and cream has become harder to get from his usual supplier.
Still, the menu still brings some comfort. We asked about the niche he occupies, supplying premium versions of comfort food: “No real deep thinking there, except that I want to offer things that I would like to eat, and my personality and taste is deep, comforting and satisfying food. Sebastian’s as a brand is an extension of who I am as a cook,” he said. “The best thing we can do is make good food that appeals to our palates, and trust that it connects to the people that want the same thing.”
Sebastian’s is on the fifth floor of The Podium. — Joseph L. Garcia
