Buko Ube Pie from Purple Yam
When I saw Amy Besa post that her Malate branch of Purple Yam made a buko pie that had ube, I jumped at the opportunity to order one. When I inquired in early March, I was told the next available order would be on March 15! I reserved it immediately.
When it arrived, we were approaching one entire year of staying home or distant from the things we used to enjoy. The pie helped me forget all of this, and reminded me how much I missed hearing buko pie vendors yelling and selling their wares at the bus terminal.
It came in this simple box, tied with a ribbon. And with it a nice personalized note!
Unfortunately the pie didn’t fare too well on the motorcycle ride to us, the top layer of crust cracked open and shifted a bit to one side. We were accustomed to that, having had food delivered throughout the Year of Lockdown. It is what it is. But now, we had buko + ube pie in our home. It was time to devour it.
The pie was still warm, which is probably why it shifted so easily. When we cut out our first slice, you could see shimmering thick slivers of fresh buko meat, baked to near-translucency. And under it, a river of violet ube halaya glistening as bright as ripples on a beach under an afternoon sun. The buko meat was fresh, and the ube was real ube, not the kind derived from ube powders that even some bigger chains purvey.
There is still a debate as to who sells the best buko pie. I admit I have yet to explore the dozens of different buko pie sellers people have recommended in Los Baños and Batangas alone! Maybe even thousands of them can be found from Pangasinan all the way down to Batangas, as I had grown accustomed to seeing kuyas selling boxes of buko pie stacked high on their shoulders while riding buses in the area.
If there’s one thing for certain there are far less buko ube pies, and even less common, buko ube pies as delicious, fresh, and unadulterated as that of Purple Yam’s.
Visit Purple Yam Malate’s Facebook here: facebook.com/purpleyammalate