#banginNYstylebagels: Now, These Bagels are Bangin'. At Booya Bagels...

Finally, New York style bagels comes to the metro and your search for the best begins and ends at Booya Bagels. From classic bagels with house-cured lox and a generous schmear of herbed cream cheese to their more inventive offerings like the colorful and indulgently sweet Unicorn Poop, Booya Bagels brings that bangin' New York style for a taste of the Big Apple with every bite. And enjoying these legit bagels are just a text, call or DM away with your mobile device.

Chef Aaron Lau, the creative genius behind EAPPOC Pizza brings a classic taste of New York with his latest concept, Booya Bagels. Why bagels? That's easy. Chef Aaron Lau lived in New York while working at db Bistro Moderne by Daniel Boulud, and bagels were an integral part of the New York experience. Disappointed with the lack of proper bagels in the metro, Chef Aaron decided it was time to share his own New York experience with the city's iconic bagels. With Booya Bagels...

Chef Aaron brings years of experience working at one of New York's finest restaurants and embarked on his own culinary journey starting with the opening of EAPPOC Pizza with his take on Detroit Style Pizza (more on Easy As Pie, Piece of Cake on my earlier posts, Experience the Crowning Glory of Detroit Style Pizza at EAPPOC Pizza featuring their new Grandma Pizza with its sesame thin crust and bestselling EAPPOC Roni Cup Detroit Pizza and ECQ Eats: Detroit Style Pizza? That's Easy as Pie, Piece of Cake. At EAPPOC Pizza on their signature Detroit Style Pizza). It's that same tedious approach to perfecting his offerings that led to months of constant tests and recipes for artisan bagels with that tasty bite. The result? Soft, chewy bagels that's just bangin' with that New York vibe after long months of constant testing.   

Chef Aaron introduced his bagels to us one afternoon with what he called "lunch." That's right. It's his usual lunch at Booya Bagels, with crisp bacon and Cheddar cheese between a classic bagel. Lightly toasted for that warm and delicate crispness, the classic bagels are the perfect base for a hearty meal. 

The dense texture of the bagel delivers that familiar soft and chewy bite we all love, while the bacon and Cheddar cheese brings that flavorful one-two punch for a satisfying meal in itself. And it's a filling meal.

Unlike the usual brioche bun, the bagel maintains its form all the way to the last bite without crumbling. The bold and creamy flavors of the Cheddar cheese and bacon combo pair so well with the classic bagel, another big bite is soon on its way. Denser and mildly sweeter than normal bread, the flavors complement a wide variety of fillings in addition to a proper schmear of traditional cream cheese.   

The classic bagel is also the best way to gauge if the bagel shop is legit. And Booya Bagels is on point. Soft and chewy on the inside, smooth and crusty on the outside delivering that familiar bite. The plain bagel is anything but plain, and Booya Bagels recreated that iconic New York vibe with their wide selection of specialty bagels. And you can enjoy your own New York moment with a Box of Six (P 450) or better yet, a Box of Ten (P 700) of the Plain Bagels from Booya Bagels.

Booya Bagels also offers other traditional variations of the classic Bagel, including Sesame Bagels (P 540 for a Box of Six/P 900 for a Box of Ten), Chia Bagel (P 570 Box of Six/P 900 Box of Ten) and the Everything Bagel (P 660 Box of Six/P 1,000 Box of Ten) topped with garlic, onion, sesame, poppy seeds and chia seeds. Vegetarian friendly and non-GMO, the artisanal bagel creations by Booya Bagels ends your search for the best bagels in the metro. 

I've always enjoyed bagels, and the Plain Bagels just never gets old. At home, simply pull out your stash of Plain Bagels from Booya Bagels and pop in the oven just to warm and crisp it up. Now for the toppings, and this is where it gets interesting...

Fresh off the oven, a fragrant buttery aroma teases your appetite with its weight an indication of its dense texture. A good bagel becomes your own personal blank canvas to suit your mood or craving. But going old school when it comes to topping your bagel always works. All the time.  

I've tried different variations before but I always come back to the traditional lox and bagel combo for that perfect New York moment any time, any where. A few slabs of premium salmon, red onions and a generous schmear of cream cheese never fails.

The buttery and briny sweetness of the salmon with its subtle smoky hints and the silky smooth creaminess of the cheese combine for a lavish and indulgent pairing tempered by the sharp bite of the red onions. And a good bagel completes the picture. 

One good bagel is a light meal, two is a feast of sorts. Can't go wrong with salmon, cream cheese, red onions and the Plain Bagel by Booya Bagels. It just doesn't get better than that. Booya Bagels offers the classic lox and bagel pairing with their sumptuous Booya Lox Menu complete with bagels, schmear and house-cured lox in Small (P 1,788) and Family (P 4,700) for a traditional bagel experience (see full menu below for more details).

Sometimes, even just a proper schmear of cream cheese with the Plain Bagel of Booya Bagels is more than enough to satisfy your craving. The Herb & Garlic Schmear (P 288) by Booya Bagels with dill, parsley, chives and garlic with cream cheese adds the perfect finishing dab to their artisan bagels. The pure, uncluttered flavors just drapes the palate with a lavish richness finished by the smooth and dense bite of the bagel. Pick your bagel, and pick your schmear. Other Schmear options by Booya Bagels include the tart and savory Sundried Tomato Schmear (P 355) with olives and the sweet Apple Pie Schmear (P 355) and Birthday Cake Schmear (P 212).

A soft yet firm bite of the bagel followed by the rich burst of indulgent notes from the cream cheese-based Herb & Garlic Schmear come together for comforting even nostalgic notes. The distinct yet subtle hints of dill, parsley, chives and garlic complement the richness of the cream cheese adding a flavorful depth with each bite. Unlike commercially available variants that are often a bit too hard, the artisan bagels by Chef Aaron has a delectable firmness and soft, fresh chewy bite.  

The Plain Bagel by Booya Bagels simply nails it, masterfully executed by Chef Aaron Lau. At long last, we finally have a legit bagel in the metro with that bangin' New York vibe. If you want it all in one bite, Chef Aaron has an innovative tweak on the bagel with that flavorful burst... 

Booya Bagels also offers their unique Booya Bagel Bombs (P 260-3 pcs/P 520-6 pcs) stuffed with creamy and savory fillings like the Everything Herbed Cream Cheese Bagel Bomb for a classic Manhattan brunch with Everything seasoning and herbed cream cheese and the Sesame + Bacon and Cheddar Bagel Bomb (check out the menu below). All the flavors in one bite, the Booya Bagel Bombs by Chef Aaron is a creative spin on the traditional bagel.

From the traditional and classic to playfully inventive creations, Booya Bagels has that perfect bagel for you. Scroll down the menu of Booya Bagels and pick your bagel...

The menu at Booya Bagel gives you an idea of the creative process behind Chef Aaron's latest concept, weaving tradition with just a touch of quirky inventiveness for bagels that are comfortingly familiar and refreshingly new and different for any mood or craving. Unicorn Poop Bagel? Why not.  

How to order? Easy. Simply visit their FB Page at https://www.facebook.com/getbooyabagels or IG Feed at https://www.instagram.com/booyabagels/ and slide in a DM. You can also call or text your order at 0917 183 8817.

At long last, the metro finally has some artisan bagels masterfully recreated with tradition and reinterpreted in a variety of inventive expressions. End your search for the metro's best artisan bagels with Chef Aaron Lau's latest concept of fresh-baked goodness with a New York vibe. It's #banginNYstylebagels and you'll find it at Booya Bagels...