UPDATE: Unfortunately, Pi Breakfast & Pies has shut down permanently. However, you can still enjoy their breakfast specials at Pino Restaurant in Quezon City – more info on their Facebook and Instagram.

Once in a while, I get an extremely specific, can’t-be-ignored kind of craving. And sometimes, that craving is for pancakes. I got exactly what I needed at Pi Breakfast & Pies.

The branch along Malingap Street (in the Maginhawa area) is one of three. It’s right next to Pino Restobar, across from Malingap Central Food Hall. There’s ample seating inside for you and all of your friends.

Although my main mission was pancakes, it was lunch time when we went, so we had meals first.

Pi Breakfast and Pies serves their bacon mac and cheese in a hot skillet. I’ve had a lot of meals on sizzling plates, but I never thought of how that style of serving might work with pasta. It’s perfect for macaroni and cheese because the cheese stays in that fabulous melted state for longer than it would on a regular plate. The bacon bits add a nice saltiness to the very creamy macaroni.

Full disclosure – it doesn’t look like a lot of pasta when you see it up close and personal. That said, those carbs fill you up pretty quickly. It’s the perfect size for one hungry person who unwisely skipped breakfast on that day.

If you’re the type of person who absolutely must have rice with lunch, try their chicken tocilog. It comes with two eggs and atsara, a severely underrated side dish. The tocino is served in one piece rather than strips or chunks, which made me wonder if it would be dry in the inside, but it definitely wasn’t.

I normally douse my tocino and many other savory foods with sukang Iloko, but just a small amount of vinegar compliments this tocino nicely. Alternately, you can skip the vinegar entirely and enjoy the tocino’s sweet (but not overwhelmingly so) flavor.

Two pieces of chocolate chip cookie dough pancakes is not quite a stack, but it’s more than enough. We had it for dessert, although it felt more like a meal. The chocolate chips are scattered over the pancakes and mixed into the batter, so get a mouthful in every bite. The dusting of confectioner’s sugar is completely unnecessary in this highly indulgent dessert-slash-breakfast but looks cute in pictures.

In case you couldn’t tell from my description, my craving was satisfied and then some. My next trip to Pi, I want to try more of their food and drinks. I’ve seen pictures of their breakfast gumbo and am intrigued by it. The big breakfast platter is tempting, too, for the next time I’m hungry enough to eat enough food for two or three people.

Check out Pi Breakfast & Pies on Facebook and Instagram, or better yet, visit them at Malingap Street, The Grove QC, or along the C5 in Pasig. They’re open from 6:00am to 10:00pm.