Philippine Bread House

A great place for authentic Philippino treats. My Philippino friends highly recommended this place. One of them got the ube cake and brought to our place. It was so fluffy with tons of coconut flavors. A bag of bread was so cheap, which could last you a while!
I would love to try their savory options.

Their Ensaymada is a must for bread lovers. Soft freshly baked sweet bread topped with butter, sugar and cheese. Literally, life changing.

I’ve only tried the baked good and so far everything had been great I’ve come back to buy more baked goods for friends and family.

Been coming here for 30 years. Even when I moved to different states, I can never get the taste of their fresh pan dr sal out of my mouth. Moved back to NJ for that reason.

Finding parking in this area drives me crazy, and that parking lot by PBH is impossible sometimes, but the frustration/​stress/​road-​rage is worth it to get to the Philippine Bread House.
I’ve gone here since I was a young kid. It’s one of the original spots in JC where you could get legit Filipino food, fresh pan de sal, ensaymada, as well as a mean halo-​halo. This was THE place you went if you lived in the area. The big draw was (and still is) the pan de sal. You come here for the fresh pan de sal because PBH bakes the rolls fresh on the premises.
My parents would order turo-​turo. I wasn’t into it so much — with the exception of lumpia shanghai (meat filled egg rolls) and ukoy (squash and shrimp fritter). I can’t have the lumpia now because of the meat, but I’m still down with ukoy with that vinegar sauce. Good stuff.
While they serve hot food combo platters, the main attraction is the bakery — the pan de sal, special order cakes, and various sweets. My favs have always been the cassava cake and ube halaya.

Wow. Did I not anticipate that my food be cold, overly salty, and generally unappealing. Tucked in an awful and up and coming section of jersey city (and near the courthouse) is this little Manila. The place comes equipped with halo halo, a fun mamon, and a little lady that wants you to hurry because you’re holding up the line.
Be prepared to point to a buffet type stand and make some quick decisions. With a ten dollar minimum for credit cards, I went to town. ‘And I’ll take that as well ’ was the theme of my ordering. Who knew that would mean agonizing pauses between bites.
All and all, I left wondering what happened, why am I so full, and where is the health department when you need it. I kid. But only a little.
Update: just had their desert. Yes. Yes. YAssss. All of the feelings and the diabetics.

Perhaps the only plus to my jury duty obligation in JC was stumbling upon the Philippine Bread House.
I came for the pandesal, per the Unilocal recommendations. My oh my — perfection. At 4:30, they still had some fresh, warm pandesal for a mere $ 1 (for 4).
Throw some money in those tip jars while you’re at it.

Early in the morning you can purchase nice and hot pandesal. Great morning breakfast for co-​workers

4.5 stars.
I have been a regular customer of PBH for several years, as I regularly receive requests from my parents and/​or brother, who do not live in the Jersey City area, to bring back pan de sal and/​or ensaymada from this bakery when I visit them.
Locals and enthusiasts in the NJ/​NY/​CT tri-​state area do not consider the positive reviews here «hype» at all, because they know that there is no other establishment remotely similar to Philippine Bread House in the area at all. My parents have told me repeatedly that the pan de sal and ensaymada remind them of what they encountered growing up in the Philippines. You simply cannot say the same thing about the mass-​produced pastries with the «Christine’s Bakery» or other labels sold in supermarkets or even similar pastries found at the nearby branch of the international chain Red Ribbon.
The ensaymada is so good, in fact, that we have actually mailed mass quantities of the famed pastry to my brother’s godmother out in Texas. Philippine Bread House, if you are listening, a delivery service would increase your profit margin immensely.
Their bitsu-​bitsu (Filipino donuts) and sapin-​sapin (glutinous rice cake) are excellent as well.
As for the previous comments regarding the turo-​turo, or food served buffet-​style and sold as a combination platter, I have found that turo-​turo in the area is not very reliable tastewise at all. You are better off going to Fiesta Grill on West Side Avenue for food served to you restaurant-​style.
Hence, the 4.5 stars is primarily for the bakery and not the turo-​turo or catering options. In any case, if you have not been to this establishment and live in the area, you should definitely make it a point to try the various pastries they have here.
Protip: for those who live further out, you can actually freeze the ensaymada in freezer bags, defrost them in the fridge overnight, and either briefly stick them in the oven as is or warm them up in the microwave with a slightly wet paper towel underneath. A few minutes in the oven at 300 degrees or 10 – 15 seconds in the microwave should do it. My parents and brother use this technique to store mass quantities of these pastries for future consumption.
Also, for any orders greater than ten of any one item, I would strongly suggest ordering a couple of days in advance by phone. By request, they will place your pastries in a cake box instead of plastic bags, which certainly helps if you are traveling from afar. I tend to give them an extra dollar in their tip jar for this service as a courtesy, as the boxes are not usually for pastry storage.

I may amend this later and go for a full 5 stars, I’m waiting on trying some of their hot food bar beyond the tasty lumpia. From what I experienced, I would willingly return to try more (and pick up some more pan de sal).
The neighborhood is on the not great side. Parking in their tiny lot was an exercise in bravery and geometry, so be forewarned. Upon entering, you’re greeted by rows of brightly lit pastries and wire racks filled with every variety of bread and rolls imaginable. The ensemaida was the stuff dreams are made of: sweet, savory, with the crunch of sprinkled sugar, all wrapped up in a fresh, fluffy, bread package. The pan de sal was hot and fluffy, and there’s not many ways you can get hot bread wrong. The lumpia were not hot, but at 3 for $ 1 I wasn’t complaining. They were still crispy and had a nice seasoning blend on the meat filling.
Overall, good enough to get me to return here. My area is sorely lacking in Filipino casual dining and baking, so its worth the trip.

I love this place! I’m from Guam and this place is the bomb! I love Jay Balicha. This place beats all the Filipino spots in Roosevelt Blvd. Queens. But I love this place more! Everyone was so helpful and awesome!

I’ve been to the Filipino bakeries along the 600 block of Newark Ave., but the Philippine Bread House seems to garner the most hype around JSQ. Walk inside and you’ll see glass shelves stocked with a variety of Filipino pastries, cakes, desserts, and bread among others. From the pan de sal to the ensaymada, mamon, and bibingka, they’ve got quite a selection here. If you’re looking for a hearty meal, Café Filipino is on the right side of the bakery serving up authentic Filipino dishes, either a la carte or as a part of a combo meal.
Food for the Gods ($ 1.35/ea): These have always caught my eye. I’ve seen these little brown rectangles at many Filipino bakeries but never tried it until today. Taste and texture wise, it’s a lot like banana bread, but with dates. They’re soft and sweet, with plenty of crushed walnuts mixed in. It is not too sweet, which I really like. I’m guessing this would be a great match with tea.
Pan de Sal ($ 3): One of the better pan de sal I’ve bought. Each roll is pretty dense, but still soft (especially when you heat them up). I like how they don’t coat their pan de sal with an excessive amount of bread crumbs like many other places.
Mocha Pianono ($ 4.75): Always buy pastries when they’re fresh; Pianono is no exception. The cake was soft but spongy, with the right amount of sugar and cream rolled in the middle. Their mocha flavor is pretty light, but it does make this cake roll smell good. The cake is just ‘alright’ for me; it doesn’t wow me. Maybe I’ll have better luck with a different flavor or their Taisan.
Overall, this is a nice bakery. It’s nothing to write home about, but I do find this place to be clean, orderly, and well stocked with a relatively large selection of goodies.

I bet we did not order the right items… We came here after reading Unilocal reviews. It is great that this place has its own parking lot. Rather than that, I dont see anything special about it. We order two to-​go lunch combo, they were pretty cheap $ 5−7ish. However, I found them mediocre, not better than food I can get from Asian markets.
We also got a piece of taro cakes and few traditional Filipino desserts. The cake was ok, it’s moist and soft but the favor is weird and the color looks super fake. I know how taro tastes like and looks like, so there is no way that taro cake should be that purple and smells like some artificial flavor like that. Other items we got was ok, I got a bite of each and could not finish them

I love getting my pandesal all warm and, of course, fresh out of the oven. You can also get your favorite filipino sweets, which are irresistible. If your hungry and not in a rush, have a seat and have some lunch. The food is as authentic and fresh as it can get.

I tried their Bicol Express and Bistek. It’s just ok. I’m not jumping up and down. I do like their ensaymada and hopia. They’re good. My negative review was based on the 2 dishes I tried.

I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed this as I’ve been going here for the last 27 years or so. the PBH is a Jersey City institution, serving pan-​de-​sal, the staple bread of Filipinos. They make it all day so there’s always a fresh batch. Pan-​de-​sal goes well with corned beef, eggs, sweet sausage, spam, butter, cheese (or both) even dipped in coffee. There’s a lot of other pastries such as ensaymada, braso de mercedes, coffee cakes, macarons.
If you;re in the area, stop by — the smell inside is amazing.

When I was younger and lived in Jersey City, my memories of The Philippine Bread house would be a daily routine on Thursdays. My dad and I would wait for my mom at Journal Square, and then we would get our baked goods at TPBH for the weekend. Pandesal, ensaymada, hopia, and whatever else they were baking fresh for the day.
It’s been about 15 years since we’ve moved and are now located in the Washington DC area. We make a trip to NJ every 4 months and this place is always on our priority list of places to visit. We cannot leave NJ without some goods in tow. If you come early in the morning, you will see all the fresh pandesal that was baked. Heaven in a bag!
The bitsu bitsu (Filipino donut) tastes delicious as well. They usually have them behind the counter also. Their ensaymadas can’t be beat. I recently learned that they make their deliveries to Filipino stores in Maryland and Virginia on Thursdays. I always noticed that these stores carred TPBH goods and wondered how they shipped it… and now I know!
I always forget that they have a turo turo (buffet style canteen, you just tell them what you want and the will pack your plate) in the back of the place. I tend to get overwhelmed with all the baked goods and end up never trying the food.
There is an adjacent parking lot but it gets crowded very easily, most especially on the weekends. There is also street parking. Prices are very reasonable with the quality of baked items they carry. Definitely a must stop if you are near this area… or if you are like me and live 4 hours away, make it a foodie trip!

The Ensymada here is the best! Always fresh, flavorful moist bread, with lots of cheese and butter on it. The prices for the other pastries seem very reasonable, and a lot cheaper than buying it at a mass general Asian Food Store.
I keep forgetting that inside this place is a quick service food restaurant with a variety of Filipino dishes to try — everything looks good, will definitely need to try eating here.

Definitely well worth the hype. If you’re going to be in JSQ would heartily recommend you come pay a visit. At least get the Pan del Sal as everyone has mentioned. One thing I would point out is get the ones behind the counter with the cashier.
Its 4 for $ 1 or 10 for $ 2.50. I was tempted to get bag of 10 but all those bread for myself is pretty excessive haha. They’re sweet rolls reminded me of Hawaiian rolls but not as sweet and soft which I really preferred. 5 stars alone for the bread.
I came in for lunch on a Tuesday afternoon so there was no wait and they were very quick in getting what I wanted. The lunch selections are decent and food is pretty good. The pork I got was pretty salty but I guess it balanced out with the two scoops of rice. The stewed chicken in tomato sauce was excellent however and next time I would definitely love to try out their other options next time.
I believe there is a credit card limit of $ 10 but that’s understandable since this is a mom and pop shop. The seating were pretty casual and relatively clean despite older furniture and the Filipino TV channel playing on the TV. This place is well deserve regular visits. I hear it gets very crowded on weekends but on the day I was here it was blissful empty :-)

Update #1 — Pan del Sal is now $ 2.50 a bag.
Update #2 — the Bicho donut is 75 cents and damn near the best thing I have eaten. It’s hella fried, but yet not heavy. Tastes like a zeppole but lighter.
Update #3 — The ladies at the register are all class acts.