Giant concha getting lots of love at San Antonio restaurant

The power of the concha will not be denied. Especially when the fluffy sweet bread is the size of a cookie-crusted hubcap.

Feast your eyes on the prodigious pan dulce at Panfila Cantina, a giant pink concha that sells for $35 on its own or $50 with a giant mug of Mexican hot chocolate.

Panfila chef and owner Carlos Gonzalez estimates the super-size sweet bread is equivalent to five standard-sized conchas, making it arguably the biggest concha you can buy in San Antonio, maybe even in Texas.

“I don’t have the way to back it up, but as far as I know, yes,” Gonzalez said.

We tried the concha Wednesday, and it was every bit as big and tasty as it looks. Ours measured approximately 11 inches wide and 3 inches deep at its center. The bread inside was pinch-soft chewy while the pink sugar coating crumbled in all the right places with each bite. Your abuela would be proud.

The Mexican restaurant at 22250 Bulverde Road sources the colossal concha from La Mejor Bakery at 7205 Somerset Road on the city’s Southwest Side. Panfila started selling the big bread six months ago “for a trend,” Gonzalez said, but has kept it because of demand.

“We see a lot of families come in and they want to share,” he said.

Some want that pillowy goodness all to themselves. TikTok user @lifeofcian recently posted a video of himself wolfing down one of those giant conchas in the front seat of his car with that mighty mug of hot chocolate to wash it down.

“This thing is a level 99 plate cleaner,” he said in the clip. “This thing feeds, like, 10 people. This is crazy.”

The post has been viewed more than 800,000 times.

And soon it will have some royally large company.

Gonzalez said Panfila also will sell a giant roscón de reyes, or three kings cake, in celebration of Three Kings Day, which is Jan. 6. The cake will be available for one week only, presumably without a life-size porcelain baby tucked inside.