The hands that pull the noodles

There’s a new noodle house in town where you don’t only get to savor its specialties but also get a closer look on how the noodles are actually made. Located along Iloilo City’s premiere heritage showcase - JM Basa Street, the Tarzan Magic La Mien Noodle House highlights the Chinese influences in Ilonggo food and food ways.

It opened just a few weeks ago and diners, mostly of Chinese descent, have been coming back to this restaurant because of the allure of the freshly made, hand pulled noodles that is said to be flavourful but also of the gastronomic exhibition of pulls, twirls and stretches diners see and enjoy.

FRESHLY MADE

They only make the noodles when a customer places an order and that accounts for the freshness in taste. The kitchen is visible through a glass window and it was quite a sight to see the noodle guy doing his gastronomic stunts in full view of the hungry customers.

The noodle maker pulls out a plain looking dough and on a floury surface, he starts rolling it into a manageable length. He then starts twisting the long strip of dough like a gourmet acrobat. After a while, he stretches it as long as he can be then “doused” again with flour. The pulling, twisting and stretching continues until the once-long strip of dough becomes all stringy like noodles! These noodles are then cut to the desired length then dipped into boiling water get rid of the flour at the same time cooking it a bit.

All these happen within two minutes and I thought they would need to put it through a contraption to get them all to separate. It turns out somewhere between the pulling and twirling, he magically to turn a lump of dough into beautiful, fine noodles!

NOODLES AND DUMPLINGS

Another kitchen staff then assembles the order by placing noodles, sprouts, chives and meat in a bowl then fills it with broth. It was almost like having a bowl of Lapaz batchoy if not for the bean sprouts and a spiced flavourful broth.

The freshly made hand-pulled noodles are full to the bite and they’re not too salty nor does one get dizzy after a bowlful. Though it’s just a regular noodle but its freshness gave it character that complements the meat and vegetables in the bowl. Good thing the soup is savory good that unknowingly; it almost disappeared revealing the noodles. And you can ask for extra bowl of broth too!

I also had a side order of dumplings made with ground pork and kusay as the main filling ingredients. Kusay is an aromatic spice usually used in making pancit Molo filling. And even the dumplings have freshly made wraps which I also chanced to see.

It had balls of dough being flattened in the floury table then immediately filled and shaped. They had to make the dumplings in batches since the steaming process takes a bit longer.

But it comes out delicious too, as steaming hot dumplings made its way to my table. Even without dipping it in the chili sauce or the toyo-sili concoction, the savoury filling complemented the fresh taste and nice texture of the dumpling wraps.

ME TARZAN, YOU MENU

As it turns out, the owner of the noodle house is actually (nick)named Tarzan as I casually talked with the servers. And that’s the only information I can “pull” out of them. Their complete menu is still in the works but as of now noodle soups (beef and halo-halo), dumplings and pancit dishes make up their array of items. They also have this turo-turo area where cooked dishes are displayed for the customer.

Whether in any pancit dish or noodle soup, I always look for and try the noodles first. If it’s good, I’d gorged on the noodles more than the “sahog” but if it’s not then it stays on my plate. And it was a noodle feast at Tarzan Magic La Mien Noodle House – I just love the taste of its fresh noodles! I guess there’s the Chinese belief that noodles give long life as it is served there as long as it can be. Not to mention made fresh, right before you eyes!

The Tarzan Magic La Mien Noodle House is located along JM Basa Street, a few steps from the corner of Arsenal Street. It opens daily around 9am and offers free delivery through (033) 336-3592

Ultimate Ilonggo Favorite: KBL Kadyos, Baboy, Langka

K.B.L. or Kadyos, Baboy, Langka is the ultimate favorite dish of most Ilonggos. It is also one of the most missed native dishes as kadyos and the souring ingredient, batwan , are hard to find when outside of the Ilonggo region. Basically, it is boiled/stewed pork dish owing its "deliciousness" to the combination of the soft and tender pork, the tamed sourness of batwan and the malinamnam na sabaw . One of the "secrets" of the malinamnamn na sabaw , is the fact that the pork, whether just the plain meat or pata (hocks) are first grilled or broiled. This gives the broth a rather smoky taste that makes it more appetizing.. Learn how to make the Ilonggo dish KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, at Langka) with the recipe below. Ingredients 1 kilo Pata (pork hocks) or pork cubes, GRILLED and sliced into bite size pieces 1 unripe Jack fruit, cubed 2 cups pigeon pea (kadyos) 6-8 pieces batwan fruit (or tamarind powder) 1 piece pork broth cube (

An Ilonggo favorite - Valenciana

Found in almost all occasions like fiesta, birthdays, reunions and others, Ilonggos really love valenciana because most if not all have grown accustomed of having it in special gatherings at home. A complete " go, grow and glow " dish because it has the carbohydrates, protein and vitamins and minerals in just one spoonful, Valenciana is really an " occasional dish ". Here's the recipe for Valenciana

Takway

The gabi (taro) is just one of those plants which is edible from "roots to tops". The most popular of which is the tuber part which is used in a variety of dishes and mostly in combination with coconut milk. Its leaves, of course, is the main ingredient of a Bicol specialty, laing . It is dried then chopped and sauteed with other ingredients including, again, coconut milk. Then there is takway . The local term for its tendrils/runner, that part which is torn between being a stem or a root for it neither grows upwards nor downwards - it grows sideways . Scraped off of its outer skin, takway is often a key ingredient in vegetable dishes like laswa and the gabi tuber with coconut milk and local snails know as bago-ngon . It is also popular when cooked adobo style with guinamos , the local bago-ong . It is very popular in the region that even big supermarkets sell takway in style - cleaned and plastic wrapped in styro with some additions to make it easier to prepare.

Batwan

Ilonggos know batwan or batuan by heart as the fruit is almost endemic to the Western Visayas. Its scientific name is Garcinia binucao, derived from the Tagalog name for the fruit, binukaw. It is a large green fruit with large seeds and its a favorite souring ingredient in most Ilonggo dishes especially KBL or kadyos, baboy, langka and the Ilonggo-style paksiw known as "pinamalhan". It is characterized by a tamed sourness compared to tamarind and kamias . The fruit is sold by pieces or kilo in wet markets and even big grocery stores. Batwan is the preferred souring ingredients for the Ilonggo favorite- KBL. The photo shows boiled batwan with skin and without skin (right) A favorite riddle when we were young - "Among the many fruits in the forest, but one (batuan) is the best. What is it?"

A native (foods) welcome in Guimaras

Even after having breakfast less than an hour that time, we couldn't say no to this lot of native delciacies that welcomed us in Guimaras. First and foremost, Guimaras best known produce is their sweet mango famous almost worldwide. And it comes with it's best partner, ibos. This brown baye-baye variety is made from toasted rice thus giving it a more disctinct flavour compared to it's more "caucasian" cousin. I like the one wrapped in banana leaves compared with the one in plastic for it gives it a more native feel. So when you're in Guimaras, be sure to check out the markets for these native delicacies that can make your trip more gastronomically satisfying.

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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