Sooo Pinoy in Davao City at Probinsya

Aside from durian and a lot of grill restaurants, my mental picture of the flavors of Davao is … it’s a buffet haven. Numerous restaurants offering very affordable buffet selections for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner can be found in almost corner of the city. And my first taste of a Davao buffet was at Probinsya.

I was part of Sooo Pinoy, Food Trip na Pilipinas! that made it’s stop in Davao City the last week of June. The goal of the Food Trip is to show that Filipino dishes per region have different identities based on the culture, lifestyle and history of the area. In the long run, it is set to visit 300 restaurants in 10 key regions/areas in 10 months all over the Philippines.

Davao is the 4th food stop after Iloilo, Boracay and Cebu that started last March. The Food Trip also aims to show that there are many Filipino recipes from different regions of the Philippines, each having its own specialty that has to be recognized for the unique flavor it adds to the Filipino Cuisine.

Owner Luis Uy narrates how his businesses shifted from hardware into food service and restaurants. He is the president of the Olympia Group, which own runs a big chain of buffet places and restaurants like the Oriental Buffet Palace I and II, Sucre, Cocos South Bistro I and II plus the Davao Convention and Trade Center.

The buffet place which promises a “taste of home” impressed us with their wide range of menu at a very affordable price. For only PhP168, breakfast can already be a fiesta that would last through the day. But as this was a food tasting session for Sooo Pinoy, their best sellers took center stage.

A plate of assorted kakanin got our attentions first as rows of cassava and ube delights as well as palitaw (or muasi in Ilonggo) we arranged in a visual feast. The coconut meat that served as toppings for the palitaw were just freshly grated in the kitchen, we were told. Another plate boasts of assorted puto and budbud (ibos for Ilonggos).

Their lechon liempo oozed with so much goodness visually that one couldn’t wait to sink in their teeth for one big bite. Laing served as a side dish both for the presentation and gastronomic annihilation for the luscious lechon liempo.

Balbacua is a soup of ox tail, feet and skin and Probinsya served the meat chopped and in a gingery broth. It is like the Ilonggo pata with just stronger ginger flavour and chopped meats but in a much thinner broth.

Kare kare was another ox tail delicacy and one can really savor the freshly ground peanuts in the thick broth. I like how the string beans or sitaw were neatly tied into groups of 4’s using other greens. The bagoong that came with the kare-kare perfectly complemented the dish.

A hot cup of tsokolate “A” (aguada meaning “with water”) downed all these buffet goodness and a beautifully crafted fruit platter “washed all the excesses” and got us ready for our next gastronomic journey.

Located at the Victoria Plaza Carpark, Probinsya brings together Filipino regional specialties in a buffet set up. It was a perfect presentation of how buffets form part of the Davao food scene – wide array of food at very affordable price.

Filipinos are encouraged to join and support the Sooo Pinoy movement, a partnership between Unilever Food Solutions and the Department of Tourism, and go on a gastronomic adventure that both fills the stomach and enriches our awareness of our own identity. To know more about the campaign, food lovers are invited to like the Sooo Pinoy page on Facebook and follow @SoooPinoy on Twitter

Sooo Pinoy Epic DAVAO Food Trip: June 25-29, 2012

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

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?"

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.

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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