Kong Kee: Good old Chinese cuisine

Most of the time it's just a sio pao take out when I visit Kong Kee restaurant. But today it was different; brought about by my frustrating pancit Molo quest, I decided to have a snack in this old school Chinese restaurant (which I think I haven't done ever since)

In fact, I didn't know that one can just sit down and order from the waiters, I found myself making a "pay as your order" thing. If it wasn't for their pancit Molo, it would just have been an inquiry visit. Though expensive at a PhP 58 per bowl, it didn't matter since my blog awaits this experience.

While waiting for my order I sort of took some semi-stolen shots of the restaurant though my position was very awkward since I had my back to the subjects of my photo.

Kong Kee still is a popular Chinese restaurant as I have observed numerous orders mainly of various pancit and sio pao. With an old school type of running a family business, family members and helpers work hand in hand, in and around the restaurant. Their ambiance is very antiquated from their mirrored walls to their plastic covered mantel laden tables to their monoblock chairs, but still I felt good being there despite these.

Maybe being located in the heritage district of the city and seeing familiar establishments located in old buildings combined with the hustle and bustle of "Calle Real" brought nostalgia or maybe it was just frustration combined with hunger.

When my pancit Molo arrived, I could actually smell the flour or starch that have been used in the wrapper and eventually tasted the same. I then realized that eating at Kong Kee without any sio pao is juts like eating at Ted's without ordering La Paz batchoy so I quickly ordered pork sio pao.

Their pancit Molo also had lang-lang and no chicken strips. It was nothing spectacular and just ordinary for my taste but Kong Kee probably had the best looking pancit Molo balls among all the restaurants I've been; that is to be expected since they are a Chinese restaurant.

My unplanned visit to Kong Kee was just ordinary, but I hope I can visit it soon for a much better order (and photos hopefully). What is considered to be one of the city's best traditional Chinese restaurant deserves more than this post.

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

Easy Century Tuna Recipes

If you're looking for simple, easy and delicious Century Tuna recipes online, congratulations, you've found it right here! How about spicy tuna sisig or tuna sinigang ? Maybe stir fried tuna with pickles or just yang chow fried rice . I love Century Tuna from its flakes in oil variety, the spicier the better, but when I discovered the versatility of its solid variant, it became an obsession. At first I was just into the usual tested recipes; pasta and sandwich filling, but then it got simpler – I just eat it straight from the can! Usually with a piece of bread or an apple. I just add a few drops of vinegar to spice it up a bit. Then came the experiments. Yup I got tired of that habit that one day, I decided to test my skills in the kitchen. Serendipity, you might call it yet most of them turned into good recipes that I have shared now and then. Satisfying my Palabok cravings had me experiment on this recipe on the spot. With Century Tuna in lieu of the usu

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.

An Ilonggo favorite - Suman Latik

Suman Latik is one of my favorite native delicacies - plain suman/ibos topped with sweetened coconut strips or bukayo . Most of the time those sold in the markets have this two (suman and bukayo) already in one wrap and all you have to to is devour it. But most of the time, the bukayo portion is bitin that I wish there's more. So why not make our own suman latik so you can have all the suman we want with all the bukayo toppings we desire! Here's a simple recipe for Suman Latik

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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