FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

True to it's target for the year 2009, Mang Inasal is now "200 stores old". This big billboard across the Arroyo Fountain near the old Iloilo Capitol proclaims this feat and inspires the fastfood chain to open 100 branches (or more) each year until their target of 500 stores by 2012 nearing them to the number of branches of the Philippines biggest fastfood chain, Jollibee. As what the billboard proclaims, Mang Inasal is truly a pride of Iloilo! Photo courtesy of Haldir07 of Skyscrapercity forum

What others know as just ginta-ang kalabasa at sitaw is known as linutik or latik by the Ilonggos. A favorite vegetable dish simply made with squash and string beans with coconut milk and seafoods. Thanks to LABETH of SSC

I have so many entries for Breakthrough that I'll just let the pcitures speak for themselves. Just to quote Lee " This is the highlight of my gastronomic marathon .... " Do check out his site, Hapit Anay for more photos. Pantat After more than 20 years, Lee had once again tasted a good pantat Native litsong manok Tastes good but nothing spectacular, the lechon baboy might have been better. Grilled scallops Any visit wont be complete is these weren't on the table Lukon Our most expensive order costing 80 pesos each. Sizzling crabmeat. Though not really sizzling when served but still tasted good. Buko juice A drink at the same time a dessert, just be patient. Sinugba nga locus Succulent grilled squid that even though its common, it was still a good order Kinilaw nga pasayan For a non kinilaw eater like me, surprisingly it was very good. Looks like mini lobster, I forgot the name though but its meat tastes like fish and very tasty too. Bihod The local version of caviar...

An afternoon snack at Ted's flagship branch in La Salette building was actually blog driven,as usual. I have to update my blog with their batchoy as I did with Deco's weeks ago. My usual order os extra super miki batchoy and pan de sal. Their batchoy seemed to have come in a much smaller bowl as far as I can remember. Before it was a "gigantic" bowl that can make you exclaim "extra super". The latter which I thought to be ordered from Tibiao Bakery is actually their own bread. But I still have 2nd thoughts about that.

My usual order of extra special La Paz batchoy and pre war pan de sal at Deco's La salette branch. I had two extra bowls of caldo for I had a black pepper "overdose" that time. I decided to have snack because I wanted to update my batchoy photos.

Hamburgers made this snack house famous then, but now it offers more than those patty filled buns. With short orders like pancit molo, bihon and spaghetti to their own version of rice meals (with chicken, pork, etc) to their specialties like camaron relleno, morcon and meatballs, it now has gone a long way since then. Even if competition nearby heats up (a fastfood and chicken barbecue store) loyal patrons keep coming back for more. Forget the ambiance when dining here since little attention is being paid to this aspect. If there's one thing that makes me go back there, it’s their Queen sio pao and her court (of sio paos, the King, Jumbo and regular). As they say, The queen has it all; chicken and pork adobo, ham, bacon, Chinese sausage, bacon & hard boiled egg and it's a big as a plate. There's a catch though, it's only available 3 days a month.

Tatoy's Manukan and Seafood Restaurant in Villa is one of Iloilo City's most iconic restaurants. And its "iconic" food offering is it's native litsong manok that tastes like no other.

Would I get tired of eating and blogging about KBL? As of now as this entry shows obviously,the answer is no. I couldn't remember how many blogposts I have about kadyos, baboy and langka but this one gots the best visuals. For your eyes only ... Do check out my other entries about KBL. K adyos beans B aboy L angka Batwan . A local fruit used to sour dishes

Baye-baye is known to be a perfect match for coffee or sodas. It is also well-loved by children because of its sweet consistent taste. It is a mixture of scraped young coconut meat,sugar and pinipig (pounded rice grains). Some prepare it in simpler ingredients of coconut meat, sugar, grounded sticky rice (pilit or malagkit)or corn grains. But above the different kinds of preparations the best known baye-baye is in the town of Pavia. Pavia's baye-baye is one of the oldest industry that originated from Barangay Cabugao Sur. It is also the smallest barangay of the town. Other than the baye-baye, it also manufactures pinipig or roasted and pounded rice grain. The barangay owns a 48-year old 'ligis', a locally-made machine made of the trunk of the Mabolo tree, used to pound the rice grain. Pavia's best baye-baye is made from carefully selected ingredients. The choice of coconut, kind of sugar used and how well the pinipig was made counts a lot in the cooking. It's mixtur...