Cafe Laguna at SM City Iloilo

A popular Cebuano restaurant has now reached Iloilo. Cafe Laguna opened it's first branch in the Visayas (outside Cebu) at SM City Iloilo this week. Finally Ilonggos can now experience what made Cafe Laguna such a big hit in Cebu, starting from it's being a carenderia before to a place of fine dining now.

Here are some snippets of information from Cafe Laguna's website.

CAFÉ LAGUNA began as a labor of love for the urbina family. Coming from a long line of fine cooks, Lita Urbina decided to share her culinary talents with everyone. She got the love for cooking from her mother who owned a restaurant in Cartimar, Manila. As a young girl, she remembered being exposed to the restaurant business and how it was managed.With the help and encouragement of her family, Mrs. Urbina decided to open her own carenderia which served Filipino food with a distinctive taste incomparable to this day. Food was not only sumptuous but enkindled memories of homecooked meals shared with friends and family.CAFÉ LAGUNA started with 10 tables in an apartment she owned in Lahug. Mother's Best was the moniker she gave the fastfood which served only Filipino dishes. At the same time, it was a novelty; not many food outlets served Filipino dishes. Catering service menu includes European, American and other Asian dishes. >>> Read More

Photos courtesy of LABETH of Skyscrapercity forum

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 (

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 - 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

Bilong-bilong

Bilong-bilong , as what it is called, is a silvery flatfish. It can be fried, sinabawan , pinamalhan, binuro and sinugba. I found a similar entry at marketmanila.com which says .. ".... an amusing looking fish called Bilong-bilong or Chabita or Kadis. A Moonfish (now isn’t that a descriptive name?) of the Family Menidae, it inhabits coastal waters, has an incredibly flat body and oval shape with low fins. Locals love to serve this paksiw style with ginger, vinegar and onions, or deep fried where if small enough, everything is munched on, I am told..." Fried bilong- bilong Pinamalhan na bilong bilong Binuro nga bilong bilong from iLOVEiloilo.com How to make Binuro nga Bilong bilong (adapted from LEE's comment in the PINAMALHAN entry) 1. Clean bilong-bilong with water then drain. 2. In a container with lid, make alternate layers of the fish and salt, the latter in the bottom layer. 3. Cover and store in a cool, dry place (not in the fridge) in the next few days. 4.

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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