Tourism office to promote city’s gastronomic delights

ILOILO City – The Iloilo City Tourism and Development Office has come up with another initiative to further boost the tourism industry here – promoting the city’s “gastronomic districts.”

“We are dividing the districts into culinary attractions so that visitors and tourists can have a variety of food to choose from (and enjoy their stay),” said City Tourism Officer Ben Jimena. Festivals alone cannot possibly sustain the interest of tourists because these are seasonal, Jimena explained.

Jaro district will be made to showcase Ilonggo delicacies; Molo district, its pancit molo; La Paz district, its well-known batchoy; Arevalo district, its long stretch of seafood restaurants along the beach; and Mandurriao district, its kansi and patahan.

Written By DAVID ISRAEL SINAY for Panay News

“Most of the tourists coming over are interested to taste the delicacies and good food of Iloilo. The city has become a family getaway, especially during long weekends,” Jimena noted.
The “seasonal” festivals of Iloilo City are the Dinagyang (every January), Arevalo Fireworks Festival (every January), Chinese New Year (every February), Candelaria (every February), and Paraw Regatta (every March).

In January this year, Iloilo City started drumming up interest to its popular La Paz batchoy by cooking this noodle soup made with pork organs, crushed pork cracklings, shrimp, vegetables, chicken stock, chicken breast, beef loin and round noodles in a giant vat. It had hoped that this endeavor would land in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “biggest batchoy” bowl.

Four months later, in May of this year, the city tourism office also began a search for the proverbial “Ilonggo breakfast” in cooperation with various hotels and restaurants. The winning entries were the arroz carajuevo and linupak layered root crops. Hotels, resorts and restaurants agreed to offer this food combination as the Ilonggo Breakfast.

Last week, the Department of Tourism and the Japan International Cooperation Agency initiated a Basic Tourism Statistics Training in Palawan. “We were taught how to gather information and reliable statistics for decision making,” Jimena said.

Jimena said tourism offices must be knowledgeable of the number of tourists coming in and out of their areas, the occupancy rates of hotels, and the number of days a tourist stays. “Through these data, we can find out if we have the capacity to accommodate visitors, and the services we can offer them,” Jimena said.

Jimena said promoting other beautiful attractions around Iloilo City will also bolster the city’s reputation as a gateway for tourism. He mentioned the nearby island-province of Guimaras and towns in Iloilo Province such as Concepcion./PN >>> Original article

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

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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

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A native (foods) welcome in Guimaras

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FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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