Manila (food) trip: Oh my Yoshinoya beef bowl!

This was probably my most unforgettable food trip when I dropped by Manila last weekend. How can I forget it if I had my daily servings of their gyudon for three straight days! It is how I love their beef bowl.

The first time I had this beef bowl years ago, I instantly loved it. Those thinly sliced beef cooked in simple concoction eaten with soy sauce (Kikkoman -nothing else) and their signature 7 spices ... now Im getting hungry. It's always a large beef bowl for me and nothing else. I think I can eat two bowls in just one seating maybe even three! It's an addiction I never wanted to be "cured" - lol.

A closer look at their gyudon reveals how thinly sliced they are and almost seem like boiled bacon. I often finish my bowl of Yoshinoya gyudon with still half of the beef remaining then I savour every last bite of it.

Here's my first first beef bowl last week when I had an unplanned early dinner at SM North EDSA. I was looking for the Starbucks branch where I was supposed to meet a former colleague when I saw this Japanese fastfood. It was no turning back by then. A large beef bowl with their apple iced tea!

The next day, I reminisced my first beef bowl when I had lunch getting the same order when I visited Yoshinoya for the first time. Yup, I trooped to SM Megamall and order a large beef bowl with green iced tea. It seemed liked only yesterday ...

And finally hours before my flight back to Iloilo, I was "based" at SM Mall of Asia. I had to go around the humongous mall looking for the branch when it was actually right up front. Again another large beef bowl but this time red iced tea. I was in a dilemma then whether to bring some 2-3 orders of just beef (sans the rice) but knowing the long hours of travel would affect the taste, I sadly said goodbye to the idea. So sad that I made up for it by ordering an extra rice for my remaining beef - lol.

So next time, I'll be back in the big city, it'll be another Yoshinoya beef bowl adventure. Maybe this time, 3 bowls in a day! Oh my Yoshinoya!

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

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 por...

A native delicacy called Inday-inday

Now you may ask, what is Inday-Inday ? It's another repetitive-feminine named native delicacy that is made from rice like its more popular sister - baye-baye . While the latter is has its own original flavor and make, inday-inday is actually a combination of two well loved native delicacies - muasi ( palitaw ) and bukayo . But the muasi portion is not the the usual palitaw recipe for the it's more firm and gummy (I don't know the English term for kid-ol ). Actually its more like a hardened kutsinta and this makes it more to my liking since I'm not really fond of muasi in the first place. And its not quite easy to find inday-inday in the market today, though I've seen and tried it in Sabor Ilonggo stalls but their's is more like suman latik for the based is ibos -like. Ibos is malagkit rice boiled in gata which is called suman in Tagalog. Despite the uncertainty for its nomenclature (I've read that inday-inday is just plain pal...

Muasi

A confession to start this blogpost - I consider MUASI as one of my hated native delicacies given its bland taste even with the sugar dip. But that was back during my childhood days. Maybe be because I may have used less sugar or might have completely forgotten to "dip" it at all. Yet nowadays, I have learned to appreciate it especially when its freshly cooked with the muscovado teeming the aroma of roasted sesame seeds. So let's make some MUASI

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

Search This Blog