For most Ilonggos, Tibiao, despite being a name of a town in Antique, is often associated with a bakery making good breads and treats thus earning its tagline “Symbol of all Foods”. It has numerous products to boast ranging from biscuits and cookies to breads and cakes. In Iloilo City it has even spawned numerous branches having short orders like pancit Molo, spaghetti, hamburgers and more.
It was a big surprise during our trip to Tibiao in Antique a few weekends ago that we got a chance to tour inside the factory of one of the biggest and popular bakeries on the island of Panay – Tibiao Bakery.
Owned by the family of Mayor Walden Lim, Tibiao Bakery has been baking a lot of goodies since 1953. Eventually, it became big, expanded and became even more popular outside the town especially in Iloilo City where it has around 10 branches.
Our trip started after a sumptuous breakfast our host provided but seeing all the goodies inside the factory made me hungry all of a sudden. It was the start busy day and everyone was at their respective areas.
And it starts with the dough – mixed and machine-kneaded before it is shaped and flavoured into the bread of the moment. Cookies were also made during that day and after being shaped- all goes into the original pugon (brick oven) that dates back to 1955.
A casual talk with Mayor Lim and his wife reveals that unlike their Iloilo-main branch which uses modern ovens, this branch uses the same methods and equipment in baking bread eversince. And gives a more different flavour and aroma to the breads compared to its modern counterparts. This bakeshop supplies all its other branches in Antique, Aklan and Capiz while the Avancena branch in Molo, Iloilo caters to all branches in Iloilo City.
We were just in time to see how biscochos are made. Before it was just left over breads made into such but seeing the popularity, breads are baked and then made into biscocho. See the stacks of bread? They are quartered and each cut side is smothered with a mixture of butter/margarine and sugar. Then it is off to the oven once again as the name biscocho means twice baked bread.
After some time, cooked biscocho are ready to be packed by hands. Each piece is chosen carefully so that only the good quality biscocho are packed and goes out o the factory.
This was also an opportunity for us then to savor biscocho almost right of the oven and they were right – it had that rather smoky taste and aroma. The crunch was there and the taste – so tempting, that I stayed in the area for such a long while that I think I almost ate a whole pack of biscocho (lol)
And did I mention that they were also packing some otap that time? It was just a few steps to the otap side that I find my way in a few seconds and changed my menu that time.
I love doing some behind the scenes write ups since it is always a one of a kind experience. And it's just gets better when it's actually one of your personal favorites. You get to know more about the shop - its history, ways of preparation of your favorite goodies, the people behind and not to mention some unlimited treats that all you can eat!Tibiao Bakery in Tibiao, Antique, now that's really a treat!
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