Merci Pasalubong Treats opens at the Iloilo Airport

A few months back, I enjoyed a boxful of napoleones plus my last trip from Bacolod yielded some mango and caramel tarts and recently I finally solved the “faceless” egg crackers I was raving about. Unknowingly, I had been a patron of Merci Pasalubong Treats for delicious sweets from the City of Smiles.

Merci, meaning “Thank You” in French is a family business that started in 1995. It is the market brand of CM and Sons Food Products. Merci started as a small bakery supplying bread to a single store at the Libertad Market in Bacolod City.

Sixteen years after, it now has 27 branches across Western Visayas, two of which are in Iloilo). Through the invitation extended by the James Toga, President of the Negros Bloggers, to the Iloilo Bloggers Inc., I attended the blessing and opening of its newest branch – at the Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan last Dec.19, 2011.

A simple blessing attended by the top honchos of CM & Sons Inc with Cabatuan Mayor Bob Maroma and Iloilo Provincial Tourism Director Bombette Marin as invited guests who eventually led the ribbon cutting for the formal opening of the latest branch of Merci Pasalubong Treats and was followed by a sumptuous afternoon snack.

With a galore more than 70 pasalubong treats and goodies, one can entirely get lost in gastronomy. Take your pick from piaya, tarts and napoleones to barquillos, biscocho and butterscotch, it surely have a field day choosing what fills in your pasalubong box.

I highly recommend their napoleones, aside from being neatly and conveniently packed they really taste good – brings out the flavour of the city of smiles, literally. Unfortunately, they don’t have one at this branch due to logistics and the nature of the product. Their boxed tarts - caramel, mango and cheese among others, also are good buys.

But to bring some signature Bacolod delicacy, there’s always piaya, comes in regular -muscovado filled and ube. Then there’s kwakoy, (in) famously referred to as plywood for it looks like one and it’s mainly made with rice flour and sugar. They also have meringue, squid rings, ugoy –ugoy, egg crackers (one of my favorites) and my new discovery pita crackers – it’s just plain and lightly salted, good for endless munching.

This year they launched a campaign – the I LOVE BACOLOD drive that also coincided the revelation of their new logo – a silhouette of a baker pulling out hot bread off the oven signifying the freshness quality of their products. It is a fitting testament to their commitment to be one of the leading players in the pasalubong industry. Last September, Merci was given the Dynamic Growth (Model Entrepreneur) Award presented by the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry in its Achievement Awards for 2011.

Quality products, good packaging and innovative marketing (e.g. Travel Plus Promo just present any travel ticket upon purchase and you’ll get 10% off) collectively made Merci what it is today. Thus uplifting not only the morale and pride of the people – not only the bakers, food attendants and bosses of the company, but also to anyone and everyone who buys, tastes and enjoy what Merci has to offer.

And true to its tagline “Sa Merci, tanan Manamit!” (It’s all delicious at Merci!)

Merci Pasalubong Treats has two branches in Iloilo City. One is located along Ledesma Street near the Plazoleta Gay and this one at the pre departure area lobby (3rd floor) of the Iloilo Airport and is open from 5am to 9pm. Also check out their website www.merci.com.ph and like them on Facebook.

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

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

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