It was Claude Tayag's article in the Philippine Star, years ago, that opened my thoughts about Tiolas. He shared having a galore of Ilonggo dishes for lunch in a restaurant on the edge of a cliff, having a spectacular view of Guimaras Strait, with fire trees in full bloom and with the sea breeze and breaking waves completing the sights and sounds of this hilltop community. That vision got stuck in mind since then and when I had a chance of visiting Tiolas, a few weeks ago, I literally jumped in. It was quite a fast road trip passing by the towns of Oton, Tigbauan, Guimbal and Miagao. Tiolas is the last community in the town of San Joaquin before one enters the province of Antique.
Except for the fire trees for it wasn't their bloom time yet, it was everything the Claude Tayag describes it to be - great view, windswept, waves crushing and gastronomic. Sugbahan sa Tiolas has the simple and genuine food as describe by Claude, though I wasn't sure if this was the actual restaurant.
It was as basic as it can be - the food display welcomes the guest and upon giving your orders you take your seat. Or you can opt to play some video games while waiting, its a one stop shop. We arrived past 1pm so there wasn't much left on the display, just some "morsel" of what they served an hour or so ago.
But good thing we got the seat with a view, looking out to the vast blue sea, calm and quiet sky and some waves below. It was past the season of the fire trees but I can only just imagine how striking the contrast of those red-orange blooms to the shades of blue. The sea breeze provided the natural airconditioning that often times gets automatically "high" without out warning.
Our order of grilled pork chops and despite my quick shots, it turned out be very very appetizing on cam. It was indeed greats and with a spectacular view, I thought even when I haven't really eaten.
I quickly concocted my favorite sawsawan especially for grilled pork chops - a mix of banana ketchup, calamansi and sili. It was one hell of a dip that had me asking for more rice. On it's own the pork chop was good thought it had more fatty portions, which I really don't mind when it comes to taste but that's a different story when it comes to health issues.
Good thing, we had this simple sinabawan nga isda, with a leaf or two of pechay. That surely gave us a brake on those carcinogenically tasty grilled pork chop.
After an hour or so, we decided to continue our road trip, going up the zigzagging and mountainside road leading to the province of Antique. This part of the trip was rather memorable for sometime last July, on our way back to Iloilo, from our Tanum Lagaw sa Tibiao, Antique event, our van broke down this particular area. And it was around 10pm and it was very dark and road - a perfect scene for a horror movie. Good thing the plot didn't thicken and we all made it safely back to Iloilo.
It was a scenic road trip ranging from dense forest covers that extends to the mountaintops to curves giving a panoramic view of the mountains from afar.
And we even had to stop in the middle of the bridge to have this shot of a river getting almost dry. Good thing there wasn't much vehicles that time so we got our shots.
But we had to really park when we got to a scenic spot, where the plain meets the mountains and the mountains meet the sky. It was on top of a hill with a gentle slope and it was nature, among it's best plus with the nice weather, it was picture perfect. Well, almost ...
... as somewhere down below, the National Power Grid or something was busy putting up transmission lines that will surely spoil the beauty of the scene. Good thing there were some native guavas to make up for it.
On our way back, we passed by many native delicacies stalls along the road and we made a stop in a rather big one that sells a lot of goodies. Brgy. Qui-anan in San Joaquin is the bandi capital of Western Visayas. Bandi is a native treat (almost like panucha) that is made with peanuts and caramelized sugar then formed into rounds of native treats. It is also sold in the city but nowhere have I seen a bandi bigger than a plate around 15 inches in diameter! So I instantly bought two, it was only Php50 each.
Along the way, we stopped by another stall selling their fresh catch of the day -some fish which I forgot the name and squid. I heard the vendor say that they also export some of their catch to Gen. Santos City. Ironic, I thought, for Gen. San has one of the big fishing industries in the country.
Anyway, we passed by San Joaquin Church on our way back and took photos inside and out of the church. We planned on taking a peek on ther town's newest attraction - Garin Farm, but we were a day early from their soft opening. Among the attractions we've seen, from afar, is the giant white cross but to actually get to the top one has to go up the 400+ steps. Quite a journey, indeed, as we already had one ourselves.
Retracing back our route, we passed by the same towns but we made a stopover beside the Oton Public Market for a snack. It was in a bakery and food shop owned by his good friend and also a caterer himself, Wilson Esperancilla. We had the popular pancit lomi and and pan de sal, which were both very good. A perfect ending to a day of road and food trip.
I also brought home a galore of native goodies with that gigantic bandi taking a third of the weight of the bag. I also got camote chips, macapuno balls, bucayo and peanut brittle. It was indeed an unforgettable food and road trip down south.
And asked if will I go back there again?
NO! I can't answer you now, for I will have to pack my things and get ready for the trip (back) in and around Tiolas!
Bon voyage and bon apetit!