A Valentine dinner buffet at The Venue

A very special occasion like Valentine's Day deserve only the best so last Feb. 14. I found myself enjoying the dinner buffet Eat, Love, Indulge at The Venue Function Rooms at The Avenue Complex. The Heart's Day dinner proved to be another gastronomic experience of old favorites and new discoveries. With the buffet set up on the veranda, one can't help but be distracted quite a bit of the happenings all around the complex (and it was full of people then) but the "Boracay" lanterns provided calming atmosphere - at least for me.

It was one superb line up as I started my eating ritual - with the usual clicks and flashes. And it was a sort of healthy set up without those cholesterollific and bilbilicious food items on the spread. Truly, a good for the heart buffet on Valentine's Day!

Add more to it was the soothing ambiance made more romantic by the violin performers that made eating more of leisure than gastronomic. And I started out by concocting my own own salad with organic greens and other vegetables grown in their own farm in Tigum, Pavia.

I was particularly interested with these cheery tomatoes but had second thoughts of them being aratiles/serisa for the former were as big as those "Jamaican cherries". So I made a heaping of these fruits plus vegetables and dressed them in vinaigrette to whet my appetite for the night.

I also got a bowlful of English Clam Chowder on my first visit to the buffet, by digging deeper in the soup container for a lot of clams and vegetables. Despite the soup not being that hot, I loved how the chowder tasted that on my next bowl, I only got the soup minus the clams.

My next plate had Spring Rolls, Stuffed Chicken Wings, Herbed Mashed Potato and Lasagna. It was just the right time to satisfy my forever craving for spring rolls for it had the crisp and crunch plus the filling and dip I was looking for so I had two more pieces on my next visit to the buffet table.

I was surprised that these big pieces of chicken wings were placed in the appetizer side. Though they usually are appetizers but they were stuffed so they came of out big enough to be part of the main dishes. And the stuffing was a savoury mix of mushrooms and other vegetables that gave the chicken more flavour and size too.

As usual, I didn't have rice but I had this Herbed Mashed Potato instead to go with the chicken wing and they were a perfect match!

I really loved the Lasagna! Just the right consistency - not too thick nor runny, generously filled with a delectable meat mix but it was the cheese that made it all that good that I had to return three times to the lasagna tray for my fill.

I had to remind myself that I haven't touched the main dishes after all that binge so I had a round up of the main dishes in just one go.

I had this (sort of) Beef Stew but I forgot to drench it in sauce but nonetheless it was soft to each bite and full of flavour too. I just had it the vegetables it came with on my plate and it was just as good.

Next was this Classic Roasted Chicken, did I get the name right? I got a tasty part of the chicken with most of the flavour on the skin. Yum!

A galore of steamed organic vegetables gave me a break for all the meat intake and they are just as crisp and fresh as it looks.

Finally, the Seafood Thermidore was a perfect ending to this main dish galore with this creamy and delightful melange of seafood and vegetables in scrumptious sauce.

For dessert, Strawberry Pavlovas were the stars of the night as they did not only look good but also tasted even better. The mix of the crunch meringue, the cream and the fresh strawberries made a delightful burst of taste and texture.

These rich chocolate squares gave me my chocolate filling for Valentine's Day.

And we even have these special lemon meringue tarts delivered to our table (only) by The Venue. These Strawberry Mousse completed the trio of visually tempting and gastronomical delicious dessert line up for an aptly named buffet for Valentine at The Venue - Eat, Love and Indulge!

(On our way out, we chanced upon this Valentine Special Date courtesy of GMA TV 6 Iloilo's morning show Arangkada. And we found ourselves in the very background of this video-hehe)

This Valentine buffet dinner was through the invitation of Ms Arvi Sumayo, Marketing Manager of Great Foods Concepts Inc. and her "trustees" Cristina Tuya and Frey Gange. Thank you very much, guys!

The Venue Function Rooms at The Avenue Complex

Glicerio Pison cor. Boardwalk Avenues, Brgy. San Rafael, Mandurriao,

Iloilo City 5000 Tel. No 033 396-6013

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

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

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

Ilonggos know batwan or batuan by heart as the fruit is almost endemic to the Western Visayas. Its scientific name is Garcinia binucao, derived from the Tagalog name for the fruit, binukaw. It is a large green fruit with large seeds and its a favorite souring ingredient in most Ilonggo dishes especially KBL or kadyos, baboy, langka and the Ilonggo-style paksiw known as "pinamalhan". It is characterized by a tamed sourness compared to tamarind and kamias . The fruit is sold by pieces or kilo in wet markets and even big grocery stores. Batwan is the preferred souring ingredients for the Ilonggo favorite- KBL. The photo shows boiled batwan with skin and without skin (right) A favorite riddle when we were young - "Among the many fruits in the forest, but one (batuan) is the best. What is it?"

A cooking weed called Lupo

Lupo is a weed that is commonly found in ricefields and roadside in provinces. It is most prevalent in Ilonggo cooking compared to others as it is mostly the Ilonggos who can recognize lupo , though maybe called differently in other places. Most commonly used in laswa or monggo dishes to add greens like kamote tops, it also makes a good partner in sinabawan na isda recipes. It has hints of bitterness but don't expect it to be ampalaya-bitter like. It is mostly sold in wet local wet markets by the tumpok .

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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