Noodle time at Tarzan Magic La Mien Noodle House

There’s new joint along Iloilo City’s premiere heritage showcase, JM Basa Street and it highlights the Chinese influence in Ilonggo food and food ways. Opened just a few days ago, the Tarzan Magic La Mien noodle house prides itself with it’s freshly made noodles. One can actually see how they are stretched, pulled and all the acts of noodle making. This discovery came to be when a foodie-friend La Beth of Skyscraper City-Iloilo (forum) had her noodle fill there and gave a thumbs-up for her order. So I immediately trooped days later and found myself having a bowl of their combo bowl having beef, pork, chicken and innards.

It was almost like having a bowl of Lapaz batchoy if not for the bean sprouts and a spiced flavourful broth. The difference was in the noodles too, though I haven’t seen the actually noodle making, I came late – a friend just ordered for me. It comes in a deep bowl filled almost up the brim and almost overflowing with broth. Good thing the soup is good that unknowingly; it almost disappeared revealing the noodles. And you can ask for extra soup too!

Whether in any pancit dish or soups, I always look for and try the noodles first. If it’s good, I’d gorged on the noodles more than the “sahog” but if it’s not then it stays on my plate. And it was a noodle feast at Tarzan Magic La Mien Noodle House – I just love the plain taste of its fresh noodles! I guess there’s the Chinese belief that noodles give long life as it is served there as long as it can be. Though it’s just a regular noodle but its freshness gave it character that complements the meat and vegetables in the bowl.

I also had a side order of dumpling which had “kusay” as the main ingredient, I assume. Even without dipping it in the chili sauce or the toyo-sili concoction, it was savoury and comes with the signature fresh dumpling wraps. For this order of the noodle soup, a 5 piece dumpling plate and a soft drink, the bill was only PhP95.

And when I asked for the menu, they still don’t have any yet, it just opened you know but hoping they’ll have one ready the time I will be checking it out again so there will be something new on the table but of course the noodle soup will be on it – first!

The Tarzan Magic La Mien Noodle House is located along JM Basa Street, a few steps from the corner of Arsenal Street. It is open around 9am until 9pm. They offer FREE delivery, just contact them though telephone number 336-3592.

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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