Flavours of Iloilo 2012 Highlights: Food revelry in January

January is Iloilo's month of revelry and of course, that just mean one thing- Dinagyang. For three days (and nights) on the fourth weekend of this month Ilonggos pay homage to the Child Jesus - Señor. Santo Niño. At the same time, it is also to celebrate the arrival on Panay of Malay settlers and the subsequent selling of the island to them by the Atis. And it was Dinagyang of 2012 where most of my January blogging highlights took place. But there were other notable events that highlighted my January 2012...

A part of it's national campaign, SM brought to Iloilo City it's My City, My SM, My Cuisine. It is the company's thrust showcasing the best of the regions and food is among the highlights of travel to most parts of the Philippine archipelago. The event included heritage dishes (estofado nga pato sa tuba, potato praline cake, lengua con setas con olivas and "YSL") and a cooking competition for the best pancit molo and best mango dessert.

And right after the event at SM, the fiesta of the district of Villa awaits us and if it's in Villa, there's no place like the Camiña Balay nga Bato - among Iloilo City's top tourist attractions. I've been here countless times but it was my first time to be part of the fiesta fare of this heritage house. It was sort of a scene out of Oro, Plata, Mata echoes Mr. Eugene Jamerlan who was with me, among others and we all devoured this coconut water marinated roast turkey. 

The following day, I learned the Jessica Zafra visited the house and made the declaration that it makes the "The best tsokolate in the World" And one of my favorite quotes happened.“If I’d known you were coming I would’ve prepared a proper lunch,” the owner of the house declared. “We have no food. Would you like lechon and red rice?" 

A few days before Dinagyang, First stop was the home of one of Iloilo's most celebrated chefs, Ms. Maridel Uygongco. I tagged along through the invitation Ms. Regine Algecera, executive producer of two cable tv shows (for both Sky Cable and Cable Star). 

In her kitchen, Ms Maridel demonstrated the preparation of her YSL recipe she made during the My City, My SM, My Cuisine event. It was a very casual video shoot with all of us enjoying not only the designer ibos she prepared but also the fun of it all. Ms Maridel used ibos made with tapul rice which then she fried. Then using a concoction of cream and other flavourings she set the fried ibos on the cream and placed fresh fruits on top. 

Dinagyang started on a gastronomic note at Chef Pauline Gorriceta-Banusing excited the Ilonggo foodies with the comeback of Amazing Appetite. The Dinagyang Edition of this 5-restaurant, 2-day buffet was well received after its successful initial offering September of 2011. 

So I enjoyed 2 days of food binge in Chef Pauline's restaurants - 101 Luna Steak House and Al Dente Ristorante Italiano at Sarabia Manor Hotel, Freska Ilonggo Cusuine and Maki Japanese Restaurant at Smallville and Steps of Rome at Plazuela de Iloilo.

One of the evenings turned out to be a night of cocktails and bartending flair as I served as one of the judges of the 4th Dinagyang Bartending Cup which was a Tandem Edition that time. Participated in by 18 teams from different culinary schools in Iloilo City, it was one night talent and skills both in showmanship and cocktail concoctions. 

Presented by Great Foods Concepts Inc. and sponsored by Unilever Food Solutions and Pepsi, among others, it was held at The Avenue Complex and gathered hundreds of spectators in and around the Smallville area.

I also had the privilege of meeting the "awesome" couple - Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet an his wife Rachelle, who were guests of Mr Eugene Jamerlan for Dinagyang and stayed at the Concepcion Chalet in Jaro. After a fishpalaxing experience at the Tibiao Fish Spa at SM City Iloilo, it was cake time (yup desserts came first that time) at Maridel's. It was the guava cake that made my night then since I've been longing to taste it for a while. 

And it was a lot of food trips we had with this awesome couple - Henry's Wines and Liquors's, Bavaria German Restaurant, Buto't Balat, Esca's Garden Restaurant, Dulgie's Cafe, and a lot more. They were just squeezed in between the real Dinagyang Festivties which Anton chronicled "Iloilo's Dinagyang: Hala Bira! Viva Señor Santo Niño!" in his blog. One of the more intriguing entries was a sidelight of Dinagyang and always have been a staple - the super mega sound sytems to which he asks "Can someone explain how these palakasan ng speakers came about? I've never seen this in Sinulog or in Masskara or in any festival aside from Dinagyang."

One of the interesting things in Dinagyang is this stack of speakers found on the streets of Iloilo where they play the loudest dance music. - Anton Diaz, Our Awesome Planet

On their last day, it was back again (for me) to the Camiña Balay nga Bato and there were two highlights. First, I was able to have tasted the famed Kapitan Ising's Pancit Molo, which the heritage house serves to it's guest upon request.

And I able to capture my "awesome" tsokolate e photo.

2012 started on a big note compared to the previous years and it surely heralded bigger things to come and what the rest of this series of blogposts will show in the next few days. Hoping 2013 will be even bigger as the prospects will be brighter - all for the good of the promotion of Iloilo!