Pizza in a Cone - Pizzawarma!

It's a pizza and shawarma in one - a pizzawarma! Served at Gab's Pizzawarma snack shop in Santa Barbara, Iloilo, is basically a pizza in a cone. That got my attention first to find this novelty item close to home rather than in the city.

So an on the spot meryenda has us visit Gab's place located along Roosevelt Street. Pizza is their specialty, this pizza in cone is a novelty and they serve other snack items like burgers, "silogs" and more. So we got the All Meat Tops and Pepperoni as they are among the more popular pizza variants...

After around 20 minutes, they came not quite like what's on the poster but still looking and smelling appetizing. The "crust/cup" was ready-made and making the filling took most of the cooking time as they were cooked first then filled the cup then the pizza "toppers" were made then again baked.

The pizza takes the top portion, if you order pepperoni, it has two pieces of pepperoni on top and the like. The shawarma makes the filling and it was all meat in the All Meat Tops and with some veggies on the Pepperoni.

Eating is a challenge though we made it through with negligible morsel palling on the table. And yes, we ate it like ice cream, like Cornetto but without the cool sensation. Instead we got a delicious fill of cheesy, meaty and delectable pizzawarma in every bite.

Priced between PhP50-65 each, this pizza in a cone has more than satisfied our curiosity; it gave us a new delicious discovery - almost right at my doorstep!

Gab's Pizzawarma

Roosevelt Street, Santa Barbara, Iloilo

(Just look for the red building at Bangga Osting which is a few meters away from Citi Star Shopping Center and the Santa Barbara Central Elementary School)

Fruits from the grocery

These packs of cut up fruits were bought from SM Delgado's grocery. Got enticed by their color and luckily, they were as good as they looked, especially the papaya. Each was just less than Php 22, really a bargain!

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?"

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Search This Blog