FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

In less than an hour, greetings of Happy and Prosperous New Year will echo around us - actual voice greetings or text or through social media. Its time to say goodbye to the past year - whether good or bad it had been. And to usher the leap year 2016, a Media Noche is the norm aside from the  display of firecrackers and fireworks all around. Just like our Noche Buena 2015 a week ago, our Media Noche is a combination of the usual and some new discoveries. The usuals include our specialty Pancit Molo , Pork Barbecue, Queso de Bola, Chicken Noodle Soup, Sliced ham (the sauce was still on stove), Hotdogs on stick, Cheese Sausage Platter with 3 Sauces, Loaf bread, Filipino-style Spaghetti , Mango Mallows from Tinapayan (my favorite among  their Holiday goodies) and a selection of white and red wine and juices. Just looking at this lot, it seems I can't wait for the 2015 to end and 2016 to start for this gastronomic setting is about to burst in my tummy very soon. ...

Merry Christmas! 'Tis time of the year when an all out midnight "snack" is excusable for it is to welcome the most awaited day of the year - Christmas!  So what's on our Noche Buena table? It's a combination of the usual fare as well some new found desserts.  The "usuals" are some Sliced Ham simmered in pineapple juice and sauce it came with, Queso de Bola, and some last minute hotdogs for the kids. Pasta dishes came in "fours" - Filipino-style spaghetti  (with ham, hotdogs, cheese and mushrooms toppings), Carbonara "white Spaghetti, Macaroni-Fruit salad , ang Chicken Macaroni salad. It was a pasta overload but two of these were next-door contributions. Bottles of white and red grape juice downed all these. Capping off the midnight meal are some sweets from Tinapayan - French Macarons, Japanese Cheesecake and Dulce de Leche Ensaymada "bites". Another Noche Buena passed by and in a week's time, another midnight foo...

As the premiere bakeshop in Iloilo City, Tinapayan once again delights the taste buds of Ilonggos as it offers a galore of specially made as well as specially packaged goodies for the Yuletide season.  Dubbed as Tinapayan’s Christmas Delights , the 2015 collection is a mix of cakes and pastries as well as chocolates and breads that will surely add color and flavor to the celebrations.  DULCE DE LECHE ENSAYMADA Stollen is a fruit bread containing dried fruit and often covered with powdered sugar or icing sugar. YULE LOG RED VELVET CAKE Check out more out of what Tinapayan has to offer this Holiday Season on their  Facebook Page .

Always in the center of a typical Filipino Noche Buena is the hamon . No matter which brand or what kind ham it maybe, the Christmas Eve midnight gastronomic gathering would seem incomplete without it. One ham that seems to be just within the taste and price range of the Ilonggos is the house brand of Iloilo Supermart - Right Choice. Namit gid!

I usually eat ibos just dipped in muscovado sugar or even just plain white sugar. Its the taste memories that makes this native delicacy tastes even better. But then being a food blogger opened my food repertoire as I discover more food and food ways in and around Iloilo like this pinirito nga ibos . My first encounter with fried ibos was through Chef Maridel Uygongco who made a gourmet ibos called YSL . It was for an event at SM City City Iloilo called My City My SM My Cuisine around two years ago.  As explained, frying the ibos is one way of making use of nearly expired one but as time passed by even newly made ibos are fried to make a new twist that is crisp outside, chewy inside variant of this popular native delicacy. 

In time for the Holidays, The Promenade at Days Hotel Iloilo introduces 10 brews and booze that will tickle the beverage fantasies of its guests with its wide variety refreshingly delicious concoctions. Divided into alcoholic and non-alcoholic variants, each comes with a a twist that will certainly make the Yuletide celebration more festive. Together with the Iloilo Bloggers, we enjoyed an afternoon tasting all these brews and booze, comparing drinking notes and sharing our what we enjoyed the most.  Let's start with the Non-Alcoholic line-up and my favorite is the Christmas EggNog (a concoction of fresh milk and pasteurised raw eggs) which can be served hot or cold - I prefer the latter. Hot drinks include the Red Velvet Choco (a whipped cream topped hot drink version of the well-loved cake) and S'Mores Hot Cocoa - chocolates, Grahams and marshamallow you can gulp! Coolers were Cranberry Holiday Splash made with cranberry and lemon juice with honey and Crimson Cola - ...

Buon Gelato opened its second branch in Iloilo at the expansion wing of SM City Iloilo. Located at the Lower Ground Floor near the activity area, the gelateria and desserts shop promises great tasting gelato as well as cakes and other desserts. It was an all-out tasting session during its opening day as invited media and bloggers enjoyed the different flavors of its Italian ice cream line - I chose the watermelon and blueberry combo. And a whole lot of cakes, cakes and cakes which we all shared as we took  forkful or two given its indulgence.  Fulfill your cool desserts, luscious cakes and hot coffee cravings at Buon Gelato!

A craving for ensaimada had me spend a Friday-the-13th afternoon at The Granary at Richmonde Hotel Iloilo . Their gigantic version of this pastry was and is still the talk of the town ever since it opened four months ago . And who said that day was a unlucky when the usually out-of-stock specialty of the house had a few pieces available enough for my gastronomic needs.  I had them heated to bring out the softness of the pastry as well as to create a delicious gooey mix of cheese, butter/cream and sugar that I love to "dunk" the pastry bread in. This is often overlooked by those who order the ensaimada who just have it as it is, thus missing the deliciousness of the pastry. And with that I can finish 2 or even 3 of these in just sitting! But I just had one that time for me to have space for a "side"  order of Spaghetti Prawns Aglio y Olio (which costs 3x as much as the ensaimada). I love olive oil based pasta so this was default order. The serving was too sm...

Churrasco is an Iberian (both Spanish and Portugese) term for grilled meat - mostly beef which is very popular in Europe and Latin America. It is most popular in Brazil  wherein they have churrascaria , which are restaurants serving these "pieces of meat roasted on the embers". Most offer "all-you-can-eat" with the waiters moving around the resto bringing skewers of meat and slicing them on the customer's plate. This serving style is called espeto corrido or rodízio. ( Source ) But I didn't have to travel around 20,000 kilometers last Saturday to have this taste and feel of Brazil .  I just found my way to The Promenade at Days Hotel Iloilo for their long standing Saturday dinner buffet "Indulgence" featured Brazialian churrasco served  rodízio.   I just love the buffets at  The Promenade at Days Hotel Iloilo  and I always can't say no to every invitation I get to feature what's new in their offering. The gastronomic Saturd...