Delectable Backribs and more at Bourbon Street

Delectable Backribs and more at Bourbon Street - Festive Walk Iloilo

I could still smell the aroma and taste the flavor of this Bourbon Barbecue Ribs that still linger in my senses after today's grand opening of Bourbon Street Bar and Grill's branch at Festive Walk Iloilo.

Enjoying these ribs will now come with a view of modern Iloilo as Bourbon Street's newest branch features an al fresco veranda that opens up to the Iloilo Business Park.

One can particularly admire the Park Square (featuring the monument of Ilonggo hero, Gen. Martin Delgado), Casa Emperador housing the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art (ILOMOCA) and Megaworld's condominium row - closest being the sunset-lit One Madison Place.

Located in Iloilo's most happening spots, Bourbon Street's first branch is located at the (then) center of city’s most popular night spot area – Smallville.

Presently, it is located at The Avenue Complex, just a stone's throw from its original location.

But this new branch at the 2nd floor of Festive Walk Iloilo Mall Annex will bring "The Bourbon Experience" to the next level!

A lively interior featuring "a mash-up of New Orleans and Iloilo" wall art makes an appetizing visual that certainly connects to the delectable gastronomy it offers.

But there's a more cozy room, which also doubles as a function room, perfect to drink the night away and experience Iloilo City's longest happy hour - from 10am to 5pm, daily!

But before we begin the "session", here's a preview of some of Bourbon's specialties that had us asking for more!

Starting off light with the Cajun Cream Seafood Salad - grilled shrimps and other seafood on a bed of mixed, tomatoes and cucumber drizzled with Cajun spiced cream dressing with a side of bread.

Still of the lighter side, how about some of these famous thin crust pizzas? With its signature thin and cracker-like crust, it brings our pizza experience to a whole new level.

Comes in three variants - Four Cheese (Edam, Parmesan, Cheddar, Mozzarella), Gourmet Sausage (Italian, Schublig (German) and Hungarian) and Bourbon Special (Spicy Beef, Salami,Olives, Mushroom, Capers)

But if you prefer something heavier - check out the burger line up. Again, it comes in three's - each with a signature dressing and fries on the side.

The Louisiana Garlic Beef Burger consists of beef patties (180 gms.) with plenty of garlic sandwiched between sesame seed buns and comes with garlic mayo dressing.

Try some Cajun Hamburger - beef patties, sesame seed buns, ham, tomatoes, lettuce served with ketchup. Dare the Bourbon Triple Cheese Burger - with Gouda, Emmental and Cheddar cheeses on top of all the works!

The Original Buffalo Wings make a perfect beer-match! Deep-fried chicken smothered with spicy "vinegar-based cayenne pepper hot sauce" and melted butter.

One of my favorite orders at Bourbon Street is the Royal Baked Salmon. First of all, it is salmon - no question about that. The salmon fillet is then crusted with Parmesan cheese and served with Hollandaise sauce and vegetables. The mix of flavors and texture always gives me that gastronomic high!

Rare, medium or well-done? Have it your way when you order steaks and other meat offerings like this US Pepper Steak - grilled US beef sirloin topped with pepper and garlic.

Look at those grill marks!

The highlight of course are the Bourbon BBQ Ribs - grilled tender backribs served with bold bourbon barbecue sauce. A personal favorite ever since...

Lost for words...

Ending it all, try one of their newest dessert offerings - Crepe Orange Flambé. Made with butter-baked crepes with orange and Curacao cooked "flambé". Curaçao is a liqueur flavored with the dried peel of the Laraha citrus fruit, grown on the island of Curaçao (WikiPedia).

Just for photo-ops only. Not the actual flambed dessert we all hungrily devoured

It was the surprise of the night and could have easily upstaged the ribs as the favorite of the night.

Nonetheless everything was good - from pizza and burgers to the steaks and ribs! And yes, the crepes flambé too!

The Dalmore exquisite single malt whisky experience can be classified as One of Life's Privileges.
Photo courtesy of A Not So Secret Life Iloilo

A big "cheers" 🍻 to Bourbon Street for the opening of probably the most excitingly located restaurant complete with delectable offering in recent memory.

C H E E R S !

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

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