Heritage Lunch Buffet at Camiña Balay nga Bato in Arevalo, Iloilo City

It was a much needed diet "reset" over the holidays as I found myself having a heritage lunch buffet at Camiña Balay nga Bato in Arevalo, Iloilo City.

Despite the hectic gastronomic schedule the past few days, this lunch buffet (Happy Birthday Ma'am Irene Magallon!!) was a welcome change to the cholesterol-laden Christmas and othet parties of the Yuletide season.

So what made it on my lunch buffet plate? A lot of greens and other food items one couldn't find in typical buffets and restos for they are mostly a taste of home.

There's my favorite sauteed alugbati and kolitis, steamed okra with bago-ong, fresh lumpia, fried egg plant, hinanggop nga balingon/dilis, grilled bangus belly and pomelo.

But this was just my first plate and many plates more came after. Check out all the other offerings for this Heritage Lunch Buffet at Camiña Balay nga Bato in Iloilo.

The buffet begins with the famous Kap Esing Pancit Molo - a perfect start to any Ilonggo heritage lunch given the history and tradition of this soup named after the adjacent district of Molo.

How about some Ilonggo-style fresh lumpia? Made with ubod and ground meat spiced up by lots of garlic and tamed by sugar. And there's no need for sauce.

Another great starter is the empanada kaliskis which has a crisp layered skin with a pork and kamote? filling.

Can you say NO to mango with bago-ong? Though it looks yellow, this one is halfway to being ripe thus having a sour and sweet war of flavors!

Simple but brings a lot of delight is the steamed okra with a guinamos dip. An appetizer and side dish, its nutritious too - just don't go overboard with the bago-ong.

Another one that would go well wih bago-ong plus some vinegar is the fried eggplant slices.

Have you tried balagay or sigarilyas? This not so popular veggie made famous in the song Bahay Kubo, makes a great salad or sauteed appetizer.

Infamous for its bitterness, ginisang ampalaya woth shrimps is a staple side dish. Are you an ampalaya fan or not?

The simplest among the side dishes is the sauteed baby spinach or kolitis. I just like its simplicity cooked aglio y olio (that's in garli and oil) that goes well with any of the main dishes.

But my ultimate favorite green and leafy vegetable will always be alugbati. Whether cooked laswa style or part of a monggo soup dish, its always a delicious treat for me. Here, it's sauteed in tomatoes and its delicious too!

Labeled as hinanggop which is a mix of fried balingon or dilis and some fresh tomatoes. But it is served "deconstructed" so that one can choose to enjoy the ingredients separately.

The embutido marks the start of the meat journey.

But if one prefers seafood, there are som steamed shrimps ...

... and grilled bangus belly to choose from.

But the star of this heritage buffet is the Pork Bino-ug.

Basically its just salt-seasoned pork belly cooked over charcoal in "high heat" giving it a resounding crunch esp. the skin.

It is perfect paired with the Ilonggo spiced vinegar called Sinamak. Just look at all the spices! Can you handle it?

There's also some plain-looking pancit dish but it is among my favorite since I can actually taste the noodles itself and not drowned by the other ingredients.

Carbo-loading try the specialty rice aside from the plain and red or black varieties.

Try the Kalkag rice which has fried "baby shrimps" to give it some flavor and texture in every spoonful.

But if you want it most savory, the Adobo rice is yours for the taking... and eating.

Desserts cap the buffet and consists of the fruits in season and some native offerings.

How about some pomelo and minatamis na saging?

Enjoy this heritage buffet with an ice cold cucumber calamansi juice.

And saving the best for last, one cannot have a complete Camiña Balay nga Bato visit without the The Tsokolate Experience - a serving of thick and hot tsokolate espeso. Don't forget to ring the bell for a refill!

The heritage buffet at Camiña Balay nga Bato is open for lunch and dinner UPON RESERVATION for a minimum of 10 pax at PhP 500 per person.

You can Contact them via their Facebook Page.

Thank you & HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Maam Irene Magallon

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

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?"

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.

A native (foods) welcome in Guimaras

Even after having breakfast less than an hour that time, we couldn't say no to this lot of native delciacies that welcomed us in Guimaras. First and foremost, Guimaras best known produce is their sweet mango famous almost worldwide. And it comes with it's best partner, ibos. This brown baye-baye variety is made from toasted rice thus giving it a more disctinct flavour compared to it's more "caucasian" cousin. I like the one wrapped in banana leaves compared with the one in plastic for it gives it a more native feel. So when you're in Guimaras, be sure to check out the markets for these native delicacies that can make your trip more gastronomically satisfying.

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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