Hala Bira: Dinagyang 2020 Flavours of Iloilo

This is ILOILO and it's Dinagyang Festival 2020 

Centered on the theme "Perfect Vision: Celebrating the Ilonggo Spirit in Honor of Senior Santo Niño", it promises a lot of fun, faith, fiesta and FOOD! And this is what it's all about - a food guide to the best of Iloilo.



As the streets are turned into party places, connecting with the flavorsof Iloilo will certainly make your Dinagyang experience a gastronomically memorable one. And it starts with a sip of LAPAZ BATCHOY.

This is LA PAZ BATCHOY. Noodles with pork, liver, innards topped with chicharon and served in pork broth boiled with onions, seasoned with guinamos and made even tastier with soy sauce and ground pepper. Originated and named after one of Iloilo City’s districts just like PANCIT MOLO.

This is PANCIT MOLO. A “noodle-less” pancit dish from Molo district with Chinese influence in it’s wonton like Molo balls made with ground pork, chicken, shrimps and vegetables seasoned and wrapped in Molo wrapper served in chicken broth with chicken strips. Want more chicken? Then it’s time for CHICKEN INASAL.

This is CHICKEN INASAL. Now made accessible nationwide by an aptly named fastfood chain, Mang Inasal, Iloilo’s export fastfood chain.



This Ilonggo adaptation of chicken barbecue uses local spiced vinegar known as sinamak as both marinade and dip since it is not soup based like TINU-OM NGA MANOK.

This is TINU-OM NGA MANOK. The only dish that has its own festival (every September in the town of Cabatuan) and is basically chicken pieces in packets of banana leaves with potato, ginger, lemon grass, onions, garlic and tomatoes cooked in seasoned plain water, unlike CHICKEN BINAKOL.

This is CHICKEN BINAKOL. With ingredients almost like that of tinu-om na manok or chicken tinola, chicken binakol differs with it’s use coconut water, has coconut meat, and traditionally cooked inside bamboo tubes over fire. Don’t have bamboo tubes at home? Just cook it in big pots just like the much loved KBL.

This is KBL. Kadyos-baboy-langka is an all time favorite dish of the Ilonggos especially those away from home.

 It consists of kadyos beans, broiled pork and unripe langka soured with local fruit called batuan. A simple dish with simple ingredients but the tenderizing of “K, B & L” that demands long cooking time unlike LASWA.

This is LASWA. The Ilonggo version of mixed vegetable stew. A quick dish to cook using vegetables including kalabasa, okra, patola, sitaw, takway, talong with saluyot, malunggay or alugbati leaves as greens. Shrimps, crabs or local snails called bago-ngon can be added as sahog. It’s a smorgasbord of different ingredients just like VALENCIANA.

This is VALENCIANA. A staple in fiestas, valenciana is the local paella. Made with pieces of pork, liver, chicken, shrimps with green peas, bell peppers, raisins cooked with malagkit rice (with kalawag) and garnished with hard boiled eggs. Some valenciana uses coconut (milk) just like most native delicacies like BAYE-BAYE.

This is BAYE-BAYE. A popular native delicacy made with toasted glutinous rice mixed with sugar and young coconut then pounded until sticky and well-blended. Akin to espasol in taste, look and texture but softer and without the powdery “make up”.

Numerous baye baye kiosks welcome tourists to Iloilo as they are sold as pasalubong along the airport highway but can also be found in the city just like BANDI.

This is BANDI. A candy made from hardened mixture of peanuts and carameled sugar topped with sesame seeds. It’s the One Town One Product item of the San Joaquin as Brgy. Qui-anan is known as the bandi capital of Iloilo. Sold in groceries, shops and sidewalk vendors this is a delight to those who having a sweet tooth just like BUTTERSCOTCH.

This is BUTTERSCOTCH. The best selling and most sought after pasalubong item from Iloilo. It’s a must-try, must-buy and must bring home treat but beware of those riding in this butterscotch bandwagon.

Famous brands include Rgies, PJ’s, Tinapayan and Biscocho Haus, the pasalubong shop “built” by BISCOCHO.

This is BISCOCHO. Originally made from stale breads that were again baked, biscocho is the (local) generic term for breads twice baked and comes in different varieties like biscocho de cana, principe, kinihad and others. Very popular that almost all bakeshops create their own biscocho just like BARQUILLOS.

These are BARQUILLOS. Thin wafers of milk, sugar, egg and flour, heated and rolled into tube-like treats hand-made by most bakeshops led by Deocampo's since 1890. Barquillos filled with polvoron are called barquiron.

Barquillos may also come in different varieties; ube, pandan and strawberry, but I like them plain for, like the kinihad, it pairs delectable with the tsokolate served at a 150 year old ancestral house in   VILLA AREVALO.

This is VILLA-AREVALO. Firecrackers, flowers and seafood complete the triumvirate Villa Arevalo is known for. Famous for it's hot tsokolate, Arevalo is home to the Camiña Balay nga Bato, a living museum showing the Ilonggo lifestyle back in the 1800s. 

Also, Arevalo rows of beachfront restaurants and roadside stalls serve a variety of seafood and other Ilonggo specialties; from talaba and scallops to kasag and hipon plus fish of all kinds, native litsong manok and lechon baboy. Most popular are Tatoy’s and Breakthrough restaurants lining the beach front., which takes a few minutes ride from MOLO.  

This is MOLO. Aside from the soupy pancit associated with it, Molo is also synonymous with Panaderia de Molo. A century old bakery famous for its Spanish sounding biscuits namely galletas, hojaldres, bañadas and rosquetes to local faves kinamonsil, kinihad, pulseras and other baked goodies.

Word has it that egg yolks discarded in the making of the Molo church played a major part in the founding of this bakery. Truly a place for nostalgic pasalubong shopping just like in JARO.

This is JARO. Ancestral houses and mansion dot this heritage district famous for its fiesta, cockfights and pasalubong. Most recognizable is Biscocho Haus whose signature red and white boxes filled with butterscotch, yemas, biscocho and other goodies are usual sights with travelers from Iloilo. 

It also boasts one of the country's oldest bakeries - Panaderia ni Pa-a, whose pan de sal is an Ilonggo favorite.  Jaro also has a variety of restaurants from restobars and grills to those with international flavor and flair rivaling that of MANDURRIAO.

This is MANDURRIAO. It was known before as the airport town but now considered to be the hippest part of Iloilo city as it is the center of nightlife that translates to food 0and entertainment.

Dine in trendy restos in the city's new CBD that includes SM City Iloilo, Smallville Complex, Atria Park District and the Iloilo Business Park. Enjoy the night away in numerous bars, clubs or in native themed restos mostly dotting the Diversion road connecting it to DOWNTOWN ILOILO.

This is DOWNTOWN ILOILO. This is the heart of the city being the center of  governance and old world gastronomy. From all-time favorite restaurants (try to catch the elusive Roberto's Queen sio pao) and snack shops along Calle Real to modern cafes and fastfood along the Valeria street and its vicinity.

And every Dinagyang, this part of the city hosts a lot of food festivals in almost every street. Here, you can find all kinds of eats - barbecue, seafood, streetfood, homemade specials in food bazaars including the famous batchoy of LA PAZ.

This is LAPAZ. As the rivalry of batchoyans - Ted’s Oldtimer, Netong's and Deco’s Original, among others continues, batchoy will always be La Paz and La Paz will always be batchoy. A dish that started from a small market stall, found its way to national fame and became the food icon of ILOILO.

Photo by Paulo Alcazaren

And, again, this is Iloilo. 

Experience the beat of Dinagyang; 

Marvel in its history, culture and heritage; 

Feel the warmth of the Ilonggos; and 

Indulge in gastronomic delights 

to enjoy the heart of the Philippines...

... through your stomach!