FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

The Valentine Dinner Buffet at The Promenade at Days Hotel Iloilo is no doubt among the top Valentine gastronomic events in the city during Hearts' Day. Dubbed as FEAST OF THE HEART, it is one of the most indulgent buffets the hotel has to offer throughout the year with its wide selection of food. From hors d'oeuvres, soups and breads to the  organic salad bar, sushi & sashimi, main entrees, carvint station and desserts, it's all one big delicious gastromantic celebration! And for the NTH year, I spent Valentine's Day 2020 together with the Iloilo Bloggers Inc. indulging in the sumptuous offerings Days Hotel Iloilo has in store during the most romantic day of the year. Here's what we enjoyed last Valentine at The Promenade at Days Hotel Iloilo's  FEAST OF THE HEART  Let's whet up our appetites with the HORS D' OUEVRES/APPETIZERS/SOUP Stations. Breads come in many variants. Make your own salad in...

A mouth-watering discovery at the new branch of this iconic Iloilo restaurant in the town of Pavia. Kong Kee's fried sio pao has the same savory filling like its sio pao but this one comes in a deep fried dough. The "bread" is already good to go as it is like deep fried mantou? bread. It is very densed and it is sort of crisp outside but soft inside. Sold at PhP 35 each, around half of the price of the sio pao, it is also half as big. None theless it is a new take on sio pao coming from an iconic restaurant that sio pao built!

Now who doesn't love Ube Halaya ? From being a halo-halo ingredient to fillings of cakes and even brazo de mercedes , the lure of the purple yam is irresistible to most Filipinos. Cooking  ube halaya  is just simple but it tends to be almost tedious especially the mixing. First of all you must make sure you have quality  ube  (purple yam), preferably the  tapul  variety. That's easy if you have a trusted and dependable suki at the market who won't shortchange you by substituting purple sweet potato. When you're "ube-ready", just boil the purple yam until soft and then mash it until the texture you want. If you want to have a halaya with some "bites and pieces", you can hand-mash it until the texture you want. But if you prefer the smooth one, you can use a blender. Detailed recipe >>>  UBE HALAYA DETAILED RECIPE Now the tedious process begins. In a low heated wok, place the ube and add milk...