FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Amidst the emergence of new modern ritzy restaurants and food places in Iloilo City, there are always original Ilonggo restaurants that continue to standout because of their specialty dishes that make their patrons come back for more. Ilonggos and the city’s visitors come to its door for the signature dishes to satisfy cravings at any time of the day. There’s the Grilled Squid, buttered chicken, Lapu-Lapu with Soy Sauce, Seafood Roll, Pork Leg Patatim, Baked Scallops, Birthday Miswa, Mixed Veggies, Sizzling Bulalo, Bacon Wrapper Shrimp, Bulalo Pochero, Ocean City Fried Chicken, or Pork Steak Chinese Style. These and many can be found at Ocean City Seafood Restaurant, which is only one of the more popular and long-lasting home-grown restaurants established in the heart of the Philippines. Aside from its main branch along General Luna in City Proper, Ocean City brought its wide array of delicious cuisine, mainly local and Chinese specialties, closer to mall-goers at SM City Iloilo in Man

Another Pista Minatay  has come and gone; and as always the complete "yellow rice" staple called valenciana will have its gastronomic presence felt. Part of the  malagkit  delicacies served during Undas, together with  ibos/suman, kalamay hati, alupe, linugaw  and a lot more,  valenciana  stands out. Not only of its signature yellowish hue but its the only one that's not of "dessert" category. It's like a complete meal in itself. Basically, completing the "go, grow and glow" requirements, it has the carbohydrates, protein and vitamins & minerals in just one spoonful. And it can come in its simplest form, like the one below, with just malagkit rice, pork, chorzio and bell peppers to some fancy with additions liek raisins, peas, chicken, hardboiled egg (just garnish though), etc. But NO hotdogs, please... The recipe is just simple for it only involves 1) Sauteeing (Just gisa the pork, chicken, peas, chorizo bel

What's in a name? Usually, dishes are named from their main ingredients, others from the method of cooking techniques while some dishes from the place of origin. But this curious specialty from Kong Kee Restaurant has even a more curious name. It is called " No Name ". I first encountered "No Name" as a noodle dish called Pancit No Name but luck wasn't on my side then as the dish was taken off the menu for a long time. But the name "No Name" still lived in my memory... And imagine how excited I was when I found "No Name" on the menu of Kong Kee. Though, it has been there for a long time, it just took me longer to find it.  So, No Name is a sort of chop suey like dish having a melange of vegetables like bell peppers, mushrooms and onions to name a few. For meat, it has squid, pork and innards.  All these are then smothered in thick savoury sauce made spicy by the chilies mixed in the dish. An order of this a