FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

The birthplace of the Philippines’ Grill Expert, Mang Inasal Robinsons Place Iloilo , has officially reopened—refreshed, reimagined, and ready for the future. On Sunday, August 31, 2025, Mang Inasal celebrated the blessing and digital relaunch of its very first branch, originally opened in 2003, ahead of its grand reopening on September 1.  The milestone event was led by Mang Inasal President Mike V. Castro, brand ambassador Coco Martin, and Iloilo City Vice Mayor Love Baronda, Councilor Nene dela Llana representing Iloilo City Mayor Raisa Treñas, underscoring both the brand’s commitment to innovation and its deep cultural roots. Mang Inasal President Mike V. Castro (right) with brand ambassador Coco Martin. Fro m a single store in Iloilo founded by Edgar “Injap” Sia II, Mang Inasal has grown into one of the country’s most successful homegrown brands. Further strengthened by the Jollibee Group, it has become beloved for its signature Chicken Inasal, Unli-Rice offering, and iconi...

People unfamiliar with these would often mistakenly refer to tambis as makopa  - for its shape and color are almost identical. That's until you you see it up close and bite into its flesh. Tambis has a smoother skin, tends to be more translucent and a lot juicier. On the other hand,  mangkopa  ( makopa ) has a more velvety skin, more opaque and is drier. Both come from the same  genus  -  syzygium  and just differs on the  specie  -  aqueum ,  samarangense  or  malaccense . I really cannot point out which is which though... It was one rainy Saturday afternoon while having a meeting at Camiña Balay nga Bato in Arevalo that I curiously gazed outside the window. It was a tambi s tree teeming with its fruits - lots of it. And before I knew, we were served this basket of tambis which appreciatively devoured... It brought a lot of memories then - of afternoons climbing our neighbours tambis tree, of having ...

It was a curiosity order via an online buy and sell community chatroom. And for only PhP20 a piece, these Kalamay sa Buri were worth the sugar high and the calories.  Also called "parak" or "pinarak" in the local foodie dialect, Kalamay sa Buri is a sweet native delicacy made from the sap or juice of the buri palm tree.  The stately Buri Palm Buri is among the largest and most common palm found in the Philippines which can live up to 30 years or more.  ( Text and above photo source ) While the leaf is considered the most important part of this palm tree - which is made into hats, ropes, brooms, mats, bags and more, buri also offers a lot as a food source. Boiled Budyawi Buri buds locally known as  budyawi  are eaten boiled, raw in salads or processed into sweets like kaong. It is like boiled corn with each kernel enclosed in a pod of its own. Budyawi Pods signal the death of the buri palm The trunk of the buri tree contains a good qual...

Inubaran basically means the dish is cooked with  ubad . No, it's not a typo error, it is really ubad not ubod - different from but practically the same.  CONFUSING? Well ubod is the pith or the center of a coconut tree while ubad is the pith of a banana tree. To make this dish, one has to prepare an ubad for cooking - first thinly slice, around half a centimeter, the cleaned pith (must be very white and sized like a fluorescent lamp to be sure of the quality.)  Ubad sold in local markets. You will only use the white center/core portion.Then using a barbecue stick, remove web like fibers "interconnecting" these slices (these are actually hardened banana sap). When finished you can crush is into smaller pieces and add to your cooking. Here's a popular recipe using ubad... Ingredients 1 whole (native) Chicken, cut into bite-size pieces 3-4 cups chopped Ubad, prepared as described above 1 st...

Got a 20-piece pack of chicken drumsticks from S&R Iloilo and already marinated half of it in barbecue marinade... then I changed my mind. Thus the recipe is " Adobo ala Confucius" .  Aside from the BBQ marinade which was the spicy variant, I only added some black pepper so it was nothing fancy. It was during the cooking portion, that I began to "fuse and confuse" the basic adobo recipe.  I boiled the chicken drumsticks in its marinade and vinegar adding some bay leaves and peppercorn. I added some left over chicken boullion cubes (and some water) to enhance the chicken flavor. The resulting sauce didn't have the sourness I wanted but instead of adding more vinegar, I added some tamarind powder mix and this one had the additional gabi (yam) for a thicker soup base. I then removed the sauce and fried the chicken to brown it more. I also sauteed in in garlic to give it more flavor. Finally, I added the...

When I had my first bite of the  tam-is  many years ago, I find it weird and ask why isn't it sweet. After all, tam-is  literally means sweet in the melodic Hiligaynon language. Tam-is  is starchy but its "smoother" compared to  kamote  and cassava. One can find them during market days especially in inland towns where farming is abundant and crops come in different kinds.  In Iloilo City, the best place to find this rootcrop is at the Jaro Big Market aka Huwebesan - for its market day is Thursday. It is also what Ilonggos call a variant of a tuber-crop related to the ube, potato, taro and yam, among others, with a collective? scientific name of  Dioscorea esculenta, syn.: D. fasciculata.  These are tubers are the enlarged storage tips of a rhizome. The “eyes” are actually buds in nodes, arranged in spiral pattern from the base to the apex of the tuber. Aerial tubers, which are common in yams, are called ...

Mention baye-baye and those familiar with this native Ilonggo delicacy would imagine rolls of pounded pinipig (roasted newly harvested rice) mixed with freshly grated coconut with hints of subtle sweetness. One of the most popular native snacks, baye-baye is a staple in local markets as well as pasalubong shops and native delicacies stalls in the malls. While most baye-baye are just plain, there's an innovation to this local delicacy that Ilonggos are starting to embrace. It's baye-baye roll filled with a mix yema and peanuts. It was in 2011 that I made a gastronomic contact with this baye-baye innovation when I judged in a competition featuring baye-baye innovation in the town of Pavia, Iloilo during a sidelight event of their annual Tigkaralag Festival . Entries came with sesame seeds, cheese, pandan and yema-peanuts which became the eventual winner. It  came with an innovation that captured our taste aside from the originality and the cre...

Brown is IN - as in kakanin ! Who can resist these mouth-watering native delicacies? I would first pick a piece of kutsinta then dip it in grated niyog (mature coconut) savoring its sticky texture while having bits of the coconut. Then I would bite into the bingka  with its taste memories flooding my mind. A forkful of alupi would be a delicious balance in the sweetness and texture. Finally, it ends on a very sweet note - a very big piece of ibos dipped into muscovado sugar! Again, again, again... Now which is your most favorite or the one you really missed? Here are the basic recipes for the native delicacies Bingka Recipe Kutsinta Recipe Ibos (Suman) Recipe Alupi (Cassava Suman) Recipe

Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo, a premier hotel located in the heart of Iloilo Business Park, successfully held an exciting culinary collaboration under the Marriott Bonvoy on Wheels on August 1, 2025, from 6PM to 10PM at its signature restaurant, Runway Kitchen. The collaboration featured guest chefs Fadi and Farid of Saj Hut, who brought their distinctive Mediterranean cuisine to Iloilo's hotel dining scene. Known for its bold, fresh, and traditional flavors, their culinary contribution added a global flair to the award-winning dinner buffet at Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo. As one of the top choices for hotel dining in Iloilo, Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo continued its mission of delivering unique and world-class culinary experiences. This partnership brought vibrant food concepts to both locals and visiting guests. Pepsi Philippines enhanced the collaboration with curated beverage pairings and creative drink activations that complemented the Mediterranean offerings. Omoda I Jaecoo...