FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

A visit to Breakthrough Restaurant along Villa beach is always filled with gastronomic memories - from their extensive line up of the freshest seafood to mouth watering meat dishes like lechon baboy. And of course there's this fish called managat . Usually it is sold by the kilo, as guests can choose from the display of fishes they have at the counter. Tucked in a corner are these managat which you can choose according to size and price per kilo. They are usually served in two ways; the head and upper body part usually is sinabawan (cooked in broth with vegetables) and the tail and lower body part sinugba (grilled). Though it is not only Breakthrough that serves managat , but I have to highlight this popular restaurant since most online articles mentioned this seaside restaurant. And most of the photos I have for this fish came from Breakthrough, a testament of it's popularity, both the resto and the fish. Anyway here are excerpts...

Now would you dare to satisfy your curiosity if it seems that this chicharon is made with snake skin? The patterns and scale-like features seem to be remnants of a snake that just shed off it's outer skin. I'm no exotic food enthusiast, much more into snake delicacies, so I'd answer my question with a resounding NO ! Well then, good news for all of us since there's more than meets the eye. This is t ilapia skin chicharon from Pixie's Sinugba - Live in Iloilo City. I've heard and read of this before so when this was presented on the table, I was the first one to get a bite and it was soooooo good! Known as Tilapcharap (playing on words tilapia, chicharon and sarap (delicious)), this appetizer sounds good on the menu but upon seeing it might be a little whoa! what's that? . Unless ofcourse you had a prior idea. Based on what I've tasted at Pixie's Sinugba, this tilapia skin chicharon could have been simply made - just deep fry (cleaned) tilapia ...

When I heard there was something “fishy” going on in Villa these past few weeks, I immediately took off and investigated the matter. But the “suspects” turned out to be lapu-lapu, tilapia, managat and bangus! Welcome to Pixie’s Sinugba Live! Located along Yulo Drive, the first of its kind Pixie’s Sinugba restaurant is home at last. WORLD’S FIRST “We have around a hundred take-out outlets nationwide and 5 dine-in restaurants, yet this is our first branch in Iloilo” opens up Meriam Valencia. “We carefully planned everything since we know how discriminating the Ilonggo palate can be. ” Meriam Valencia is often referred to as the “Inihaw na Bangus Queen”. Her original recipe for grilled bangus proved to be a smash hit that eventually led them to venture into the food business. “To start with, we offer live fish tanks with filled managat, tilapia, lapu lapu and bangus which our other restaurants don’t have.” she continues. “Our Iloilo branch is the world’s first live bangus restaurant wher...

Pixie's Sinugba is now in Iloilo City and just opened a few days ago. Serving healthy seafood products and other Filipino best delicacies, it started as an outdoor takeout outlet producing Inihaw na Boneless Bangus na walang kaliskis, and other Seafood products with a healthy concept. Pixie is the nickname of Sylvia Marie M. Valencia, the oldest daughter of the Valencia Family, playing in the national team (basketball). The birth of the career playing in the national team was also the birth of Pixie's. Sinugba is an Ilonggo word for inihaw. Pixie's Sinugba simply means inihaw ni Pixie. Sinugba na bangus It was in the year 2000 when Pixie had a chance to play basketball on the national's intercollegiate games at New Era University. During those games, her extraordinary skills in playing basketball were discovered. She was invited for the training pool for RP Women's Basketball Team. Two years later (2002) Pixie was having a hard time on maintaining her diet as an...