FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

This Semana Santa had me fill up with different "brands" of bingka here in town. But I've been sort of fed up with the puto like taste of these bingka (lol) so it was really a welcoming sight to see a diferent brand of bingka in the table today. Not only big and appetizing but among the more popular brands of bingka in the whole of Iloilo. It was a big plate of RCJ bingka from the town of Balasan in Northern Iloilo. It has been a while sicne I had this big plate of a bingka. Most of the time, we buy those convenient packs of 8 pieces (PhP20) compared to this plate (PhP80). I also got excited since I get to update my blog with a much better photo of the said native delicacy. And it didn't fail. In fact it was much better the one I had before. Much creamier and the essence of coconut can truly be tasted (and smelled too). This type of bingka is different from most since it doesn't have those coconut strips one expects but instead little bits of semi-matured coconut...

The heritage district of Jaro is a showcase of the illustrious past of Iloilo City. Mansions and ancestral houses dot the area especially around the vicinity of the plaza. Among these heritage mansions is the Ledesma ancestral house just right across the plaza. Now just a shadow of its glorious past, this mansion looks almost dilapidated from the outside. But as the above photo obviously shows it's grandeur has turned from "heritagey" to gastronomi as one of Iloilo's famous bingka now occupies the gate of the said mansion. I always had been against this so-called "bastardization" of the city's heritage structures. Though not actually on the structure itself but it still "part of the view", Despite this I still love RCJ bingka just like most Ilonggos. More about RCJ Balasan bingka . Photo courtesy of wwwinz of Skyscrapercity

After watching the annual Christmas fireworks display at SM City Iloilo around 5 hours ago, we dropped by Jaro Plaza and got ourselves some bingka from the RCJ Balasan Bingka stall. It was almost midnight that time that most stalls were closed and they were also in a hurry of "disposing" their bingka so I got 6 brown bags of their small bingka for the price of 5. I am a "suki" oft his bingka but tonights bingka was the best one ever. No, I don't think it had to do with their recipe but I guess I just came at the right time - just a little warm enough to bring out the right taste. Creamy with the right mixture of coconuts (strips and gata) and rice flour - it was a perfect ending for the night. (We just had pizza 30 minutes before - lol)

A bibingka dream come true By Hazel P. Villa, Inquirer Visayas Courtesy of The Philippine Daily Inquirer ILOILO CITY – Couple Reginald Sr. and Florenda Jaro literally live and breath their business 24/7. They lay their heads on the table where they cook, get by on four hours of sleep, brave the weather and deal with the ugly side of the business until they realize their “bibingka dream.” Less than three decades later, the couple’s hard work paid off. Their RCJ Balasan Bibingka has now become a household name hereabouts. Customers seek out the couple’s baked rice cake for its no-nonsense preparation, melt-in-the-mouth texture, long shelf life, and that unique mildly sweetish flavor. What people buy these days from the couple is bi-bingka made of the softest milled rice, sugar, milk, eggs and freshly grated young coconut cooked not in clay pots, but in an oven designed by Reginald who, by now, is proud of what they do for a living. They sell a pack of eight small bibingka cakes for...

Instead of fasting this Holy Week, I got to feast on bingka . Don't bother asking how many pieces I devoured in just one sitting. So I'll just make a rundown of my previous bingka entries to be "in" this Semana Santa . Bingka sa Mohon. One of the more famous bingka s in Iloilo so naturally I was compelled to blog about it. For Php50, this uniquely rectangular bingka is both a visual and gastronomical feast since it doesn't only look good but tastes good also as it overflows with coconut strips that I refer to it as bukayo cooked bingka style. Ah! Nang Palang's. Its really looks very enticing just looking at the buko strips inside out. Yeah just look at it but dont bother eating for it will disappoint you bigtime. The buko was okay but it was the "base" (I dont know what to call it) that sucked. It was across between a mamon made with native ingredients that was half cooked and a cake that went " sapatos ". At PhP17 each, just scrap...

I was fortunate enough to pass by RCJ's stall in Jaro Plaza without the queue so I got five packs of their small bingkas. It was cheap Php20 for a pack of 8 pieces. It was literally fresh from the oven that cold morning. But I would say their big bingka tastes better since you can really taste the creaminess of the coconut milk. UPDATE : Inday Hami has two good feature stories about Balasan's RCJ Bingka in her ILOVEILOILO blog. Also I got to try these little bingka s once again and they were much better than the previous one.

The northern town of Balasan is famous for it's bingka. Going there would probably take 3 hours so it is really good news for city dwellers when famous bingka makers from that town come to Jaro everytime the fiesta nears. Got this big order of bingka since the smaller ones were just being prepared and there already was a queue in front of us. This one costs 80 pesos so it wasn't really a fast selling one but we were on a schedule so we had no choice. But it really was worth it. It had milky taste that makes you crave for more and rather sticky than most bingkas. The coconut meat was grated instead on being made into strips.