FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Chances are, you might already be munching and enjoying a lot of native delicacies in your province as today, Nov. 1 is when most Filipinos go visit their dead in cemeteries despite the fact that it's actually All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day is still a sleep away. It's an unexplained tradition why the mix up just like why native delicacies are the staples of the season. Some say it's Filipinizing the Halloween that instead of candies and other treats, we have these native delicacies to share. they say it started in the rural areas, with the abundance of rice and coconuts, make these kakanin's the staple. And that this tradition may have caught up with the urbanites who at some point of their lives have took part of this traditon, adapted it in the big city. Whatever the case or occasion maybe, these native delicacies are always anticipated as it brings back not only the the taste memories one had in his younger years but they are really good eats i...

Semana Santa in Santa Barbara, Iloilo, just like in many other towns across the Philippines is marked with spiritual and cultural activities. It starts on Palm Sunday with the blessing of the palaspas marked by the palaspas-making contest. Religious activities like Visita Iglesia, Last Supper re-enactment, Via Crucis, Veneration of the Cross and Santo Entierro Procession, among others keep the pre dominantly Roman Catholic Santa Barbaranhons occupied during the last four days of the Holy Week. But Semana Santa in Santa Barbara is one that also plays on a gastronomical note as the townsfolk indulge in the ultimate Lenten food offering - bingka . I grew up associating Lent with bingka and vice versa. I remember going to the plaza as a kid so that we can do some " pamingka " - that is having a picnic in the plaza eating nothing but bingka . It's been like this since time immemorial, that this year the Santa Barbara Municipal Tourism Office gathered the manug-bingk...

It started last March during the Sooo Pinoy event of Unilever Food Solutions in Iloilo when I met Ms Maricar Erese, the Executive Producer of the TV show THE PINOY FOODIE . The show is hosted by the (self proclaimed she always say) "Adobo Queen" Nancy Reyes Lumen and shown every Sunday 830am on GMA NEWS TV . Plans of having the said show shoot in Iloilo began to take form and just last week, I co-organized the The Pinoy Foodie Iloilo Food and Heritage shoot with Mr. Eugene Jamerlan, among others, that spanned 3 days of non-stop eating, shooting and more eating ... It all began with a breakfast in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo hosted by the Municipal Tourism Officer Ms. Irene Magallon. Everybody digged in the delectable “pamahaw” prepared by Ms Irene consisting of kusahos (a local beef tapa version which is sundried for days), binodo (tuyo that has been “soaked” in salt for days then fried and finally having a vinegar as broth), linagpang nga bangrus with guinamos (grille...

Just like the Holy Week tradition of these bingka stalls lining up the town plaza of Sta. Barbara, it seems like an annual "panata" for me to indulge on these yummy native delicacies. Unlike last year when I had a galore of these bingka like there's no tomorrow, this year was just minimal. I only had three different brands, the first one was rather not so good that I didn't bother taking aphotos. But these two from Luis and RJs, maybe not be the best, but were really miles from the first bingka I had. RJ's the "ebony" (left) one tasted better since it had more coconut strips through it had a hint of sourness into it. While Luis', "ivory" one was like more of puto topped with caramelized sugar (ala creme brulee-lol) But in the end, both bingkas were good that I found myself buying them again and again, playing blind to the calls of the other bingkahan.

Not only did I buy round bingkas from Mohon but also those in plates. Costing PhP50 per plate, these rectangular bingkas take more time to cook but are often sold first (so it would be much better to reserve beforehand.) This was the first bingka from Mohon that I tasted and it was a good first time that I yearned for more. So I bought two plates the time I went there and it was more than worth the time, money and effort I put on to get them. Aside from being worth the price, "pound for pound", compared to the round bingkas , I love how this big bingka actually taste inside out. It packs more flavour and of course those signature coconut strips which made them stood out. In fact, I could finish one plate all by myself (lol) compared to finishing 20 of those small bingkas . It was a good thing that I reserved through text and confirmed my orders by going there, so I was really assured of these bingkas, which caused so much frustration before but now satisfaction and mo...

B ingkahan sa Mohon is almost an icon in this part of Iloilo City for it is synonymous with very delicious bingka. Fulfilling one of my blog frustrations, a few weeks ago I set on a journey to rediscover this very popular bingkahan and I got more than bags and plates of it's famous bingka . I arrived early that time to see they were just preparing to make their famous bingka and that prompted me to have an impromptu gastronomic tour of the nearby area. When I came back an hour later, my order wasn't ready despite my reservations but I didn't mind. I mean it’s just a few minutes of waiting compared to the two times I visited the place and came out empty handed and overly frustrated. So I took some snapshots of how these delicious bingkas are prepared to make the most out of my waiting time. Bingkahan sa Mohon only makes bingka four days a week according to one of the workers I casually talked with. Starting on a Friday they make a somewhat limited batch until Mon...

This is my final installment of my bingka galore post in time for the Lenten season and for Black Saturday, not one nor two but four different kinds of bingka to choose from. Looking closely at photo above reveals four different bingkas which at first glance may just look like a pile of bingka . The batch above includes the bingka I bought from Leling's (right) and a nameless stall beside the church. Bingkas below come from Didays (left) and Tib's. Ranking this batch is an easy task with the one beside the church being the best not only for this round but for the whole season. Maybe being beside the church has it's blessings. They are not puto like and is reminiscent of the bingkas in the city which are chewy and moist. Next would be Tib's for being a breadlike bingka (lol). It may be dry but it did taste good even without those coconut strips. I almost finished 5 under a minute! Diday's is next but is not actually a good one except that it has geneours c...