FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Don’t bother looking this stall in and around Iloilo City for it’s virtually inexistent. “Michael’s” is colloquial truncated Ilonggo term for “sa may kilid-kilid”. A term for those generic stalls selling food items to almost anything. Very commercialized as they may seem, but it’s really something part of the gastronomic culture anywhere (in the world as a whole). Mostly found in populous areas like plazas, markets, in front of hospitals, rows of stalls selling anything that can be placed on a barbecue stick abound. From the usual pork barbecue to innards to hotdogs and of course chicken, these “Michael’s” offer cheap, quick and sometimes good e ats. Like this chicken inasal, it may not be as big, juicy, and fleshy as those in inasal houses but it smells and tastes good. I may often choose this one over those well marketed (or hyped) chicken barbecues around. It offers plain and simple good taste without much pretension whatsoever. With marinade as simple as soy sauce, ketchup, sugar, ...

Dinner at Jo's Chicken Inato restaurant near St. Paul's University proved to be a meal of discoveries and rediscoveries. Though it was their buko halo that lured us to this inasal house that time, we can't say no to their specialty; chicken inato. It's chicken barbecue served Dumaguete style for which the said restaurant originated. A favorite during my college years, Jo's chicken inato has seen many treats, events or even just simple eats. For this dinner, we rediscovered their chicken inato and discovered a new dish, manok sa buko.Their chicken inato was still the same - delicious until to the last bite that I can't help but eat bare hands. Grilled and flavoured like the way I liked it then, it has maintained all throughout these years its distinct barbecue taste with local touch when dipped in a calamansi-soy sauce-vinegar concoction. Manok sa buko turned out to be almost quite like chicken binakol. Akin to tinola, only added with coconut meat and juice, th...

I was finally able to what I missed last time, a chicken inasal in one of the stalls in Jaro Plaza. It seems less expensive ( PhP45 ) compared to chicken inasal in restos but eventually I found why, it got less meat. Yet for it still tasted better than some of those chicken inasal I had for my blogquest for the best chicken inasal in the city. This is the kind of timpla I grew up with and learned to love, so I guess that is why among the chicken inasal houses I've been to for my quest, Tilipunan' s chicken inasal was the best. It was the simple (and similar) flavour and the sauce that did it! One vivid memory of this kind of chicken inasal was during our travel to Boracay when we passed by Passi City and vendors were offering these inasal to us passengers. It really smelled great and looked enticing that time that the memory still lives on. With this kind of timpla, I can finish 5 sticks or more!

I trooped to Barrio Inasal's more convenient branch along Delgado Street to continue my quest for the best chicken inasal in town. It was past the busy lunch period when I came in so ordering was just a breeze. I was just dismayed that they don’t have chicken liver inasal. Pecho will be my standard order for this quest and other side orders don’t matter though that time there was no more turo-turo food items left. I chose to sit on the spot where my picture taking session wouldn't be obvious and it was only after starting my photograph session that I regretted it since I was facing their barbecue counter thus their workers were all eyes on me. Anyway, their condiment bottles were sort of a deja vu since it was exactly like those in my first quest (see Mang Inasal ). Only the absence of the third bottle (chicken oil) reminded me I am in another restaurant. This branch of Barrio Inasal has a more modern ambiance compared to their other branches. With modern furniture and surro...

This could easily top my list of being the best chicken inasal. Its flavourful and savoury not to mention moist unlike others. This famous chicken barbecue can now be savoured even if you dont drive all the way there at "the fort". They are now available at Fort Manukan at San Mars Point and in Esca's Garden Restaurant.

This latest blogquest for the best chicken inasal in the city can be summarized in one word; unexpected . First it wasn't planned days ahead, it just popped out when my friend and I were looking for a place to have dinner.I immediately banned JD and Coffeebreak. I didn't feel Pancake House or Max’s either that time so we headed to Jo's Chicken Haus but eventually dropped the idea. All of a sudden, he said let's try Fort Manukan at SanMars Point and I hailed a taxi without protesting for I was bloggingly eager to be there.As expected of an unplanned visit, we had a hard time looking for a table since the restaurant itself it small, only around six tables plus 4 other makeshifts when in demand. And there were lots of people too making it a sort of an inuman that time. It was also expensive as compared with the other chicken house I've been through. A pecho costs PhP 69 plus PhP 15 for plain rice.Even though I had a lot of waiting time that could have been used to get ...

Okay, I went home early to enjoy my chicken inasal but what luck I have when I got home, a power interruption! Though we have rechargeable fluorescent lamps, the problem was my cellphone's battery was almost fully discharged so I waited for almost 2 hours until the power was restored. Again just like my Super Supper days ago, I made up another combo meal with what was left at the dinner table. A cup of rice, a cup of pinakbet and a cup of bihon accompanied my chicken inasal . Ofcourse I had a cup of hot tea afterwards. Even though I was (very) hungry, I still had first things first and afterwards it was chowtime! It was heaven served on a plate. Different flavours complemented each other, making it more makagalana. Good everything was measured, if not, it would be another buffet for me. Please forgive my gazillion pictures for this blogpost!

Unlike other quests, this visit had all things wrong. I was there during lunchtime and as expected there were many customers that came in after me. They ran out of pecho so I just pa-a and chicken liver. And I chose a wrong spot that I regretted at the end, not to mention having a family of eight beside me even before my order arrived. As usual though, I took pictures of in and around the restaurant. This branch along Luna street La Paz would have my vote for the worst ambiance among all the chicken houses I've been to. At first it may look the same but soon i felt no ambiance even though they also had an open air portion at the back. Maybe because their kitchen was almost part of the scene even though it was partly hidden. Then my order came and I thought I had fried chicken on a stick! It looked very crispy and dry on the outside. It seems that they do less basting during and after the grilling. My chicken liver order came a few minutes later and I started my usual picture ta...

Waking up much later than I intended to made me almost postpone today's lagaw in the city. But with superhuman effort I managed to get out of bed even though I was still half asleep and prepared myself. A little past an hour later I found myself my self having lunch at Chicken Sari Sari in La Paz to continue my long delayed quest for the best chicken inasal. Then after doing my errands and getting a haircut, I then decided to have snack but where? I checked out Dean's Cafe if they still have Yokpek dim sum left but to no avail. I then tried Glor's Hamburger but there were too many people. Then I remembered my pancit Molo quest and decided to check out Biscocho Haus at Robinson's Place. If I won’t be lucky, I might as well check out Coffeehouse Beanery. Thirty minutes later, a hot bowl of pancit Molo was served before me at Biscocho Haus. Nightime came, I did a last minute grocery at SM Delgado since it was the only place that was not so crowded that time since it...