FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Dainty Restaurant is among the famous old school Chinese restaurants in Iloilo City. Aside from serving their specialties in their mezzanine floor they also have this snack house in the ground floor that is combination of a turo-turo, short order, bakery and take out store. Taking almost centerstage in this part of their store is a display of baked goods and here's a batch of their "tinapay" I bought days ago for the purpose of blogging first before gastronomic pleasure. I just love their hopia monggo especially when hot off the oven or just came from the microwave. It's not your usual looking hopia yet tastes much better for me. It's a monggo-filled flattened flaky bread if it can't be considered as hopia. Though this one wasn't as good as the ones I had before. The ensaymad a is among the best "ordinary"variety - just filled with monggo with margarine and sugar topping. best eaten when hot or maybe microwaved for a few seconds. Just the us...

An article entitled Wheat Matters: Living the Legacy of Chinese Ascendancy appeared on a school based publication and it featured three of Iloilo City's nostalgic bakeries. Buho Bakery is among the most notable bakeries in Iloilo mainly because of it's "iconic" hole in the wall. Dainty though known mostly as a Chinese restaurant has quite a good range of baked goods. And Panaderia ni Pa-a , among the oldest bakeries in the Philippines (since 1896) and makers of an iconic pan de sal in Iloilo City . Enjoy these features courtesy of the The Augustinian Mirror Vol. 75 No.2 dated March 2009. Introduction Buho Bakery Dainty House Restaurant and Bakery Panaderia ni Pa-a

Dainty Restaurant is among the famous old school Chinese restaurants in Iloilo City. Aside from serving their specialties in their mezzanine floor they also have this snack house in the ground floor that is combination of a turo-turo, short order, bakery and take out store. Taking almost centerstage in this part of their store is a display of baked goods and here's a batch of their "tinapay" I bought days ago for the purpose of blogging first before gastronomic pleasure. I just love their hopia monggo especially when hot off the oven or just came from the microwave. It's not your usual looking hopia yet tastes much better for me. It's a monggo-filled flattened flaky bread if it can't be considered as hopia. Though this one wasn't as good as the ones I had before. Just the usual hopia baboy made bigger and better. It has the more recognizable hopia look and filled with teh same "baboy" filling we all are familiar with. What can I say but they...

Jiecel and Thea's is famous for their siopao and siomai. This snackshop in Mandurriao they say has a cook that came from Ma Mon Luk - a famous Chinese resto in Manila specializing in sio pao. This sio pao is dry - both the pao and teh chicken adobo filling. RATING 3.0 of out 5.0 Kusina Tsina's asado sio pao realy looks like it has been filled with chopped pork asado. I found it weird to see such a reddish sio pao. Their dough is somewhat like that of Tibiao's. RATING 2.0 out of 5.0 Another royalty from Roberto's is their King sio pao. It has almost the same filling as the Queen counterpart but instead of bacon it has ham. Also it is readily available anytime but is much smaller than the Queen and cheaper by 2 pesos. RATING 3.5 out of 5.0. Believe it or not, this is Yok Pek sio pao. Thought to have disappeared forever, Yok Pek survives but regrettably striving in this hotly contested sio pao industry. But would you believe this sio pao tastes really good. Got this on...

The Iloilo Dainty House Restaurant and Bakeshop make a hopia somewhat different from the usual that becomes special in my case. It is like a piaya that got lost in gastronomic translation and thinks of itself a hopia.  But nonetheless it still is hopia - flaky outside and filled with monggo that has a sort of "good smelling taste". Its not a "typo" but it's how I describe the some abstract taste of this particular hopia.  Its more in the fact that it somewhat has its own taste dimension that one gets overwhelmed to process the actual taste.  Each hopia costs around PhP8 but I advise you toget more than one. You might just love it the way I do. Dainty House Restaurant is located along Iznart Street, Iloilo City,.  a few steps away from Amigo Plaza mall and Shopping Center.

Without much to do while waiting for my appointment, I decided to take a leisurely walk around the block bounded by Valeria-Delgado-Iznart and Solis streets. These streets alone would account for more than half of City Proper's food shops. Also see City Proper Gastronomy guide . First along the way was Barrio Inasal 's modern branch along Delgado street. Next was the "MMDA" inspired motif of Amigo Terrace Hotel's snackbar and bakeshop, Sweet Treats. Im glad it finally had a great location since before the snackshop was located beside the mall's main entrance so it tends to be very crowded while the bakeshop was in the center of the mall. Now that the hotel and mall are undergoing renovation, good thing they finally placed the two side by side and along side the hotel's entrance for an alfresco experience. Among my favorite items from their bakeshop are bichocoy, teren teren, spanish bread and english muffin. They also have native items like fresh lumpia...

The first time I got to taste this hopia, it was really heaven. It looks and tastes very different from the hopias we know, this one made me crave (and rave) for days. I've been going back to Dainty eversince but most of the time they are already sold out or not available at all. From its perfect golden brown outside to its soft flaky, almost filo pastry like inside, to its monggo center, the pictures say it all.