FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

More than 10 year ago, to get into the Dinagyang spirit I planned on making a collage from my food photo collection in the shape of a Dinagyang warrior headdress. In the process, the thought of making it from real food items would be much easier so I suddenly got excited and got this plate native delicacies and finished my first creation. But I wasn’t satisfied so the next day, I got more native delicacies while eating some of them as I made my “art”). It seems my “creativity” has been lost in gastronomic translation for they all looked ridiculous so I just ate more of them – lol. Then with some stroke of luck and inspiration, I finally managed to get a better looking one that eventually became my trademark. And yes, it’s edible and represents what Iloilo is famous for – food and Dinagyang.

“The siopao, a Filipino fast food favorite, may be counted among “Filipinized” Chinese dishes, like pancit” points out food writer Margaux Salcedo. But her quick search on the Internet shows that nowhere else in the world are these buns also called siopao. “ The Chinese (apparently) calls them baozi, the Thais – salapao, Hawaiians refer to them as char siu bao; the Vietnamese identifies them as banh bao” she writes in her column on the Philippine Daily Inquirer ” But they all mean the same thing - a filled bun.” “The difference seems to be in the filling. The Hawaiians’ char siu bao offers barbecued pork inside, similar to our asado siopao, while the Vietnamese version offers ground pork, like our bola-bola siopao” reveals her further search. “The “Filipinization” is obvious with the asado filling, pork asado being a viand of Spanish influence derived from the Spanish word “asado” meaning “roasted,” although pork asado is a favorite at Filipino-Chinese restaurants” she finishes. Il...

Almost as famous as its namesake festival, chicken sio pao from Dinagyang Refreshment is truly worth the trip to this hole-in-the-wall foodshop. Both of its more convenient branches are located within the MaryMart Center but you will surely have second thoughts if its really worth it since ambiance is never heard of (except the one in the food court). Their main? branch though is located in the district of Villa. Dinagayang Refreshemtn also have shorts orders from batchoy to spaghetti, and turo turo items for lunch and dinner, to chocolate cakes and brazo de mercedes for desserts. But it is their sio pao, especially the chicken variety that made this foodshop stamp its foot in the very competitve gastronomical scene of Iloilo.

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...