FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

The Tryst Restaurant at the Paradise Garden Resort Hotel (formerly One MGM) played host to the Sooo Pinoy team after lunch. Aptly named, the resort has a world on its own away from the Boracay beach crowd. It presented two Sooo Pinoy dishes - Pork Chop sa Ibabaw ng Rema and Inihaw na Lapu-lapu na may Gata at Nakadapang Sugpo. The former had a flavourful pork chop and utilized rema (or breadfruit which belongs to the same family of langka) which is abundant on the island. And the latter had the prawns “mounted” on two variants of kamote – white and violet. Back to the beach front and we found ourselves at Deparis Beach Resort. I thought they specialized in French cuisine until Mr. Roger Deparis appeared to meet and greet us. Together with his trusted chef, he presented their best selling Filipino dishes – Sinigang na Sugpo and Pork Steak! The chef shared that they actually adds Knorr chicken powder in her Sinigang soup, yup it’s really is chicken and i s not a typo error. And come to th...

The culinary tour around the Philippines continues as Unilever Food Solutions brings the Sooo Pinoy advocacy to the island of Boracay. In cooperation with the Department of Tourism, UFS is on the road to 10 gastronomic destinations across the country and visit more than 100 restaurants. It aims to get to the belly of what makes up Filipino cuisine in a campaign dubbed as Food Trip Na, Pilipinas! Among the premiere tourist attractions of the country, Boracay offers a melange of cuisine to cater to a very diverse parade of nations frolicking under the sun. And it is a challenge for restaurants to come up with recipes that have the Filipino flavor as well making them stand proud beside with other world cuisines. DAY 3: BEACH FRONT DINNERS A sunset walk along the famed white sand beach brought us to our first foodie destination - Sur Beach Resort. Situated along the northern shores (Station 1) of the island, we wondered why it was named as such until we learned that the owners hail from Da...

A few months back, Unilever Food Solutions launched the Ultimate Food Blogger competition in search for the “ Foodie of all foodies ”. It was part of its Sooo Pinoy advocacy that aims to get to the belly of what makes up Filipino cuisine. Together with t he Department of Tourism, the culminating activity is a food tour to 10 gastronomic destinations and dine in more than 100 restaurants across the Philippines dubbed as Food Trip Na, Pilipinas ! Last week, the gastronomic tour kicked off with a 5-day and 22-restaurant food trip that spanned Iloilo City and Boracay Island . And Ilonggo restaurateurs and hotel owners graciously welcomed the Sooo Pinoy team as they ate their way around town. DAY 1: WELCOME TO ILOILO Chef Pauline Gorriceta Banusing presented a galore of typical Ilonggo cuisine dishing up Native Chicken Binakol and KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, Langka) to represent Freska’s best s ellers downed with fresh dalandan juice and fresh Guimaras mangoes with buco gelato...