FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

I’m no coffee drinker but Madge Café inside the Lapaz Public Market is a temptation that always renders me helpless. It’s the blog lure of their native coffee prepared as it was more than 50 years ago, that makes me always to stop by whenever I find myself in the market. A cup of coffee costs PhP25 and still uses the same prewar recipe concocted by Vicente de la Cruz. Ownership then has been passed on to many generations and now; Peter is the one who manages the café. Named after Vicente’s wife, Magdalena nicknamed Madge, the café is a melting pot this side of town.  There you’ll find government officials brushing with the ordinary folks, celebrities enjoying coffee as students and fans look on. Proudly displayed on the walls are memorabilia from photos of their VIPs guests to features in newspapers and magazines – a testament of how this little coffee shop has developed a “Pride of Place”.  The coffee shop exudes a calming ambience even during rush hour. It ...

A trip to New "Zealand" capped the last Friday of April and it was one rejuvenating experience over a cup of native coffee. It was in the SkyScraperCity-Iloilo forum that I to know the existence of this hole in the wall. A respite in the hustle and bustle of the construction boom in the area, "New Zealand" is set right in the middle of Iloilo City's megadevelopments - Megaworld, Ayala land, SM and Gaisano among others. It also sits on the bubog grove, a specie of native beach forest trees locally known as calumpang . The area is where the original shoreline of Iloilo used to be. Time and man-made development pushed the shoreline further away but these trees managed to survive and adapt. This hole in the wall has no name so it adapts the name of the place - New Zealand . And there just like in NZ, there were cows roaming around as you sip you coffee. There was even a sort of "bull fight" when we were there - good thing they didn...

I'm not really a coffee person but if it's native coffee that comes in a recycled can, then give me some. There's this coffeeshop named De Leonian at the Iloilo Central Market that is the melting pot in this part of the city. From the usual patrons consisting of the several politicians to just anyone who passes by the area. Native coffee is their specialty and when one orders it "to go" or take out it comes in these cleaned evaporated milk tin cans. Of course you don't drink straight out of the can unless you want a bloodied coffee. Nonetheless, the coffee tastes like native coffee freshly roasted and prepared right before your eyes. I can't be sure but this cup or tin can costs only 10 pesos. So have a native coffee experience, of course, to go !