FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Cupped in banana leaves that gives not only a distinct flavour but also an identity, Puto Manapla is common here in Iloilo as to the place where it originated, Manapla town in Negros Occidental. While there's the original and ube variants, this is actually the first time I tried the cheese version. With yellow food coloring but real grated cheese toppings, the "Manapla" essence is still there made even better by the cheese. And I want some more!

The district Jaro, Iloilo celebrates biggest fiesta in the region characterized by the pageantry and the grandeur of the occasion paying homage to Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria , the patron saint of Western Visayas. Every February 2, all roads lead to Jaro as Ilonggos celebrate the feast of O ur Lady of Candles in different aspects - religious, gastronomic, enterprising, and more. (For) As early as December the Jaro Plaza is teeming with the Jaro Grand Carnival with activities like carnival games, food stalls, fruit stands and ukay-ukay, among others. It culminates on fiesta day with the coronation of the Fiesta Queen, chosen among the lasses of Jaro families. For the second straight year, I was at the Jamerlan household (thanks Sir Eugene) to celebrate the gastronomic part of the Jaro Fiesta. And just looking at the spread alone, it is indeed a grand way of celebrating the fiesta with one of the prominent Jareño families. And the gastronomic journey started with these a...

I made a side trip today in the town market knowing it was "market" day - Friday. It's when the public market is teeming with sellers, selling all kinds of goods, to buyers, from all walks of life. But I went there for a sole purpose - to buy a galore of native delicacies. And indeed I got a whole lot of it for a fraction of the price I one often can get in the city. All these for a total of PhP70 only. Yet I know for a fact that most of these would be lacking "quality" just by the looks of it. This alupe costs only 5pesos a pair and was just ordinary - not good nor bad just ordinary. It's a bargain for it's price. It was an impulse buying since there were no other alupe available around. These baye baye made from mais (corn) was worth it's price of 5 pesos per 3 balls (I ate one while durign the shoot-lol). Though Im not exactly a fan of baye baye mais (like the white one (rice) much better) but this was at par with the other ones I've tasted...

With a bowl piping hot dinuguan and freshly delivered puto manapla and baye-baye , this was one of the more satisfying eats I had together with my guests from Manila last week. Biscocho Haus (near YMCA) was an unlike place to have breakfast since it is always associated with pasalubong. Several branches of this pasalubong shop do serve breakfast, lunch and snacks. Among the limited food items they have are pancit Molo and pata. I never really liked the former since it was very buttery but the latter is amogn my favorite eats. This breakfast would have been much better if they had fresh lumpia that time to complete a native haul of Ilonggo specialties.

An exceprt from MENU :BLOODY GOOD By Margaux Salcedo, Contributor Philippine Daily Inquirer Posted date: November 02, 2008 ..... In Iloilo, they use chicken blood instead. Ilongga chef Pauline Gorriceta-Banusing shares that they use native chicken, which Iloilo is best known for, then serve it with puto manapla , also a white, bite-sized starchy puto. The color of this dinuguan version is on the brownish side instead of black, and the texture is much thinner because chicken blood is not as thick as pork blood. Chef Pauline theorizes, “I think our being a ‘manokan city’ explains why we do chicken dinuguan instead of pork.” Speaking of chicken, I remember a relative, who owns a poultry, always cook chicken dinuguan whenever they have an "ihaw" (Ilonggo term for "katay"). That was really good and unforgettable (proven by this this post). Very light since they are made entirely of, what else, but chicken. Blood, meat, entrails, whatever.... Finally, I was able ...

Continuing my quest for the best pancit Molo in the city brought me to an unlikely place to dine in. Biscocho Haus is more popular as a pasalubong shop rather than a food shop but a number of their branches now offer a few short order items including this popular Ilonggo soup. Their branch at Robinsons Place was the most convenient one for this blogquest since it was obscurely located outside the mall. After placing an order of the soup plus 3 pieces of puto manapla, I noticed two rice cookers that hold some of their turo-turo items. Seeing thru the glass cover of one, it was pata ilongga; stewed pork legs with sticky sour broth. I though the other one was empty until I opened it and saw pork dinuguan. Even though it was pancit Molo that I came for, I suddenly thought I had the wrong order. And it was, sad to say. That was the worst pancit Molo I've tried for this quest. The broth was (very) buttery and that all other flavours were lost in it. The Molo balls themselves, though loo...

Manapla is a town in Negros Occidental where puto that came wrapped in banana leaves is said to have originated, thus the name. This one though doesn't come in banana leaves but in plastic. Its color suggests that it has ube essence and the unique taste of the puto is worth every penny.

Iloilo's version of some of the Philippine native delicacies, include ibos, suman latik (ibos with sweetened coconut) and puto manapla of the Negros Occidental town of the same name (really loved their ube puto.) Ibos, Nang Palang's buko pie and Baye-baye