FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Tinda Lapaz has a lot of food finds to offer. There's the quintessential of Ilonggo cuisine which had its birthing and carrying the name - Lapaz Batchoy (take your pick from Ted's Oldtimer , Deco's Original and Netong's ). There's also the popular hang-out - Madge cafe ; and rows of carinderia's and bakeries. And of course, there's the row of halo-halo stalls lining almost half of the market's "facade". So yesterday, fulfilling one of my long "to-do, to-eat" list, I ventured to Tinda Lapaz and beat the searing November heat (and it's not even summer time yet) with an "Extra" serving of halo-halo at 5G's Refreshment. (And the 5 G's turn out to be G lenn I, G lenn II, G race, G reg and G ene.) Just like the batchoy, halo-halo comes in Regular, Special, Super and Extra. I counted more than 15 ingredients ranging from fresh fruits to colorful "trimmings". Of course I went for the Extra as my def...

That's what I got when I order linaga with caldo sang batchoy at Netong's. It was actually linaga but the batchoy lady suggested that it's also good with caldo so I tried it. And she was right - though cholesteroliffic as it may seem. Okay it is really full of cholesterol! The aroma is seemingly Lapaz batchoy and when you take your first sip, it seems the Lapaz batchoy essence gives way to another delectable - to that of linaga . I can go on forever describing how the two taste complement and how they taste good but there's no substitute of having them yourself. So if you're in Iloilo and you found yourself at the Lapaz market, just ask for Netong's and then try the linag-choy . You might develop a liking for it too!