FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

As a kid , I remember being bribed into almost anything, with this cheese cup cake. Made by Tibiao bakeshop, almost everything that time tasted like cheese, from its topping to its bread. So I decided to bring back the old days again with cupcake. Almost still teh same like but its my tastebuds that have outgrown this one but still ... it tastes like cheese!

Probably among the most famous Ilonggo dishes in the national scene, La Paz batchoy is a noodle dish with pork, liver, intestines served with hot broth and topped with crunchy chicharon, garlic. onion leaves with soy sauce and powdered pepper used to adjust the flavour according to one's taste. They say one can identify an Ilonggo by the way he eats his batchoy, that is, sipping the broth first until the bowl almost dries up. That could be the reason why "batchoyan" offers free broth refill, or maybe the other way around. Whatever it maybe, batchoy is more than a comfort food for most Ilonggos, its a reflection of their way of life.

Another delicacy named after one of Iloilo City's districts, Molo. This Ilonggo soup, obviously rooted from the Chinese, is often described as a feel good soup. When I tried making one in the office before, it instantly became a hit. Unlike its more famous "cousin", La Paz batchoy, I couldn't name a restaurant that serves an authentic pancit molo even in Molo district itself. Its more of a homemade specialty and that's why we often serve this one at home during fiesta, when we have visitors or just during times we feel like eating one. Most of the time we make around 2 kilos of pancit molo filling and keep them in little packages. Some of which ended up as lumpia filling or just being made into patties. Pancit Molo feature  | Pancit Molo recipe courtesy of FOOD Magazine MAY 2006 Issue

Home made ube halaya given by a fellow blogger. The ube quality was so good that the resulting color of the halaya was naturally "ube-violet" and it tasted like well, ube!

A tried and "tasted" pasalubong treat from the city's best selling pasalubong store, Biscocho Haus. Although its just the bakery's own version of this universal chewy dessert yet it has become its bestseller aside from the product which the store got it's name, biscocho. Available in special, mango and pineapple varieties, it ranks as my most recommended pasalubong treat from Iloilo.

Thin sheets made from flour, milk and sugar rolled into hollow cylinders. Comes in many sizes and flavours like ube and buko-pandan. THICK varieties wherein several sheets are rolled together or THIN made up of a single sheet. Using goat's milk makes softer barquillos, like Panaderia de Molo's (above) where literally it melts in your mouth. Whether eaten with ice cream or by itself, it'll surely bring memories. How to make BARQUILLOS video courtesy of Interactive Museum of West Visayan Traditional Arts and Crafts Traditions at the University of the Philippines Visayas Thanks to IAMME for sharing this in SSC

Size doesn't matter. This little guy can give those "saucy" fresh lumpia in restaurants a run for its money. Sold mostly in stalls and local bakeries like Tibiao and Biscocho Haus. Usually made with ubod plus some greens this type of fresh lumpia doesn't need sauce to bring out its flavour. Just eat it plain, on the go and you'll be asking for more. This was a hit with my colleagues back then when they spent their vacation with me.