FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

It was in JD Bakeshop that I had my first taste of "local" ciabatta, but after seeing that Tinapayan has one made of wheat, I instantly bought 3 packs. A great bread for any sandwich but I love eating it on its own.

Bañadas is a sugar-glazed cookie. Its so popular that even neighbourhood bakeries have their own version. I always took it for granted for being just an ordinary cookie but when I ate this one from Biscocho haus after the shoot, it was heaven.

A trip to any destination wont be complete without having a taste of its local cuisine and delicacies and bringing some of it home, what ever those maybe. Our recent trip to Mindanao saw us first having dinner, during our overnight in Cagayan de Oro city, at P.Joes in Limketkai center. With its WWII theme and ambiance, I surrendered to puttanesca and tuna sandwich. The next day we had breakfast at a floating restaurant in Talisayan town. With the usual fresh catch of the day being displayed and cooked to your will, it was a good start for the day considering the view. With a cousin working for Del Monte Phils in CDO, our meals always had plenty of fresh Del Monte pineapples of which oftentimes I make a substitute for rice. Naturally very sweet, that we even took a whole fruit with us home A cousin's family prepared this lunch for us when we visited them last March 18 in Sibagat, Agusan Del Sur. It was almost an all meat ensemble with fish escabeche, chicken adobo, pork adobo,...

It was my first time at Healthy Shabu shabu at The Podium. It was for a Christmas party with some online barkada. We got a shabu shabu set consisting of seafood, noodles, meat and vegetables. We had fun "dumping" almost all of these in our "pot" while we chatted until it was ready.

Lubid-lubid is a sugar coated crispy goodie named for being like rope twirls. Lubid is rope in Hiligaynon . For those sugar-nots, there are some lubid lubids that dont have sugar coating, just the plain crispy bread. They are made from regular dough, shaped in to these twirls then deep fried. When cooked, the are rolled in sugar for coating and flavour. Another goodie cooked in almost the same way is serafina.

Quality doesn't have to be expensive. This made JD famous. From cakes and pastries to short orders, locals flock whether to eat or take something out. Their most famous branch is easily at the Roadhouse along Gen. Luna where it shares the building with it's sister restaurant, Emillion. Tourists usually are "shocked" to find out what they will eat costs about a fraction of what they usually pay for. Here are some examples. Club sandwich, 2 cups of macaroni salad, chicken-salad-rice plater, bowl of pancit molo, mango custard cake, chocolate cake, cherry fizz drink (not shown) TOTAL PhP 259.50 Ham sandwich on ciabatta bread, caesar salad and drink TOTAL PhP 98 Strawberry cooler, 2 glasses of iced tea, 2 bowls of pancit molo, 4 slices of cakes (chocolate, tiramisu, blueberry cheesecake, angel cake) TOTAL PhP 245 1 whole tiramisu cake around PhP 325 Among their best sellers are baked macaroni (around PhP 20), chicken ala king (around PhP25), assorted dessert squares (mor...

Ted's and Deco's are now outdoing each other in almost all terms to position themselves as then umber one, a title that easily belonged to the former for many years. Ted's having more branches here and in other parts of the country have the advantage and headstart while Deco's can't be taken for granted, being operated by the people behind the succesful Mang Inasal brand. Ted's started to offer rice and combo meal is some of their branches to lure more people while Deco's decided up to bring "pre war" pan de sal and tie up with "Pa-a" bakery (famous for its pan de sal). Also the latter decided to target not only the lcoals but tourists and balikbayans for it opened a pasalubong shop right next to its flagship store in La Salette. Now which is better? I can only speak for myself For starters Ted's "presents" batchoy better. Ted's makes it an island while Deco's seemed to have been "tsunamied". See for your...