FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

A popular Chinese restaurant in the past, I remember it being located in an old building in front of the JM Basa side of the Socorro drugstore building. It had a grand staircase which welcomes every visitor inside. Sadly I cant recall those times we actually ate in the resto since my memories of Dainty resto are limited to "taking out" my then favorite, asado roll. Years later, it transferred to a new location along Iznart street. Its a two level resto with the lower level having a bakery, shorts orders and serving turo turo style cuisine. The second level serves as their main restaurant. More.... At present there's still their asado roll but it seems that I have outgrown it. They also have this pan de leche which is compact yet soft. Their monggo hopia which is unlike others since its more of a mongo-filled pan de leche. They also have this very simple ensaymada yet big in size and filling.

Paklay is what we call a dish made of tambo (bamboo shoots) cut into strips. Though I dont have any idea if this is solely for tambo or generic for all vegetables like radish, singkamas, etc. This one is what I call cooking-whats-in-the-fridge. Having leftover tambo, some ground meat and shrimps, this dish was just sauteeing and simmering. Though the tambo was not cut into strips, we still call this one "paklay".

I found two contrasting goodies that eventually became my addiction. Biscocho Haus' Crispy pan de sal This mini version of pan de sal caught my attention while choosing some pasalubong items for my cousin. Though I know how it would taste like but I still was very curious. I was right and it tasted almost like kinihad. But it was its novelty that I was after. Tinapayan's Soft bread sticks Another goodie that caught my attention was this bread stick. Unlike the usual, this one is soft and almost like dinner roll in consistency. A perfect partner for hot drinks, pasta or just being eaten on its own, this is another inexpensive treat for only 18pesos per pack of 6.

My uncle's birthday brought us to this restaurant along the highway leading to/from the city and the new Iloilo airport. Its the latter that gave birth to this food shop. For this occasion we had their specialty, mechadong pantat dagat (hito from the sea), fish sinigang, fish kilawin, grilled squid, shrimps and grilled liempo which was very salty that time. It seems that this place is starting to pick up pace since it opened for almost everytime I pass by, esp at night, there are lots of customers since this is the only restaurant in the area between the towns of Pavia and Sta. Barbara and it almost sits in the boundary.

A very big caldero serves as "second home" to ... ... these crustaceans waiting to be cooked to your hearts desire. A portion of their wide selection ... ... made their way to our table! More on Breakthrough

This is one place where you can truly relax while feasting on almost all what they have. Relax , in the sense that you can almost always have the place on your own and feast, because your budget will go a long way. For this visit I had their specialty, buttered chiffon and lemon square. I also tried their mixed pizza, though it was nothing to rave about. Its just a mix of their other pizza toppings; ham, cheese, sardines. But their crust was really thin, just like a hard pita or better yet like Piaya crisps After finishing off these three my eyes fell on their ham and cheese bread. Almost as big as my palm, this got me curious so I got one. Its a simplified calzone but for 22 pesos it was worth it though not something to be raved about. The bread was much better than the filling, I must say.

Suddenly I had this craving for apple pie! I scanned some magazines looking for recipes. But eventually did not follow any of them, instead I experimented with one having a crust, filling and toppings using graham. It turned great despite the fact its my first time and having limited ingredients. Then the next day, I decided to make another one. This time I used bread crumbs for crust and flour mixture as crumbs toppings. This one turned even better since I made sure it had generous filling and toppings.