FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

As the premiere bakeshop in Iloilo City, Tinapayan once again delights the taste buds of Ilonggos as it offers a galore of specially made as well as specially packaged goodies for the Yuletide season. Dubbed as Tinapayan’s Christmas Delights , the 2011 collection is a mix of cakes and pastries as well as chocolates and breads that will surely add color and flavor to the celebrations. A special food tasting session was arranged by Tinapayan Bakeshop exclusively for the Iloilo Bloggers Inc last Tuesday at The Promenade 2 of Days Hotel Iloilo . Ms Evelyn “Owa” Que , owner of Tinapayan was all smiles when she greeted us all and presented around 40 of Tinapayan’ Christmas Delights . And we got to taste the specialties of the bakeshop for Christmas starting with this delectable Dark Fruit Cake . As I always say, “looks good, tastes even better” – yes each slice explodes with the goodness of the richness of the wine infused cake and the quality of fruits mixed in it giving it a l...

Even until now, just looking at these photos, I still remember how overwhelmed I was when I first set foot inside the newly opened Bluejay Coffee at the Ayala Techno Hub in Mandurriao, Iloilo City. I was almost speechless seeing how sophisticatedly good it looked inside out. It has the signature spherical decors made popular at the Amigo Plaza mall branch that adds "gravity" to the interiors. The airconditioned (non smoking area) is separated with glass panels with supports that looks like twiggy branches spreading all throughout thus hiding the exposed ceiling. The spheres also then looks like fruits from this angle. The area (from which this photo was taken) serves as the smoking area which is very well ventilated - with fans and another sliding door that also serves as a floor to ceiling window. It has three areas; the Techies/singles over those green stools can conveniently place the gadgets on the table while enjoying their orders. The typical coffeeshop fixtures of ...

I, unexpectedly, got this handy foodie guide as a Christmas gift. This recently launched book from Claude Tayag and Mary Ann Quioc is about their gastronomic journey around almost the 7107 islands of the country thus entitled LINAMNAM: Eating One's Way Around the Philippines. It's a 300+ page book detailing what's good to eat and other gastronomic sidelights in major places in the country including ofcourse, Iloilo . I recently met Mr. Claude Tayag during a food competition at Esca's Garden Restaurant. He casually mentioned this book that he will launch soon and SOON turned out to be just 3 weeks after we've met. So yesterday, I was surprised to receive this signed copy of Linamnam . When I got home, it was just the time when I got to read/scan it almost thoroughly even the acknowledgement page. Seeing some familiar Ilonggo foodie personalities and even food bloggers were also included to which I am familiar with most of them until ... I got an even big...

Somewhere in Jaro is a hole in the wall eating place that goes by the name " Kalan-an, Sulod Lang ". Literally tanslated as " Eatery, Please come in ", it is a homey as it can be as the owners welcome guests and visitors into certain parts of their house. A garden like ambiance welcomes diners to this literal homey restaurant with simple chairs and tables set up for the hungry crowd. It may not much for some but the simplicity and the al fresco ambiance is a literal breath of fresh air to the most food places - from the fast food joints and posh restaurants to the turo turo and stalls along the streets. It's a sort of in between and for it to make good business even without much advertising then there must be something good to eat. Relying on words of mouth, Sulod Lang (as I opt to call it), had been an open secret for a long time. I don't know for how long but I heard about this just last April and been very curious about it. It's not that ver...

Believe or not, right after enjoying a bowl of Thai noodles and iced tea at Sen Lek noodle house in Pavia, we found ourselves in the midst of another Thai restaurant - right along the highway in Sambag, in the midst of a (shrinking) rice field! The location sounds familiar alright, but no, it isn’t the famous Peppy Thai Deli but another restaurant that goes by the name of Nam Prik Thai Kitchen. Good thing that  Sir Eugene Jamerlan  knows the owner of the restaurant, and together with , it was one afternoon filled with good food and fun under the sun. The owner of Nam Prik Thai Kitchen is related with the owners of Peppy Thai Deli but I won’t go into the details though. All I can say is that Nam Prik brought back the experience of the old Peppy Thai Deli – having authentic Thai cuisine served turo turo style in a rustic and al fresco ambiance. With specialties of the day on display, first to catch our attention was the Pomelo Salad that didn’t only look but also ta...

Among the "Namit Meals" combo of Ted's Oldtimer Lapaz Batcho y, it's this combination that I really wanted to taste. The lure of sisig plus the batchoy combination is more than gastronomical for me, it's also a combination of the famous cuisines of Iloilo and Pampanga. Each represents the best seller of the culinary plethora of among the famous culinary people in the country - the Kapampangans and of course, the Ilonggos. At the same time provides a contrast; the sisig is widely adapted all throughout the country with each restaurant having their own recipe while Lapaz batchoy is among the mroe difficult specilaties to emulate - even here in Iloilo. Going back, the sisig Ted's serves is more of the ulam type than the pulutan genre. It's not as crunchy becasue of the saucy recipe but i really like the taste. It's cooked like sweet adobo and the addition of calamansi gives it a tinge of bistek. It's how exactly I do my experiements at home using what...

Tinapayan Bakeshop always delights Ilonggos, young and old, with its annual grand Gingerbread Village display at The Atrium. The Display which was put up weeks ago is located at the main entrance and will run until January 2012. " It's in our childlike nature, I guess, that led me to start the Gingerbread Village ," says Evelyn “Owa” Que, manager of Tinapayan." It's like your dream of being somewhere - in a dreamland, living in a different pole ." Tinapayan's Gingerbread Village is both an animated and gastronomic display as aside from the gingerbread houses that makes the village; it has movable displays like human figurines, carnival attractions and more. The highlight of the display is a train that regularly runs around the village to the delight of the onlookers. It takes a long time for the Gingerbread Village to take shape. “ You have to color flow it and paint it with Royal icing ” says Ms. Owa. “ The most difficult part is making the base, which ...