FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Tempting, aren't they? Now who can resist these yummy French Macarons Tinapayan Bakeshop has "whipped up" in time for the Holidays. Not to be confused with the desiccated coconut based macaroons, these  meringue sandwiches "  are made with eggs, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food colouring . It is also called Luxemburgerli . The macaron is commonly filled with ganache, buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two biscuits. The name is derived from the Italian word macarone, maccarone or maccherone , the Italian meringue." -  Wikipedia Tinapayan Bakeshop created seven flavours as of the moment - Passion Fruit, Strawberry, Pistachio, Hazelnut, Salted Caramel, Chocolate and Mint Truffle , with more exciting flavors to come  soon. Each costs PhP30 and also comes in a box of 7 costing PhP210. 

A plate of mouth watering shrimps and more bounty from the sea welcomed us at Cabugao Seafoods House in Pavia, last weekend. The hearty lunch came after we witnessed the 2nd Globe Football Para sa Bayan ceremonies held in Santa Barbara, Iloilo.   Globe Football Para Sa Bayan is a grassroots program for the youth from underprivileged communities and serves as an inclusive platform for socially advantaged and less advantaged teams to interact and work together. It is a year-round football campaign of the giant telecommunications company to bring the program around the country to impact nation-building in a big way. Football is just the first step in Globe sports advocacy as the company continues to develop various sports programs for its CSR communities. With more than 1000 participants from various football clubs across the island of Panay, the two-day event was led by Globe Sports Ambassador and Ilonggo National Football Team player "Azkal" Chieffy Caligdong. ...

One of the joys of being a food blogger and reading gastronomic blogs is discovery - new chows, new dining places, exotic food, rediscover of old favorites. Or some unlikely combination of food, food places and food ways. Like this bakeshop "inside" a hospital in Iloilo City. I recently had this carrot bread from a bakery called Sisters' Delight. I would have had brushed it aside like any ordinary loaf bread from another bakeshop if not for the address which said "St Paul's Hospital". So here I am blogging about this bread which I found really good - I could finish the whole loaf alone. Though it's a kind of sweet - in a good and delicious way that I find it "unputdownable" - to borrow certain words from a book review. Given sometime soon, I'll make my way to this bakeshop, hoping for more food finds from Sisters Delight!

From the outside Eleos looks as if its a Greek restaurant given that font especially that lambda  letter in the place of "L" in the name. Turns out that the owner has a fascination with Greece - myths, cultures and a lot more. Thus you'll find hint of these on their menu ... But that's all about the "Greekness" the restaurant has to offer just a name and what's on their menu are the usual food fare we can find in most restaurants. So we ordered their best-sellers Baby Back Ribs which came with rice and mixed vegetables. Since I had a big appetite, I got an extra garlic rice. At 99pesos, its a fair price for a Back Ribs meal and good but it was nothing spectacular. A separate order of iced tea at 35 pesos tht came in a tall glass had more money's worth even (like the garlic rice) though it was just a regular powdered iced tea. Now came these Food for the God s orders which consists of meat, pasta of you choice and toasts. Too expensive (...

So I was strolling along Valeria street and remembered my friend who were all agog about this stall selling "Japanese Pancakes". For only 5 pesos each, it's one hell of a bargain but it turned out to be just plain pancake mixture cooked the Japanese way thus being called as such.  When I got home, after a series of clicks and flashes, I scouted the fridge and cupboard for things that could make these more interesting. Good thing there were some spreads that "leveled-up" this cheap thrills. So here they are my uninspired on the spot project which had me recreate these Japanese Pancakes... Speculoos Cookie Butter Japanese Pancake Strawberry Fluff (marshmallow spread) Japanese Pancake Nutella Japanese Pancake It was a toss between the Speculoos and Nutella - the Fluff being too soggy. In the end, the latter proved to be my favorite because of the richness in every bite. And certainly more pancakes creations will come my way soon...

Beef Noodles The delightful flavours of Thailand has now invaded Iloilo - fastfood style! Welcome Sen Lek Thai restaurant located at the Lasalette Bulding restaurant row along Valeria street. Taking up the other half of what used to be a part of Ted's Oldtimer Batchoy, this Thai fastfood quietly opened a few months ago but is now fast becoming the talk of the town. Pad Thai But this isn't their first branch in Iloilo for as early as 2010 there's already a Sen Lek Thai resto serving the Ilonggos. The resto opened along the highway to the airport in the booming town of Pavia, Iloilo tuck in one of the buildings along the busy highway. Even though it's along the road I traversed almost everyday, I still find it inconvenient. Good thing they opened another branch in the city which is more convenient and more accessible.  On the menu, one can choose from wanton, meatball, beef or mix Thai noodle soups to Pad Thai, Pad See-ew Rad Na and Tom Yum Goong. Or rice ...

A few posts ago, I featured the tambis that I grew up with - the pink variety . Now here's the green variant which at first makes you think its unripe and not ready to eat. But one bite off the fruit reveals a succulent-fleshy fruit that goes well with a pinch of salt. This is the kind of tambis which cannot be mistaken as makopa as there is no makopa that of this color. Now do you miss tambis ?