FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

As Iloilo City is positioning itself as the "City of Wellness and Healthy Lifestyle",  Bauhinia Filipino Cuisine dishes up vegetarian dishes as a support tho this thrust. A collection of old favorites, best-sellers and new fusion dishes, these 12 dishes make a complete meal as they come as soup, appetizers, main course and dessert. Let's discover the "vegetarian" inside us with these sumptuous creations. To start out our vegetarian gastronomic tour, how about this Kinilaw Quatro . A 4-1 appetizer plate consisting of Bauhinia's best love kinilaw dishes.  There's Kinilaw nga Seaweed and Kinilaw nga Amargoso (Ampalaya/Bitter Gourd) Add to that  Kinilaw nga Rabanos (radish) and Kinilaw nga Talong (eggplant) Whetting our appetites more is Ensalada ng Langka kag Puso ng Saging . This salad is a spicy-creamy concoction of jackfruit and banana heart embraced by vinegar and coconut cream spiced up by chilis. Tickling our tastebuds is L...

The first two months of the new year always bring in the cool weather. Cold night breeze yet even cooler mornings, one can always wish for this weather to last year round. But as time flies, one might not even realize, summer is just around the corner. So goodbye to Mother Nature’s cool cuddle and welcome her warm embrace – it’s summertime! It’s synonymous vacation and travel, beaches and more travel. It also means cool eats – halo-halo, ice cream, cool drinks and fruits. Among the fruits of summer, watermelon and mango tops the list. Iloilo is fortunate enough to have abundant sources of the two fruits that when summertime comes, it comes in great quantity and best quality at the bargain of prices. Here’s a feature on a national daily, The Manila Bulletin , how one Iloilo town supplies a large chunk of the country’s watermelon demand during this season. Oton: The country's Watermelon town By ZAC B. SARIAN | Manila Bulletin January 7, 2011, 10:21pm MANILA, Philippi...

After the much talked (and lined ) about opening of 7 Eleven in Iloilo a few months ago, another contender in the convenience store arena is about to make it's presence felt in the city. Mini Stop, which is owned by the Robinson's Retail Group, will open by JuLY 2014 in one of the buildings beside Iloilo National High School and across West Visayas State University. UPDATE Two branches of MINI STOP will open on JULY 24, 2014. The first will be the Robinson's Place Iloilo branch and then the one at IPSTA Building in Lapaz. MINI STOP: "Another  international brand that will make life in Iloilo easy and convenient". Photo by EDGE18 as posted in Skyscrapercity Iloilo From Mini Stop official website here are some backgrounders... MINISTOP is a 24-hour convenience store chain and is a franchise of Ministop Co. Ltd., one of the largest convenience store chains in Japan. The store carries a wide assortment of merchandise and extensive selection ...

Hung what? Sometimes there are delicacies we don't know or understand but the sight and aroma is so appetizing that we just give in to temptation...  Just like this hung-ma , which is a Chinese specialty and in one way or another like the adobo . It's a soy braised dish cooked with banana blossoms, dulunggan sang amo  (literally - monkey's ears but its a kind if mushroom also known tengang daga in Tagalog) and hardboiled egg. It's really like the adobo give or take a few ingredients. But basically, it's more like humba , a Visayan dish particularly popular in Cebu and nearby places. Its a sweet-sour-salty dish but this hung-ma , is just much tamer.While pork and chicken are the more popular choices when cooking any of this dishes, this hung-ma is made with gluten.  Gluten (from Latin gluten, "glue") is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grain species, including barley and rye. Gluten gives elasticity to dough, ...

Days Hotel Iloilo answers the call of summer in a gigantic way! By next week, it will launch it's ultimate summer heat buster - a giant halo-halo.  Watch out for more details very soon ...

Aside from Krispy Kreme and J.Co Donuts , one of the more popular take homes I usually receive are these delicious muffins from S&R Membership Shopping . With lots of variety to choose from, one usually cannot stop taking a bite until they've tasted each and every flavour. But soon, this " S&R muffins as pasalubong " thing could be over as S&R might be opening in Iloilo City. Discovered online are these S&R job ads looking for staff for Iloilo - this particular one from JobsDB.com . More Rumours has it that it could be a joint venture between Puregold's Lucio Co and the Ayalas and might take this "anchor store" space in the Ayala Land development Avida Atria's The Shops section. As we wait for the confirmation and press releases if S&R would indeed be opening in Iloilo, I might as well enjoy my latest S&R treats - double chocolate muffins!

Summer is here! And what better way to beat the heat of the season than enjoying what we can consider as the "Pambansang Palamig" - halo-halo ! Be it along the street corners, markets, fastfood chains, restaurants and hotels, halo-halo is everywhere. But none gives you more thrill and excitement that making your concoction - right at the comfort of you own home. So one hot afternoon, out of nowhere, I decided to make halo-halo , without even knowing if all the ingredients needed were available. So after a few minutes of looking for ingredients, I present my extra super special halo-halo project - shaved iced with condensed milk, fresh mangoes, fresh grapes, berry preserves, bottled cherry and Nutella . Everything fit in perfectly - except maybe for the grapes whose "sourness" was "enhanced" by the sweetness of it's fellows. Nonethess, it was a great start for a cool summer project!