Random Food Shots from Iloilo

Whenever I travel, I always take a camera with me to take random pictures that capture my interest, and as much as possible, I hope to try to capture images unique to the place. While uploading pictures on my Facebook page, I noticed there were some food images, which I want to share to you now.


Bread from Manolette Bakery. When K and I went to visit Miag-Ao Church, we weren't really that sure how far it was from La Paz. Through the help of an online friend whom I kept texting to ask which jeepneys to take (K wanted to experience jeepney rides more), we were able to reach our destination without spending too much (I learned from other pals and photography buddies that taking cabs would be expensive). It was already lunch time when we got there, and since we just planned to church hop 'til we got back in La Paz, K and I figured it would be best to eat lunch at Miag-Ao. Fronting the church is Manolette Bakery, and seeing a table with two chairs just outside the bakery, we knew this where we would eat lunch.

K chose these pieces of bread, which we shared half-half. I didn't ask the names of the bread, but my favorite was the rolled one. It was like a cross between bread and cake.

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Third day in Iloilo was the time I had too much sweets late in the afternoon. Around 7pm, K and I went out - hoping to find a nearby place to eat at, but we couldn't find any. What we saw, though, are some street food, which I took time to take pictures of:


Oysters. A photography buddy messaged me to try oysters in Oton, but I don't really eat oysters, so I didn't bother much. Seems oysters are quite big here in Iloilo, and are sold fresh and/or cooked.


Beef Skin. At first I thought they were Atsara (pickled young papaya), but asking the vendor, I found out it was Beef Skin - cooked, sliced, and seasoned with soy sauce and vinegar. The vendor told me this is often eaten as pulutan, but some people do eat it as ulam as well. It can also be eaten as is.


Nearby, there was a BBQ stall - selling different kinds of barbecue: pork meat, intestines, chicken meat, chicken blood, and milkfish, too.


Peanuts and Eggs. Not necessarily for dinner, but a good choice for snacks while watching TV. :)

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Paksiw na Bangus (head part). For the first two breakfasts we had, I chose to eat La Paz Batchoy. Since there were only two Batchoy places that we knew of (Ted's and Deco's), my third breakfast day was at Madge Cafe, which also serves rice meals. Among the available viands, this one caught my fancy because of its belly, and quickly ordered it. I am not sure how they cook Paksiw here (the owner of the place didn't want to share secrets), but this was the best Paksiw na Bangus I tasted. It was super tasty - the sauce was a little thick, and it had the great balance in the seasoning. I don't know what made it that good - was it the tomatoes? :) Anyway, one interesting thing to know about their Paksiw na Bangus - the head part is more expensive than the tail part. No complaints, I love the head part!

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This post concludes the Iloilo food journey; afternoon of Day 4, K and I flew back to Manila. We both loved the place, and while waiting for our flight back to Manila we knew we would just have to travel back there next time.


    

Food Finds Here and There

Internet connection is kind to me today, so might as well take the time to update this blog. I don't have anything specific to blog about, actually, but as I browse through my folders trying to find one specific picture, I realized I have taken food pictures here and there, and would like to share the pictures for this post.


Bignay Fruit. This was the first time I saw such fruit. Months ago, I came across Bignay Juice, but when I saw these berry-like fruits at the market, I first thought it was fresh pepper. It was actually cheap for its price, but because I am not sure how it tasted, I didn't buy any, I just asked the vendor for permission to photograph it. Reading up on a few blogs, I realized I should've bought some, I suddenly became curious to its sweet-tangy flavor.


Dayap. My dayap memories took me back to when I was a kid and we would pick up some dayap fruit from our lot in La Union to make our dipping sauce for fried fish. Over the course of time, the dayap trees were cut off, so seeing this at the market for just 10 pesos per 1/4 kilo made us buy instantly. It's not as sour as calamansi or lemon, but it does deliver that citrusy taste.


Ginebra San Miguel Gin. I am not into gin, but seeing this while lining up at a nearby supermarket made me take out my cell phone to take a quick picture. I do know about gin-pomelo (gin mixed with pomelo flavored juice powder), but dalandan and melon flavored gin? Hmmmm....

Anybody tried this already?


Salmon Spines. This, brother bought. He was walking around the market looking for something to cook for dinner, when he saw this. We all know how expensive salmon is, which is why we usually go for the heads (cheaper than the steak cuts). It had a pretty decent amount of meat, so at 50 pesos per half a kilo, brother bought some and cooked it for dinner. Well, these may be scraps from salmon fillets, but it still is salmon, so for all its worth, we enjoyed this.


Mogu Mogu Drink (Strawberry). The nearby supermarket may be small, but it did have quite a lot to offer. Whenever I go to the drinks section to buy Yakult (which is my everyday drink - for digestion), the shelf filled with all the Mogu Mogu bottles would always catch my attention. I finally decided to buy one bottle and as much as people rave about it, I wasn't really that much pleased with it - I felt it was too sweet and it tasted quite "artificial." But, the nata de coco bits are definitely good! :)

Afrique's Smallville Iloilo City

Afrique's
Red Square Bldg.
Smallville Business Complex, Iloilo City
+63 (033) 5094900

 Because of my "heavy" snacks, it was already about 8pm when K and I decided to eat dinner. Going to SM Iloilo wasn't a good idea (for me) because the other food places there have branches in Metro Manila. The Korean restaurant a floor below our room was already closed, so asking an online friend where to eat, she suggested we go to Smallville. Sounded good to me as people have been talking about this place (which is near SM Iloilo by the way), and this dinner became my ticket to get there.


There were a lot of food places in the area, but most didn't appeal to K. Walking around, he saw this place that looked family-friendly, so we chose to eat here.



Sure enough, it was family-friendly. It wasn't big, but while dining, a very big group came and the restaurant was able to accommodate it. As you can see in the first picture - they do have an al fresco side for diners who would like to smoke.

I find the ambiance a bit homey... and their placemat was really something amusing (too bad I wasn't able to take pictures of it). It listed a lot of things about "You're a Filipino if..." and the things listed were just hilarious - You're a Filipino if you have a tabo in the bathroom, you have the giant wooden spoon and fork as wall decor, etc. etc.


Wasabi Burger. K didn't want something heavy, so he went for this, as this is something unique for him. I wasn't able to taste this one as my order was way too much for me to handle, but K said the wasabi wasn't so overwhelming and the mango did provide a good sweet twist to the burger.


Baby Back Ribs. The menu said "good for two," but I wasn't at all prepared it would be this big! I actually felt like a glutton having this in front of me, but it was surely good. It had an ample amount of meat that could satisfy four diners, and the corn that went with it gave a good compliment. I offered some to K, but he didn't want to... and halfway through, I asked him if we can take it out and give to some kid outside, but he strongly disagreed with me, saying if something happened to the kid, we might be held liable. Since our room at the inn didn't have refrigerator, we just left the food I wasn't able to eat.


Orange Juice. As always, K went for Sprite, for today I was in the mood for a glass of OJ. :) It tasted just fine.

That dinner took about an hour - since I was really trying to eat all my food. When we got back at the inn, I had a very bad case of indigestion and heartburn, which caused K and I to have shallow sleep. Not a good way to spend our last night in Iloilo, but I did learn a good lesson - just eat what you can handle and not feel guilty about the food you can't finish.



PS - Big thanks to Ms. Maiylah of Food Friday for featuring my post last week.