Oh boy, it's Aboy's!

I first discovered Aboy's in Bacolod City in the early 90s', when it was just starting out. It was interesting to try a restaurant that locals raved about but which was owned and run by a non-Negrense.

Aboy, I was told, was a Bicolano, an ex-med rep who decided to open up a beer cum grill place.

I remember how much I enjoyed the food, simple yet fresh and well seasoned.

Aboy's was a culinary hit -- a long row of parked cars and full tables attested to its early success.

On this Bacolod week-end, I made sure that dinner on our first night would be at Aboy's.

It is a landmark in Bacolod, a must stop on the culinary tour. Aboy's success has led to an expanded restaurant -- there are now multiple function rooms, a large and spacious main dining area, a kilometrically long counter of food choices, and a glassed in grilling station where your seafood or meat choices are cooked on the spot.

Aboy's grilled blue marlin is the best I have ever tried. We chose a cut near the belly, which made for a more succulent, melt-in-the-mouth treat. Lightly marinated and grilled to the right minute -- it was perfect. Not dry yet not under cooked, no fishy taste or lansa at all.

Another Aboy's favorite are the grilled scallops. I was looking for diwal but was told that it was not yet the season for them. It must also not have been scallop season as the ones we were served were not too big or plump but they were fresh and tender, redolent with garlic and lots of melted butter.

We also ordered mushrooms, wrapped in banana leaves and grilled over the open fire. It was light and simple, with just onion and tomato slices.

The ever present grilled pork belly had to be on the table. It looked and smelled appetizing but I had other attractions --the main one being a perfectly cold bottle of San Miguel Light!

Namit guid!

Tama Plaza at Balaring by the Bay : A culinary find in Silay City

Part of the Bacolod week-end involved my discovering a place that a lot of Negrenses go to for their seafood fix. Balaring is a coastal barangay in Silay City. Far from the highway, you make a turn at the Teresita Jalandoni hospital, pass through hectares of the ubiquitous sugar cane fields and wend your way through narrowing roads until you reach a lot of simple native huts on stilts, above the water.

My DOT tour guide friend recommended Tama Plaza as his go-to place for "tourists" like me.

This is the view from Tama Plaza, there are other similar establishments, breezy native huts on stilts right on the water, or in this case, on the mud as it was low tide the time we visited.

The interiors are very basic. Your standard wooden tables with monobloc chairs, old style plastic table cloths, clipped to the table to keep them from flying off.

The fresh strong breeze at Balaring beats air conditioning by a mile!

We started our lunch with a balde of oysters, huge and plump and fresh.

It was a month without an R but when it comes to food, I usually throw caution to the winds (in this case, to the Balaring breezes).

Next up was a very good fish sinigang made of that delectable portion of the fish, the panga or collarbone. It was perfectly soured with batuan. This is not your typical Tagalog sinigang after all.

We also ordered shrimps, which came fried in garlic and butter. While I noticed they were the white shrimp and not suahe which is what I prefer, they were fresh and yummy nonetheless.

This was the only misstep of the meal. Blue marlin which I had initially wanted as grilled but I was prevailed upon by the waitress to have it fried. It came out dry and rather bland. A waste of a good slice of fish.

Since the blue marlin did not come up to expectations, I was a bit worried about the sizzling squid. I needn't have because apparently, they saute it in some sort of teriyaki barbecue sauce and lots of butter. And butter always makes anything taste better!

I have stopped eating meat of any kind but for the carnivores in the group, we ordered a grilled pork chop. According to them, it was well cooked and juicy -- a fitting complement to a memorable seafood meal!

A Bacolod Week-end

I just had a chance to revisit Bacolod again, after more than twelve years.

It had changed so much and I was completely bowled over.

Thanks to a dear old friend, an ex-officemate now a licensed DOT tour guide, I saw a Bacolod

that I had never seen and experienced before.

I traipsed through historic ruins....

Rediscovered heritage sites...

Caught glimpses of a faded and glorious past...

And of course, this being a food blog, I ate ....

And ate a lot more.

The week-end was about culture and it was also about cuisine.

After all, each defines the other.

Sunset Bay Beach Resort, La Union -- Caught between the Tarmac and the Sea

Just as we do on the first leg of our Northern Road Trip,  we break the journey to give rest 

to my (by now) road weary husband. The 630 kilometers from Pagudpud to United Paranaque 2

is a bit much for one stretch.  Previous years saw us stopping and staying the night 

inVigan, Ilocos Sur.   However, Jay said that since it was a scant 2.5 hour drive from Pagudpud, 

it was too soon and  too near for a rest stop.  We also used to drive up to Baguio taking 

Naguilian Road or Marcos Highway but this time, we wanted to try a La Union stop over. 

San Fernando, L.U. is exactly the midway point between Pagudpud and home.

And so, I found Sunset Bay Beach Resort on the web.  It is located between San Fernando and Bauang, La Union and  we had to ask for directions as it's pretty well off the main highway.

Where it is, is right in between the runway of the San Fernando airport  and a stretch of sandy seashore.

Thankfully, the airport is not used as much so there wasn't any

noise from airplanes landing and taking off that day.

A long way across from the resort, you can see the headlands of Poro Point, where

the old US base has been converted to the

Thunderbird Resort and Casino.

Sunset Bay resort is owned by a foreigner (as most

resorts in La Union are) and has bungalow rooms around the resort

set amidst a charming, nicely laid out garden.

Pricier accommodations are on the second floor of an apartment style building with balconies that overlook the small pool.  There is a separate open air cafe where you can  eat al fresco, under the trees and overlooking the sea.

The rooms though have seen better days but at least, the air-conditioning
worked well and there was cable t.v.  And the view of sea and sand was worth looking at.
And after all, we were only staying for that one night.

Herencia Cafe ...Ilokano Fusion that works

When it comes to food, I don't like fusion --
I think it's an overused word.
It also usually doesn't work, is more pretentious than
progressive and often leaves much to be desired.
What I do like though is inventiveness and finding new
ways to cook a traditional dish, yet retaining its
integrity and over all taste.
Herencia Cafe has become a culinary landmark in
Ilocos Norte and it is in their kitchen where I think
some sort of "fusion" works.
Take pinakbet, that standard of Ilokano cuisine.
Herencia made pinakbet contemporary by using
it as a topping for pizza.
All the ingredients are there -- the bitter ampalaya,
the tomatoes, the ilokano string beans and yes, the
fish bagoong. Blended with cheese, piled on top of
a crisp pizza crust -- it's a new way to enjoy this
traditional favorite.
On this road trip, we stopped at the new
San Nicolas branch of Herencia Cafe.
In addition to the pizzas, we ordered their traditional Ilokano
fare. My favorite is their fish soup,
naleng ta ikan -- sour like sinigang,
so simple yet so good.
We also could not resist an order of poqui poqui -- while it did not
seem to match our other orders, this creamy eggplant dish
is another favorite of ours.
Herencia Cafe is near the San Nicolas church and is by the
plaza and the police station.
Because we were early for lunch, we had the place to ourselves.
I wandered around to the back and
caught the cook in his kitchen where he gamely posed
for a photo -- by the stove where Herencia's culinary
magic is made.

Bagnet Redux

While I have blogged about bagnet in a much earlier post,
it's such a well entrenched part of our Northern Road Trip that
I'd like to write about it again.
This year, I have stopped eating meat but that didn't
stop us from indulging in our annual bagnet buying frenzy
at the Laoag Public Market.
As I do every year, I made a beeline for my suki's
stall. I have been buying bagnet and longganiza from Maan Acorda ever since we started our annual
Ilokos vacations.
Bagnet and longganiza are both sold by the kilo but
I always ask for X number of pieces.
This year, in deference to my semi-vegetarianism,
I "only" bought 18 humongous chunks of bagnet
and 60 pieces of longganiza.
Believe me, I have been known to buy so much more.
Whatever do you do with it, you might ask.
Well, I bring back some for pasalubong and I freeze the rest.
Maan's bagnet stays crisp and crunchy
and doesn't dry out, even after many weeks.
Her longganiza is also very good and
while I don't eat it anymore, the smell of it being fried for breakfast
is a sure fire way to bring back memories of our Ilokos road trip.

Biscocho from Pasuquin Bakery. A Must-Stop on the Northern Road Trip

Aside from the aforementioned salt industry, Pasuquin is also famous for
the biscocho baked by the Pasuquin Bakery.
Slightly flavored with anise (which a
kastila
friend of mine says is how biscocho
tastes in Spain), Pasuquin biscocho
comes in soft and crunchy varieties.
The soft biscocho is amazingly squashy and cushy
and really really good. You can
eat it with butter, cream cheese, jam
but I like to have it just as it is.
It doesn't keep for long, three days at most.
The crunchy variety, they say can last a couple of
months without ever turning stale (although
I usually finish all that I buy within a week or two).
As you drive past Pasuquin on the national road,
look out for the sign at the turn that reads
"Biscocho Pride of the North".
You will not want to miss this stop.