Foodie Manila

I know what you are thinking, “its been awhile” and I admit it has. Work has drastically increased and my diagnosed illness has been working overtime with my mood swings in a very non productive way. I think I might go back to my meds again. But anyhow, I’m in Malaysia again! I am finding myself frequenting this country more and more and falling in love with it more and more. Last time I was here I featured some dishes from Yut Kee, Bee Chiang Hee, The Loaf, and much much more. But I think I lacked out some of the more interesting places. I can ramble on and on about Nasi Lemak, Chicken Chop, Maggi Mee, Mee Goreng, etc. but ever wondered what Malaysian home cooking was? I mean as a Filipino looking in I wonder now, is our home cooking quite different from the usual restaurants we frequent. I mean with such great food places all over Kuala Lumpur, one would never think about home cooking! But I was very fortunate that my boss, who just got engaged btw you’ve probably seen his meme proposal on 9gag, had someone prepare a home cooked meal for us. Thanks Tim.

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One of my most favorite meals in Singapore does not come from some high end restaurant. (I’ve had my share trust me!) But rather it was a quick 5-10 mins walk from my hotel at Little India located at the corner of Jalan Besar and Kitchener Road. This institution of a place was barely even noticable. It didn’t have the lighted sign or you would barely miss the restaurant. It was one of the places you HAD TO KNOW where in order to find it. But I tell you the trip was well worth it. Whether after a long tiring day at work, or an all night drinking spree the food here just hit the spot everytime.Let me tell you about my experience.

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I like traveling. I travel a lot for Food. The main problem I always have is carrying everything, all my gear when I travel. I’d always end up with 3-4 bags. A laptop bag which contains my laptop, iPad, earphones, chargers, card readers, and other electronics. Another bag for my clothes. Another bag for my tripod, and finally a bag for my camera. This is such a pain because I only check in my tripod and clothes bag in the plane and have to handcarry both my laptop and camera bag. That’s why I’ve been eyeing this crumpler bag for a loooooong time already. The 8-million dollar home was very very appealing. It fit my 3 lenses, a flash, my chargers, and my 13″ Macbook! Just in time for my trip!

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I’m on a quest.

A quest to fullfil at least one out of town trip per month this entire year.

The reason for this new found love for adventure and travel stems from the fact that I don’t get out as often as I would please. And what is life without a little bit of travel and liesure to go along with the trials and tribulations of daily life right? If you notice my blog entries, you would subtly see where I was these past few months from Bacolod to Nagsasa, to Coron Palawan, and now Sagada Mountain Province.

I’ve had Sagada on my list of places to visit since forever and I was a bit hesitant in joining the tour organized by Tracey Santiago of Traveltales Inc. (email me on how to get in touch with her for other tours!) primarily because I had reservations about the place. But then if not now, when? I jumped right in with both feet!

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I recently celebrated my 25th birthday and I thought why not celebrate it with something different this year. I was watching Dinner:Impossible at that time and enter this crazy thought of camping out in one of the hidden coves of Zambales for the weekend.

I rallied the troops, and we were off for an adventure to “rough it out” for a few days. Tents, grills, firewood, and other camping gear, by 11pm we were off and ready to the great unknown. Although we were roughing it out, being a foodie and all, in no way was I roughing out the food. A few days before, I went to the market and bought us our supplies. I prepared the menu, while the others prepared for the adventure.

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After I got rained out of my trip to the ruins, I decided to take a sip at Bacolod’s local coffee shop called Kuppa. It claims to have been brewing coffee ages, and their tagline says it all. “behind every cup of coffee is 55 years of experience” I love how they put it. I quickly entered and sat in one of the empty tables. And since the rain quickly dissipated as quickly as it started people wanted to get their warm fix in. I looked at the menu and they had A LOT of choices. These people knew their coffee.

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Bacolod is known for its Inasal and Piaya, but to the well-researched traveler, one would also know that Bacolod is the sugar capital of the Philippines. Due to its relatively flat terrain, wide acres of planting land, and relatively peaceful weather conditions, Bacolod is ideal for the sugar crops that is actually its main product. But all this hullaballoo about sugar is nothing until one realizes that Bacolod is a dessert-lovers paradise. With UBER cheap cakes but really really awesome quality, Bacolod is a definite must-visit for anyone who loves cakes and anything sweet. Pendy’s is definitely one of THE places to drop by when in Bacolod.

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Just a few kilometers from the main city, located at the neighboring town of Silay, is one of Bacolod’s oldest bake shops. El Ideal (pronounced as El Idyal) it still stands at the original site where it grew its fame. Famous for both is lumpia and Guapple Pie, this was the perfect resting spot after visiting Victoria’s Milling and The Church of the Angry Christ.

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My Bacolod trip was not necessarily all about the old resto in Bacolod. Just as long as they had good food, I was there. I asked Kittet, who was recently over at Bacolod, for a nice place to eat and she recommended Pepe’s. Located at the Plaza Sorrento along Lacson, Pepe is both a bar and resto that the locals frequent both for partying and the food.

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With the recent rise in popularity of Chicken Inasal in Manila, I decided to take a trip down to Bacolod and find the real roots of this foodie phenomena taking the metro by storm. With outlets like J.T. Manukan, Mang Inasal, and a few more setting up shop, I wanted to know what Chicken Inasal was suppose to taste like, and booked a flight to Bacolod. This was the ultimate Chicken Inasal Taste test.

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