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.
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.
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.
If there was something Bacolod is known for, aside from its Inasal, it would be its sweets. Being the Sugar capital of the Philippines, dessert comes naturally to locals here. With acres and acres of sugar cane fields here, and countless “Central’s” and “Azucarera’s” you would pressed to find any other province which yields some of the tastiest desserts around. Calea is one of THE dessert places in Bacolod.
Every place has that one resto that’s been around forever. Bob’s is one of those places that is a must visit when you drop by Bacolod. The original stall opening up infront of the Riverside Hospital almost 35 years ago, it is still standing and thriving well into the modern day. I hear it is a regular place to visit once you land in Bacolod.
Caramia or My Dear in italian has gained reputation after the previous owners of Red Ribbon bought the fabled franchise from the Bosconian priests. They offer a wide range of desserts coupled with the italian resto Amici, which started
from the printing press canteen founded by Salesian Italian missionary Fr. Gianluigi Colombo, Amici di Don Bosco Incorporated was established in 2001. The Italian canteen, which was first known for its home-made Italian gelato, became a popular choice of the general Makati public for value-for-money food. In 2003, pastas and wood fire oven-cooked pizzas were added to its roster of authentic Italian offerings.
I have a soft spot for hole-in-wall type of restaurants. Add a bit of history and nostalgia and you’ve got the making of an excellent hidden food spots that all foodies troop off to, something like a pilgrimage to the best food spot. My trip to KL was not going to be complete without this. So on my last day, Nicholas Chay, Nuffnang Malaysia’s Country Manager asked me out to lunch and couldn’t say no or rather wouldn’t say no.
We drove to Jalan Alor on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The best place is eating in Jalan Alor. Formerly known as the Red light district of KL, this place has undergone quite a few changes. The street is literally peppered (pun intended) with little restaurants offering everything from Satti to Char siew. I was actually looking forward to getting some Char Siew, but we stopped at a childhood favorite of Nicholas’.
It was called Charn Kee Tasty Corner. They basically served Clay Pot noodles.
One of the few places or things I definitely had to go back for in Malaysia was Ba Kut Teh at Klang Valley. Ever since I had my taste of “the good stuff” from Malaysia c/o Tim, I knew I had to go back. Bak kut teh (Chinese: 肉骨茶; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bah-kut-tê) is a Chinese soup popularly served in Malaysia, Singapore, China, Taiwan and the Indonesian island of Riau (where there is a predominant Hoklo and Teochew community) and also, cities of neighbouring countries like Batam of Indonesia and Hat Yai of Thailand. The name literally translates as “meat bone tea”, and, at its simplest, consists of meaty pork ribs simmered in a complex broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic) for hours and hours on end. Additional ingredients may include offal, varieties of mushroom, choy sum, and pieces of dried tofu or fried tofu puffs. Additional Chinese herbs may include yu zhu (rhizome of Solomon’s Seal) and ju zhi (buckthorn fruit), which give the soup a sweeter, slightly stronger flavor. Light and dark soy sauce are also added to the soup during cooking, with varying amounts depending on the variant. Garnishings include chopped coriander or green onions and a sprinkling of fried shallots.
Just around the corner from the Nuffnang office lay a Kopi Tiam so unassuming and quaint that you would fail to notice it the first time. Later on did I find out that Yut Kee was one of the oldest Kopi Tiam’s in Kuala Lumpur and was often full and constantly full. Known for their Chicken Chop and cakes, this is a frequent lunch spot for locals who are looking to get a good meal.
Custard tarts were introduced in Hong Kong in the 1940s by cha chaan tengs. They were then introduced in western cafes and bakeries to compete with dim sum restaurants, particularly for yum cha. During the economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s, Lu Yu (陸羽, Pinyin: Lù Yǔ) took the lead with the mini-egg tart. Ironically, mini egg tarts are now a common dim sum dish and are usually richer than those served in bakeries.
