Video: Rediscover Silay

The Rediscover Silay is a 40-minute video project of Silay Tourism Office as one of the highlights for the Al Cinco de Noviembre celebration. Know more about this genteel town and its important role in the history of Negros.

This video documentary is another excellent work of Leo Vision Multimedia. I have worked once with a project with Leo Vision and I can attest to their dedication to their craft and the quality of their works. Congrats Gary Lake for another job well done!

Rediscover Silay from Gary Lake Liza/Leo Vision on Vimeo.

No More Logging in the Northern Negros Natural Park

The remaining 16,487 hectares of forest cover at the Northern Negros Natural Park are nor protected from commercial logging with Republic Act 3680 imposing a logging ban in the 3rd District of Negros Occiental which comprise the cities of Silay, Talisay and Victorias and two municipalities, E.B. Magalona and Murcia.

President Arroyo signed into law last November 3 House Bill 3680 known as “An Act Imposing a Logging Ban in the Third District of the Province of Negros Occidental” which was authored by Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson seeks to prohibit the cutting down of trees for commercial purposes.

The Northern Negros Natural Park is Negros Occidental’s major watershed area where rare flora and fauna species can be found such as hornbill, bleeding heart pigeon, Visayan warty pig and Philippine spotted deer. Mambukal Resort in Murcia and Gawahon Eco-Park in Victorias City are located inside the Northern Negros Natural Park.

When in Silay, Visit Café 1925

We recently discovered Café 1925 in Silay City, a quaint restaurant near the heritage bakery of El Ideal. The floor area may not be much bigger than your neighborhood carinderia but the ambiance and taste of their food can rival those of fine dining restaurants. And the best thing is, the price will not make a hole in your pocket.

The restaurant can only accommodate 10-15 persons so it’s very appropriate for an intimate gathering. Wall to wall canvas paintings of Silay City scenes set as backdrop so it sort of gives you a feeling that you’re in another place and time.

There’s a different specialty everyday so if you want to know what they’ll be serving that day, better give them a call. They also have regular menu that you can order anytime.

We already tried their osso buco and in another time we tried their pesto and homemade ice cream. I was with a food technologist friend in one occasion and she had praises for their food. She used some technical terms which I choose to forget. I eat with my mouth and not my head so I don’t analyze the  ingredients they use and how they are supposed to be cooked.

If you ask me, I don’t have some technical terms to describe their food other than delicious. Plus the fact that I did not feel held up after paying the bill. A single serving is good enough for foreigners but it’s quite substantial for a Filipina. A serving of the main meals already comes with rice and is already good for two persons. If you eat in a group, you can even save by sharing.

I haven’t tried their smoked fish salad but I was told it was really good. Oh well, there’s always another time to go back to Cafe 1925.

Address:  14 J. Ledesma St., Silay City
Phone: (034) 7147414
Business hours:  Mon-Sat, 9am-10pm       Sun,  9am-8:30pm
Range: P200 or less

How to get there

Café 1925 is hard to miss as it is just around the corner of El Ideal. It is located at J. Pitong Ledesma St. right at the back of BPI.

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El Ideal Bakery: Serving Good Food Since the 1920s

Silay City in Negros Occidental is famous for mansions and good food. El Ideal Bakery is both. Housed in a National Heritage Site, El Ideal is also famous for its heritage recipes which it has served since the 1920s.

El Ideal is more than just a bakery, it’s an institution, a cultural heritage, a story entirely on its own. El Ideal Bakery was established in the 1920’s by the late Cesar Lacson Losin and his sisters.  Some recipes served today were served years ago. In the late 1950’s, he handed down El Ideal to his daughter, Mrs. Alice Locsin-Villanueva. She added a refreshment parlor to the bakery and another brick oven. Currently, El Ideal is managed by Maritess Villanueva-Sanchez and husband Enrique Sanchez.

El Ideal is famous for classic Ilonggo cookies and biscuits such as quinamoncil, sinambag, biscocho principe, broas, favorita, lubid-lubid, quinihad, etc.

More recently, it became famous for guapple pie which has become its trademark product. You haven’t been to El Ideal if you haven’t tried their guapple pie which is even ordered and sent to Manila and as far as the U.S. for pasalubong.

With the opening of the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City, El Ideal has become very accessible to travelers. El Ideal is located at Rizal St. a block away from Silay City Public Plaza.

When you visit El Ideal, take home with you some of the best delicacies you’ll find in Negros. And remember, you are also bringing home a piece of Negrense history.

Photos courtesy of El Ideal

Seafood Restos at Brgy. Balaring, Silay City

(Guest post by The Absentee Negrense)

Balaring, a small barangay in Silay City, is one of our family’s frequent lunchtime destination. We usually go here after the Sunday morning mass especially when the weather is breezy and the skies are clear.

Hectares of sugarcane plantations hide rows of seaside restaurants such as this. (Tama Plaza, the largest among them)

They offer mostly seafood dishes in their menu, with an exception for ’staples’ like porkchop. (Which I usually order, to counterbalance the mostly seafood meal.)

For starters, we almost always get a mini-basin of “talaba” (local oysters) which my father likes.

My sister’s fave is the buttered squid.

Since my mother likes to have her shrimps, veggies, and “sabaw” (soup), what can be more perfect than the “sinigang nga hipon” (shrimp in sour-based soup).

My brother likes the boneless bangus.

Here’s the porkchop, I mentioned earlier.

Sili and calamansi with sinamak and toyo is the perfect all-around sawsawan.

Here’s how to get to there:

(Brgy. Balaring, Silay City, Negros Occidental)

From Bacolod, take the National Highway going north. Right after the Silay City proper, turn left at the Dona Teresita Jalandoni Provincial hospital. You will see a number of “Brgy. Balaring” signs, just follow them until you see rows of bamboo restaurants by the sea.

Enjoy Negros!

Tama Plaza Contact Numbers:

Tel. No. (034) 495-1669
Cell. No.: (0921)3977314

7 Negros Occidental Cities Ready to Streamline Business Licensing System

Seven cities in Negros Occidental yesterday forged a Memorandum of Understanding with Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) for the implementation of Streamlining Business Permits and Licensing System (BPLS) Project.  This project is aimed at upgrading their business permits and licensing issuance system, a common backlog in starting a business.

Volker Steigerwald, Visayas coordinator of GTZ-SMEDSEP, said that after piloting the project in Bacolod City and Ormoc City , they are now ready to replicate it in other parts of the Visayas. The cities of Bago, Cadiz, Kabankalan, Sagay, San Carlos, Silay, and Talisay will replicated the Business Permits and Licensing System which has been proven to considerably cut the processing time for business licensing.

Present at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding were Mayors Jose Montelibano of Silay, Alfredo Marañon of Sagay, Eugenio Jose Lacson of San Carlos, Pedro Zayco of Talisay and Salvador Escalante who were the signatories in behalf of their respective LGUs. Bago Mayor Ramon Torres and Talisay Vice Mayor Neil Lizares, who was supposed to represent Mayor Eric Saratan, failed to come.

GTZ will provide technical assistance through capacity building by training the LGU personnel. The local government on their part will assign a focal person who will work closely with DTI and GTZ in the implementation of the BPLS Project.