Federico’s Named Best Bignay Wine

Local wine producer Federico’ Island Wine based in Victorias City was named Best Bignay Wine in the Tropical Wine Competition hosted by the Department of Science and Technology South Luzon Cluster on November 11, 2009 at SM City Sta. Rosa City, Laguna.

Federico’s bested other six finalists in the Bignay Category from other regions. Bignay (Bugnay) grows in the wild and are handpicked and naturally fermented. Bignay wine has a rich, fruity flavor and aroma. It is clear and dark plum in appearance and has 13 percent alcohol content achieved through natural fermentation.

Aside from the Bignay Wine, Federico’s also has Duhat and Pineapple Wine. The wine makes a good Christmas gift even Manila-based EchoStore carries Federico’s wine in its special Green Basket gift set. Locally, Federico’s Island wine is available at Fresh Start Organic Stores and Merci’s Pasalubong Center.

Organic Lunch with Margarita Fores

Another cause worthy of our support is the Organic Lunch with Margarita Fores and Chef Richard Ynayan of the Culinary Institute De Lasalle – Bacolod on November 26, 2009. Proceeds from this event will go to the Suntown Camp Cancer Foundation. This event is still a part of the 4th Negros Organic Farmers Festival.

Manila-based Ilongga restaurateur Margarita Fores traces her roots from the Araneta clan of Bago City. Ms. Fores owns Cibo, Pepato, Cafe Bola in Manila. The benefit lunch will be at the Provincial Social Hall where Ms. Fores will be cooking her specially prepared menu using locally  produced certified organic ingredients.

Among the dishes are organic salad of palm heart and guava jelly vinaigrette,pate raviolini with sage butter, roast Bacolod style lechon with duetto sauces of liver and mostarda di frutta, roast goat capretto rosmarino with English mint, lemon and pepper roast chicken, and fried organic boneless bangus with mango wansuy salsa.

Tickets for this activity will be available at Fresh Start Organic Foods Stores in Sweet Greens and Robinsons Place and at NISARD Office. For reservations, call 4332174 and 7071434.

The 4^th Organic Farmers Festival is a project of the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental in cooperation with the Organik na Negros! Organic Producers and Retailers Association and Negros Island Sustainable Agriculture Research and Development.

Cozy Dining at Puffs N’ Tarts Restaurant

My friends and I had a very scrumptious dinner at Puffs N’ Tarts Cake Factory and Restaurant last Thursday.  My friend Weng has been asking me for ages to try Puffs N’ Tarts but we only found time to go there the other night. Besides, what are we to do? It’s Negros Day and blackout in most areas in Bacolod. Having dinner at Puffs N’ Tarts was perhaps the saving grace of a rather boring day spent at home.

At first I thought they were only serving cakes and pastries because of the name but they actually have pizza and pasta. The food was really good and we have to thank Chef Ryan Sy and staff for that. We had Caesar salad, Pizza Hungarian, Pasta Arabiatta and Pavlova and Banana Cream Crepe for dessert. Their pizza is unique because they are rectangles instead of the usual circular shape.

I was told their best seller was Pizza Roma which unfortunately we were not able to try. Blame my companion who’s not into veggies. Anyway, if their not-so-best-seller was already good then you might say their best-seller would be better.

Don’t be fooled by the facade of the building. It may not look like a fancy restaurant outside but inside it’s very cozy and suitable for a quiet dinner for two or even a big family dinner. Perhaps due to its location, where it’s not along a busy street, the place is not crowded and you have a little privacy from the prying eyes of bystanders.

I was surprised by the price since I did not expect it to be very affordable. Bacolod City is not short of restaurants with really good food but it’s still nice finding a place where you feel you paid for the food and not for the over-rated ambiance.

Puffs N’ Tarts Cake Factory and Restaurant
#77 San Sebastian St., Bacolod City
Tel. 7088719
Business Hours:  Mon-Sat /10am-10pm

Range:

Pizza: P195
Pasta and Salad: P120-P150
Steak: P250
Cakes: P360-P800/P36-P70 per slice
Desserts: less than P100

How to Get There

When going there for the first time, your landmark would be Virgie’s Pasalubong Center. Puffs N’ Tarts is just a few meters away. Taculing-Central Market jeepneys also pass by the restaurant.

View Bacolod City Dining Places in a larger map

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

Visayas Gastronomic Adventure With Negrense Chef

Aside from nourishing the body, food plays an integral part in the life of the Filipinos. We eat at least five meals a day and every celebration in our life is mark by a feast. It’s no surprise then how our cuisine evolved over time with influences from our Asian neighbors and Western colonizers.

Filipino cuisine is as diverse as our culture. Each 7,107 islands comprising the Philippines has a unique food offering for the adventurous. Each has its own version of the common Filipino food making each distinct from the other. Just imagine how many versions of adobo there are!

Discover the different cuisines of the Filipinos by journeying to the provinces, where authentic Pinoy dishes are still prepared today. Let the Promdi Chef take you on a gastronomic adventure every Tuesday, 11:30 PM at TV5

Follow the adventure of the Promdi Chef and Negrense Juan Miguel “Jomi” Gaston in discovering the rich culture of the Visayans and the delectable Visayan dishes he serves every Tuesday with a different guest every week. Chef Jomi is the man behind Café Uma and Trattoria Uma in Bacolod City. The Promdi Chef is directed by another Negrense, Jay Abello. Yes, the one who brought us the romantic comedy Namets.

Promdi is a slang for somebody from the province. Promdi Chef gives attention to the simple life and cuisine in the provinces. The comfort food that your Nanay or Yaya prepared for you when you were sick. The food may be as grand as the banquet served during fiestas or as simple as the bodbod you eat for merienda, this is home cooking at its best.

Don’t forget, every Tuesday, 11:30 PM at TV5. And keep your midnight snack ready lest you feel hungry after watching the Promdi Chef.

Here’s a mouth watering teaser.

PROMDI CHEF (large format) from fiona borres on Vimeo.

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

Thank Heavens for Angel Wings/Diwal

The diwal or angel wings clam (Pholas orientalis)  is a highly seasonal shellfish and prized for its delectable and succulent taste. Diwal thrives in the sandy-muddy bottoms of inter tidal areas in coastal waters of Capiz and Negros Occidental.

I remember eating them while growing up in Iloilo but I haven’t had the fortune to encounter them again. That was so long ago that I can no longer remember how it tastes.

Diwal in Hiligaynon means “sticking out tongue” and the shellfish probably got it’s Ilonggo name because it’s “feet” sticks out of it’s shell like a tongue when alive. It’s English name was due to the fact that it’s shells are like angel wings when fully opened.

These clams were on the brink of extinction a few years ago because of over harvesting. A total ban in the harvesting of diwal was enforced in Capiz in the late 1990’s in order to protect and rehabilitate the remaining traditional diwal grounds.

Fisherfolks of Valladolid, Negros Occidental happily observed that there is a resurgence in the volume of diwal this year. Only residents of Valladolid are allowed to harvest diwal in their shores and should first secure a mayor’s permit. Harvesting time is only from 6am to 10am.

Diwal clams are harvested by divers up to 8 meters deep. When you happen to pass by Valladolid, you’ll notice bamboo poles sticking out of the water. These poles are used by the divers to hold on to when diving for Diwal.

It’s fortunate that I happen to pass by Valladolid last week so I bought a kilo of diwal from the vendors along the sidewalk. The man offered it to me for P250 which is quite expensive since it’s the price of diwal in Bacolod.  I haggled for P200 but I ended up buying it at P220. Yes, I suck at haggling. I thought, I don’t haggle at the supermarkets so might as well give him the extra P20. Diwal can be had for P250-400 in Bacolod markets so I still got a good bargain.

I haven’t tried cooking diwal so I asked the vendor how to clean it. He demonstrated to me how to pry open the shell with a knife and then slice the meat inside and then wash it with water to remove the sand. His other special instructions were not add salt and never overcook.

At home, I did exactly as told and brushed the shells to remove the dirt and then place the diwal over charcoal. As soon as the meat turns a little  brownish and the juice comes out of the meat then they’re ready to eat. I easily understood the man’s warning not to overcook since they would lose much of their juice.

And the verdict? Really, I’ve never tasted a shellfish as soft, succulent and sweet as diwal.  Diwal tastes heavenly! No wonder they’re sought after for they taste like no other shellfish. Thank heavens they’re still around today so that we can still have a taste of diwal. Hopefully, diwal will be around forever.

Sharyn’s Cansi House

Cansi is the Ilonggo’s version of bulalo or boiled bone-in beef shank which come with the customary cardiac delight bone marrow. In Bacolod City cansi is synonymous to Sharyn’s Cansi House.  Sharyn’s cansi is considered as the best-tasting in Bacolod City.

When I transferred here in Bacolod five years ago, it was the food destinations that I immediately wanted to explore and discover. Usually, the best place to find the culinary havens are not at the malls or at the posh business centers. You can find the best local cuisines at the public market or at the places where common folks would frequent.

Experience the best bulalo in Bacolod at Sharyn’s located at Narra Avenue, Bacolod City at the Chinatown of Bacolod City, the Capitol Shopping Center or most commonly referred to as Shopping.

A serving of Sharyn’s cansi is already good for two and you can also ask for additional soup. I think what makes cansi sinfully delicious is the utok (bone marrow). Careful with the heart though, for God knows how many cholesterol a serving has.

Federico’s Fruit Wine: A Perfect Gift

If you think good wines are made from grapes only, think again. A dear friend gave me a bottle of Federico’s Island Wine made from Duhat as a Christmas gift last year. I was surprised to find that the fruit wine was made in Victorias City, Negros Occidental. I’m not a wine connoisseur but the fruit wine tastes good and has a distinct flavor from the usual grape wines.

Federico’s Island Wine is owned by the couple Federico and Aurora Barredo. They were already featured in local and national newspaper for their family business. Winemaking is a hobby of Federico, a research plant pathologist/microbiologist. Then in 2004, Federico made the wine as giveaways for thier son’s wedding. The guests loved it and urged the couple to make it into a business.

The fruit wines are made from hand-picked fruits of local fruits Duhat (Lumboy) and Bignay (Bugnay), processed fresh and naturally fermented. Without chemical preservatives and artificial color, Duhat and Bignay have only 12% and 13% alcohol contents, respectively, from natural fermentation.

Duhat and Bignay grow wild and the couple get their supply from 30 fruit tree owners who assured them of steady supply.  The couple also came up with Piña (pineapple) wine since these are also locally grown in Negros Occidental. Piña wine is now available in the market.

If you are still looking for a gift to a loved one this season, try fruit wine from Federico’s Island Wine. Or better yet, get yourself a bottle to celebrate the new year with. The fruit wine is also an excellent gift for Negrenses abroad. Each bottle will remind them of the Negros countryside and bring back happy memories.

Federico’s Island Wine is available at

Merci’s Pasalubong at SM City Bacolod

Fresh Start at 1oth St. Bacolod City (beside Sweet Greens)

or you may contact Federico or Aurora Barredo at 399-3610.

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