Ilocos flavors Cebu

As part of their Culinary Journeys, Café Marco of the Marco Polo Hotel recently showcased the "Flavors of Ilocos", featuring the food from the region. Known for their distinct and unusual recipes, the 10-day Ilocano food festival formally opened last April 8 with no less than the "beauty & brains" Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos as guest of honor together with Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia.

Guest Chef Danny dela Cuesta patiently answered all our questions and explained to us every detail of the delectable Ilocano food specially prepared during the launch. For those who aren't that familiar with Chef Danny, he is a fashion designer by profession and a food enthusiast by vocation. He was trained in fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, USA. He acquired a Basic Culinary Training at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine et de Patisserie in London England. Among his achievements in the culinary field, he was the First National Champion of the Magnolia National Cookfest organized by the San Miguel Corporation and had developed various promotional recipes for Consumer Food Brands.

Being an "emapanda freak", I feasted first on the famous Ilocano Empanada. Different from the usual empanadas, the dough used to enclose the filling is thin and crisp and made of rice flour and corn meal colored orange with achuete. Chef Danny himself, gamely showed me how to eat it the Ilocano way by breaking it into half and pouring a spoonful of that soy sauce-based special sauce he made. Among the other popular Ilocano dishes, the Bagnet, a deep-fried pork dish, Longaniza, Pakbet, Crispy Dinardaran, Nalingta nga Ikan were my "favorites". For dessert, I had the Pastel Tres Leches which according to Chef Danny, is only prepared by the Ilocanos during special occasions.