During Holy Week my family and friends went to see the famous Mount Mayon. It was time for my much-needed triple “Râ€: rest, recreation and research.
The Philippines, as an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, holds more cultural ideas than one can fully absorb in a lifetime. I am extremely blessed that I am able to travel and experience the local cultural and culinary scenes with the aid of my friends, colleagues and, most recently, my students.
Bicol is known for its spicy food, breathtaking scenery, and historical sites. This trip, however, was special in terms of company and cuisine. One of the benefits of being a culinary teacher is having students from all over the Philippines willing and able to be my tour and food guides. On this particular journey, I was blessed with the company of Renan Yulo and Aida del Castillo in Legazpi. I am certain that, if not for their company, I would not have been able to taste such fine culinary delights, and I probably would not have been able to experience Bicol in such a way that it felt like a second home to me.
We dined in one of the most fascinating restaurants in the region called Mr. Crabs, an establishment owned by one of my alumni, Farah Sobremina, where they serve fresh crab harvested from their own farm cooked in a variety of ways. Serving fresh seafood is always the best, but serving fresh seafood that comes directly from a farm that you supervise and manage will always provide premium quality to any customer. That’s why when I ate at Mr. Crabs I was so delighted to taste the freshness, not only of the crabs but the other ingredients as well, making the meal well worth it.
One of the highlights of my trip was our visit to DJC Halo-halo and Snack Inn. Longtime family friends, the Badurias of Tigaon, suggested the place. We made a short stopover before proceeding to Legazpi, because when in Bicol, one must try this halo-halo. It looks like your typical food kiosk, and to be honest, when they presented the halo-halo I thought the presentation left much to be desired, but I was wrong. After taking a bite of that creamy, icy goodness, I was smitten. With lots of grated cheese, the textures and tastes of the ingredients combined beautifully to achieve a very distinctive taste. The creamy leche flan, corn kernels, banana cooked in brown sugar syrup, macapuno tapioca balls, chunky creamy ube jam, and ube ice cream just melted all the heat away from me. To be honest I still can’t get over how wonderful that halo-halo was, especially since my personal gold standard in halo-halo is absolutely no beans. This mixture was perfect; the taste is indescribably good.
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To say that Bicolanos are resourceful people would be an understatement. Judging from their dishes one can conclude that they learned how to cook ingredients that can be sourced locally, or they take a local food and cook it in their own way, such as the humble banana-cue, Tigaon style, which is basic saba banana, first coated with flour, fried in oil and then coated with sugar — very different from the usual way of coating the saging na saba with brown sugar and then frying it.
And then there’s their take on local exotic food, the boiled pili. Ideally we think of sweet nuts in a jar, but this dish is really a viand if you think about it. The way to eat boiled pili in the husk is to dip it in patis with calamansi or bagoong with calamansi the way a Bicolano would eat it. Not spicy but definitely Bicolano.
My trip to Bicol was with a delightful journey of tastes, from the Bicolano sili shake with ice cream, to the traditional puto seko as well as various pili nut confections that could be found at Albay Pilinut, a shop established in1936.
But one of the most memorable moments of my trip would be the hospitality, not only of my former students, but the families that welcomed me into their homes as well. With fresh buko juice as a welcome drink, the Baduria family of Tigaon laid out a feast of fresh seafood and local delicacies such as tamales and suman sa ibos, sinigang na tanigue sa puso ng saging, kare-kareng isda and all things ginataan, gulay na langka and the inimitable laing — all authentically Bicolano-prepared and farm-fresh — a feast fit for a king. I was deeply honored and blessed that this family hosted me, and, because of all the sweet and beautiful memories that my trip to Bicol has given me, you can be certain that I will be back again very soon.