Maruya
These are fried banana fritters rolled in while granulated sugar. We bought some in the bus stop while waiting for an hour for an airconditioned bus to pass by so we could get a ride back to Bacolod city. The maruya was still steaming hot.
Our first dinner in Bacolod city was a seafood feast at Bacolod 18th st. Palapala. The restaurant is not airconditioned and it looked like the more familiar Dampa in Manila. There are already cooked dishes in traditional aluminum pots but you can also order from their ala carte menu.
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We had Linabog Php70.00 from their cooked selections which was sort of like a cross between curry and kare-kare. This is made of huge slices of catfish cooked in coconut cream. It tasted much better than it looks here in the photo. I've never eaten anything similar to it since.
Lison sinigang (Php234.50)
This is your typical fish sinigang, though I'm not familiar with the type of fish that they used.
Gingaw sizzling (Php234.85)
This is made of a large white meat fish topped with lots of garlic. The fish meat was very tender and flaky.
Finally, my favorite Grilled scallop (Php160.00)
The scallops were very fresh and cooked perfectly!
For dessert we visited the infamous Calea Pastries and Coffee. The shop and its interiors were beautifully decorated. Entering the shop is a dessert lover's haven with lots of cakes on display to choose from at very very cheap prices! Because we had very little room for dessert after our seafood feast, we only ordered their eclairs, cream puffs and turtle pie. All of them were amazing and we wanted to come back to try more but we knew our packed schedule will not allow us to do so.
We had lunch at The Suites at Calle Nueva before the second leg of our trip. The dishes were made to order and the serving portions were quite big for the price.
We had Walnut Rocca Insalata (Php165.00)
This is made of mixed lettuce, candied walnuts, roasted bell peppers, mushrooms, topped with parmesan cheese and dressed with spiced balsamic.
Cream of wild mushroom soup (Php85.00)
This is made of shiitake mushrooms.
Seared Tuna Sashimi (Php165.00)
This much tuna for only Php165.00! It is served with a side of carrots and cucumber strips and wasabi mayonnaise. I loved how the cracked peppercorn added spice to the tuna.
We bought some egg and pineapple pie slices in the bus station for the long ride ahead.
When there is no phone and internet signal, there's nothing else to do but swim, relax and eat!
Some of the dishes that we tried were...
Hungarian sausage with cheese (Php180.00)
Pizza Mirene (Php280.00)
This is made of their homemade thin crust with pesto, anchovies and cheese.
Chicken Binacol (Php180.00)
This is an Ilonggo classic with chicken pieces, green onions, lemon grass, young coconut meat and juice. This is my favorite among all the dishes that I've tried in the resort. It's much like chicken tinola with a sweeter and more aromatic soup because of the coconut juice and the lemon grass. I liked it so much that I've cooked it many times at home.
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| Tired, dizzy and hungry from being in transit for 8 hours |
For breakfast I had danggit and Russ had daing na bangus. It is usually served with rice but we were not too hungry that morning so we had the rice replaced by an additional egg instead.
We had lunch at Danjugan island although I regret not taking pictures because we might not be able to go back in the near future, or ever, because it is just so hard to reach.
By 3:00pm we were already back in the resort from Danjugan Island. To kill time, we did a little shopping in their souvenir shop (something we rarely do), had fresh coconut juice with some fries and played Jenga and Scrabble. Until now, it is not resolved who won (me) and who cheated (Russ). This is why I never want to play against him in any game!
For dinner we had...
Chicken curry (Php180.00)
Chicken cubes and vegetables in coconut milk and curry sauce. Russ chose salad on the side.
Adobong kangkong (Php80.00)
Water spinach sauteed in garlic and oyster sauce.
Charcoal grilled pork with peanut butter sauce served with pickled papaya on the side. I chose a mashed potato side instead of rice.
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| Their halo-halo version with crushed barquillos |
Back in Bacolod city and before going to the airport, we had lunch at Aboy's Restaurant where we had laing, grilled oyster and a version of the catfish that we had in Palapala. I'm not sure if my taste buds were off that time but everything tasted a bit too sweet. It must be one of the locals and tourists' favorite spots because it was an extremely busy weekday lunch.
Since our flight was delayed for several hours, at the airport we had coffee, chicken sandwich and Napoleones. I'm not fond of sweet treats and I don't usually buy nor eat pasalubongs so I've never tried napoleones until then. To my horror, I discovered they're so good I could eat more than a box in one sitting!
Here are some of the pasalubongs that we shopped in a hurry and brought home.
It is always a pleasure to go on a gastronomic adventure. Looking back at my Bacolod trip reminds me of a mixture of fun and pain because I came home with my aching body all over. I will share our adventure in detail the coming posts. Despite the difficulty of visiting some of the hardest places to reach and the uncertainty of where to go next and how to go there, the journey was worthwhile because of our ability to brush off inconveniences and laugh at the silliest things.
I can never me grateful enough for these shared adventures!
