La Paz Batchoy ice cream, lechon with Cerveza Negra & other flavors of Western Visayas
A scoop of La Paz Batchoy ice cream is both an acquired taste and an unforgettable experience. Slivers of noodles are sprinkled on top of the dessert, together with coarsely crushed toasted garlic, green onions and chicharon. In a split second, the gustatory excursion shifts to the sweetness that comes with the ice cream. There’s milk, perhaps honey. How an unlikely pairing of salt and sugar can be oh-so good? But, yes, though not for the faint-hearted, La Paz Batchoy ice cream rocks!
Well, there’s a rock and roll of flavors at the Café Ilang-Ilang of the Manila Hotel as it celebrates for the whole month of August the Flavors of Western Visayas. The food festival pays homage to the bounties of the sea, mountains and even rivers of the islands of Negros and Panay. And no less than culinary rock star, chef Rafael “Tibong” Jardaleza Jr., a vanguard and advocate of Western Visayas heritage cuisine, is at the helm, making sure he’s at the front, back and center of the festival kitchen.
It’s already a given that the Western Visayas region serves sumptuous, heavenly cuisine because of its God-favored topography. Its land is so rich the sweetest mangoes are grown in the fertile soil of Guimaras or the juiciest diwal (angel wing clam) is a nature’s gift harvested from the waters off Capiz and Negros Occidental. Everything in Negros and Panay is delicious, whether one is eating in a carinderia in the public market or in a tony restaurant.
“We showcase more than 100 dishes from the islands of Panay and Negros. I brought in all the ingredients — the dried fish, squid, everything. Even the famous Banate bagoong (shrimp paste) of Iloilo,” chef Tibong says.
Just the salad and appetizer section alone of the restaurant is already a smorgasbord of salivating dishes. Take the sliced cold galantina for instance. Chef Tibong says the galantina is his grandmother’s heirloom recipe. It has homemade sausage, olives and chorizo. It has love. It is heaven.
The ginatang pako (fern leaves cooked in coconut milk) goes well with the galantina, as the chef of the food fest taught me how to eat the dish. The blanched fern is sauteed in garlic and onion and drizzled with kakang gata (freshly squeezed coconut milk). The magic ingredient is a spoonful or two of the thick Banate bagoong, which is so special it can only be found in the town of Banate in Iloilo. It’s not salty as commonplace bagoong is. Chef Tibong says it’s made from pounded fresh baby shrimps to bring out the full flavor, a labor of love, a flavor of love.
A giant lobster mango salad awaits at the appetizer table. The tang of the sea is still in the meat of the lobster, locally known as banagan, but tempered by the sweetness of cubed Guimaras mango and a hint of sinamak vinegar. Oh, the kinilaw na pulpo (baby octopus ceviche) is so divine you will complain it is served in a small ceramic container when it can perhaps be on a small plate. It’s addicting.
There’s joy in chef Tibong’s eyes when he mans the festival kitchen. Every time he is in the kitchen, he remembers his young self as he helped out in the family meat business as cashier. When people did not have money to buy pork, they paid him with blue marlin. And always, always, it was a win-win, delicious barter.
Because he already has a mastery of classic Western Visayas cuisine, he has also ventured into creating a contemporary twist in classic dishes.
The lechon de leche with Cerveza Negra, a hit among diners at Café Ilang-ilang, is intoxicating.
The paella negra is a conversation piece because it has chiperones (baby squid) that is stuffed with homemade chorizo. If heaven were in a dish, this would be it.
And if you crave lengua con setas de oliva, get ready for a burst of red peppercorn in your mouth. The fork-tender ox-tail dish is stuffed sparingly with peppercorns. Delicioso! Ditto with the tasty, gooey callos!
The “usual suspects” are present at the food fest, whipped with mouthwatering magic: pancit Molo, beef morcon, KBL (kadios, baboy, langka), laswa, chicken binakol, sopa de ajo, kinilaw na tanigue, pancit Efuven and more.
For that sweet ending, try chef Tibong’s dulce de leche, canonigo, buco lychee ice cream and a perfectly creamy mango cake with lip-smacking icing.
And if you really, really want La Paz batchoy, not the ice cream but the authentic noodle dish with pig innards and strips of liver, the Flavors of Western Visayas food festival also has that. That’s a signature, defining dish; missing it in the food fest is a mortal culinary sin.
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