Iloilo City, Land of Batchoys and etc ...

When someone says Iloilo, Filipinos would probably associate it with Dinagyang (annual festival of the city that falls on every 4th Sunday of January) or of “talaba” or oyster along the Villa area. But for me it reminds of my visits to my husband’s home. Been visiting Iloilo regularly for the past 10 years, either during summer or the Christmas holidays and there are just some “must have’s” everytime I visit. And here goes ...

Batchoy. My husband will never leave Iloilo without visiting the famous batchoy houses. Batchoy is a noodle soup dish that goes well with puto or pandesal. It’s different from your usual noodles as instead of pork, chicken or beef, it has “pork chicharon” – deep fried pork skin, and “laman loob” or various pork parts usually from the internal organs. The more famous houses in Iloilo are Ted’s Old Timer’s La Paz Batchoy and the newly re-launched Deco’s Original La Paz Batchoy.

Kad-yos. My fave happens to be home-cooked by Nang Oning (my in-laws long time all-around companion). She makes the best kadyos dish either with local “bisaya” chicken or pork. If the Tagalog’s have “sinigang” the Ilonggos have “kadyos”. But what is it? It’s actually a legume that turns the dish reddish black. The dish can be sweet, sour, with coconut milk or without but in any case, one can only taste kadyos here in Iloilo! When we crave for kadyos in Manila, we usually visit the Ilonggo Grill and order one.

Seafood. Due to its geography (lots of rivers) and location (seaside), Iloilo has one of the best seafood in the country. One only needs to drive along Villa and stop by the various restaurants to have a taste of Iloilo oyster or “talaba”. Most recently the locals have been visiting the Dumangas area as well for those fresh and yummy seafood. My in-laws fave happens to be Joyjoy’s. And if you visit in mid-December, you can visit Zarraga (a town outside Iloilo City right after Leganes) for its annual “pantat festival” (freshwater catfish) and get to taste catfish grilled, fried, BBQ or in soup dishes!

These are my top 3 must have’s everytime I visit Iloilo and before I leave, I also have my top must have “pasalubongs”! That’ll be for my next write-up.

Mrs Jane B.