I.S. Means Iloilo Supermart

Years back, when I first visited Iloilo City, I remembered having to do shopping to prepare for noche buena. My husband happens to love cooking and he is in demand in the Baluya family to prepare his famous "potato salad".

So off we went to do our shopping. When I asked where we were going, everyone said "sa Atrium". I didn't know where it was, so I just enjoyed the ride. I was surprised though when we parked at the provincial capitol where my mother-in-law works. When I asked why, they all said, parking is hard at the Atrium and besides its just across the street, we can walk.

We entered the store and I noticed it had more than 20 or so check-out counters and its jampacked with shoppers. Only one entrance and one exit, its not a dual entrance supermarket. So shoppers are forced to follow the path the store has planned out. The personal care section is the first on the traffic flow. It's sad though that most of the skin and beauty products are enclosed in a counter with a sales clerk manning it. You can't touch and read the labels of the products. Pretty old fashion, when most of the stores are already self-service but I guess this is to manage pilferage since these are high-value.

As I went around the store, I was surprise to discover it was pretty complete. The fresh produce had quite a variety of meat cuts and vegetables though the seafood section isn't that complete, could be because people here still visit the wet market and want their seafood pretty fresh. But they have in stock even fresh herbs. This store is NOT BAD at all! I've underestimated their assortment on food items.

Staying there awhile made me realize why people go to this store despite the fact that the store aisles are small and shopping carts can bumped into each other, but the shoppers don't seem to care. Its pretty convenient, accessible with public transport. There is no big mall to deal with, less time spent walking. And its complete! Outside the supermarket is the local bakeshop "Tinapayan" that features a pastry christmas village display every year (a tradition).

I guess the Ilonggos come here because, they feel right at home. You'll even hear shoppers meeting and greeting friends happy holidays. So shoppers really feel the familial bond inside the store. I can't complain, I'm just a visitor and these people shop here everytime.

Mrs Jane B.

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.

Iloilo City, The Old Queen City of the South

For one thing, I always thought that my Cebu was THE QUEEN CITY OF THE SOUTH. I checked and the old queen city of the south was ILOILO City. This was when the city was an important trading area for sugar coming from Negros. But when the sugar industry collapsed, so did Iloilo's position as a prime city in the Visayas.

I frequent Iloilo City because its my husband's home and we do visit it at least once a year. Coming from Cebu, I can't help but notice how different this city is from my tropical and rugged home.

For one, Iloilo is flat. As in, one cannot see a mountain jutting out from view. I've always wondered how this terrain would influence the way people here live. Iloilo is near the sea and has a wide river running within the city proper thus the numerous bridges one passes by while driving within the city. I liken Iloilo City to the swampy parts of Florida -- there's water everywhere. The Ilonggos are lucky, with this terrain they have abundance in seafood, food crops and drinking water.

This terrain may have influenced how people in Iloilo live, never hurried, relax, peace-loving (as noted by the tonality of their dialect) and quite contentented. Who wouldn't be with a home like Iloilo City!

Mrs Jane B.