World Class Chefs
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Ramilo (Ram) Villaluna
Ram is a budding chef from Iloilo City (Molo). He gained his training in Culinary Arts at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies under food guru Gene Gonzalez, Institute of Culinary Education (formerly Peter Kumpps) in New York. He took up bread making, and he studied food styling under Delores Custer of the Culinary Institute of America. It all started in Antique where his father owned a restaurant many Antiquenos learned to love. He continued the culinary legacy of his father and now, Ram owns a catering business, Cindy\'s Catering. Food is Ram\'s life, seriously speaking. I am short in saying that he is married to the food industry that, he spends most of his time teaching and mentoring at the Department of Culinary Arts at the University of San Agustin in Iloilo. If one cannot find him in the classroom, Ram will be on the road crisscrossing Iloilo and Antique having first hand in the management of his thriving businesses from both provinces. He also has a once-a-week TV show in GMA 7 \"Food Trip\". I met with Ram once before and he exudes perfectionism, the character that will beam him up to the limelight of culinary arts. At present time, Ram is extremely busy in Manila. I believe he is one of the finalists in The National Food Showdown 2010 sponsored by ABS-CBN. We wish you all the luck, Ram! Maybe, after this showdown, Ram will have the opportunity share favorite recipe here at ILONGGO LIVING.
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Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
Kinilaw na Pasayan
Lately, I have been dreaming of seafoods from the Philippines. My hometown, Iloilo, is well known for its abundance of seafoods. Not just your ordinary seafoods but, the best in the region for its freshest and unrelenting supply of them. It would be very modest to claim that Iloilo is one of the best places in the whole country of the Philippines to find seafoods at its best. Don’t take my word for it! If you got the chance to visit our beloved country, drop by Iloilo City and check out the seafoods they can offer to you. You won’t regret you did.
KINILAW NA PASAYAN (Esca's Restaurant). This is my latest discovery of seafoods in Iloilo, also known as Enchaladang Hipon. This dish makes one's mouth watery just by glancing at it. What more if you get the chance to savor it when you visit Iloilo.
Up close, one will notice the soupy coconut milk working in tandem with a bite of white vinegar. The usual raw shrimps supposedly "cooked" by or marinated in vinegar tasted sweet. Added freshly chopped hot red pepper and red onions spice up the dish. Finally, topping up the dish are slivers of green mango adding zing to the kinilaw! One can substitute fresh shrimps with other seafoods such as fresh tuna or fresh anchovies. Only one's imagination limits the kind of fresh seafoods one can use in making kinilaw or enchaladas.
One may pair up this fusion kinilaw na pasayan with crispy kangkong prepared the tempura way. Now, isn't that Ilonggo cuisine versatile or what? The newer generations of chefs are more up to fusion cooking than being traditional. Mind you, I like traditional cooking but, it makes me more excited to see and taste fusion cooking.
Caviar or Not?
Caviar or fish roe is nothing but an unfertilized, raw fish eggs of the sturgeon family. The true caviar, or sometimes called black caviar, is interestingly dubbed as ” food for the gods” as it is expensive. My Russian friend used to tell me that her hubby and his uncle used to go up northwestern Ontario at a certain lake or river one summer to hunt for pregnant sturgeons. She would not reveal the name of the place as they want to keep it as secret so that no one will compete with them harvesting the fish eggs. Not to mention it is an illegal activity here in Canada.
Strictly speaking, if the roe does not come from the sturgeon family of fish, it has no “royal right” to be called caviar. So, it is rightfully called “substitutes of caviar” (Wikipedia). Under this category, salmon roe or red caviar belongs in and other non-sturgeon variety. Let’s check it out, if you may.
I used black caviar to embelish my home made pizza with lots of anchovies and parmigiano reggiano cheese.
Now, the star of the show, the black caviar (bottom left most). It is an expensive commodity and one should check out the label if it is really the "real one". Meaning, of sturgeon origin as there are many fake black caviar in the market, wherein, it comes from non-sturgeon variety and just dye them in black color to appear like it is black caviar. As the old saying goes, "beware of imitations"!
Salmon roe sushi, a good example of non-sturgeon roe. Also called, red caviar.
Japanese foods would like to embelish their rolls with caviar to make it more appetizing and added texture. Here, they sprinkle red caviar all over California rolls (foreground).
This roe or fish eggs (bihod in HIligaynon) are of cod fish. They do not qualify as caviar as they are cooked and obviously, of non-sturgeon variety. Black caviar is raw and salted. Nevertheless, it is fish roe.
Pinoy Party – Part 1
For some reasons, we were entangled to so many parties before I left for the Philippines last month. In fact, three of them in just a period of two weeks! One in New York city and two here in Hamilton. Let me bring you back to NYC, where Filipino foods flourishes, especially home made dishes. The birthday party was in Queens, NY where Crisanto Reyes and family hosted such frivolous occasion. I purposely left out the dessert portion as I will post them separately together with the rest of the Filipino parties we grazed recently. THANK YOU very much for the Reyes family of Queens NY.
My favourite Seafoods Kare-Kare, loaded with different kinds of seafoods one can imagine of. There's squid, tahong, shrimps and crabs!
Bring out the crabs! I think the crabs here were finishing touch of this flavorful dish.
Pork BBQ Philippine style
Steamed in banana leaves, tilapia and pampano fishes. A very healthy way of preparing fish, not to mention enhancing the flavor of the fish with banana.
Pancit Bihon. A Filipino party cannot be truly Filipino unless pancit is served!
Cibo Experience
I have heard a lot of fuzz from fellow bloggers about this place before. A few months back, while I was at a mall in Manila, I stumbled upon Cibo and right away, the name rung a bell. For me, testing this kind of a place is quite casual but in a unique way… dessert first! For curiosity sake, I tried their panna cotta mango at that time as I was still full. Hot green tea went well with panna cotta mango and, that experience lingered for a few months. Just recently, the evening before my flight back to Canada, I had another chance of invading Cibo at their Greenbelt branch. This time, no holding back for a full-course meal. No regrets!
The main attraction was their fiore di zucca pizza. When I saw this pizza in one of the blogs I follow, I right away tested it in my kitchen. I was pretty much impressed by the flavor of the squash flowers, very subtle, not to mention the aesthetic effect upon pizza.
Next stop is, telefond pasta! Though I am not a pasta lover, I enjoyed the flavor of this entree.
Their panna cotta mango is superlative! Very light, refreshing and very elegantly presented. After all, I was looking forward with anticipation, to sink my teeth again to this delicious dessert!
It was very warm and humid at that time in Makati that, I opted having cold and refreshing drinks Cibo can offer to quench my arrid mouth while devouring the main entrees. Here, on your left is their limonata (lemonade with fresh zuchinni slivers) and, to your right, pompelmo (pink pomelo drink with a hint of strawberry).
Totally SOLD OUT to Cibo's foods. Such a simple ambiance with unique entrees!
Local Sea Foods
Being home in the Philippines afforded me to savor local foods at its best. Take for example sea foods. Iloilo is so well-blessed with sea foods that one enjoy them at its freshest form. Not to mention my taste buds are well-honed at its flavor. The bangus (milkfish) and kasag (crabs) are some of my favorite ones. One surely anticipates at having bangus grilled than cooked in any other format. The reason being is that, one enjoys the full flavor of the fish when grilled. Check them out.
This one of the moments I anticipate at eating local foods, the "sinugba nga bangrus" or grilled milkfish. Freshly grilled and straight to the dining table where the "saw-sawan" is made of sinamak or spiced vinegar.
This local crabs or kasag is best cooked when freshly available, steamed with a bit of salt in it. Some locals may opt at cooking this shellfish with vegetables and coconut milk added. In fact, I featured this way of preparing crabs several times before.
Shabu-Shabu at Queens
No doubt this post can not past the pages of Ilonggo Living without getting recognition. Shabu-shabu is a unique way of cooking practiced among Koreans and Japanese, as well. If one get the chance to visit an authentic Korean or Japanese resto, it is easy to recognize they offer shabu-shabu cooking. The presence of a stove built in to the table and a smoke hood over it will ensure one will enjoy shabu-shabu cooking. For us, it was our first and for sure, not the last to enjoy such way of preparing food.
This soup is prepared the healthy way, without the use of cooking oil.
The raw materials are basically vegetables and fish paper. One has the option of adding fish sauce (patis), soy sauce, sesami oil and chili oil.
A huge stainless steel bowl with water and added spices is all that is needed. Once the soup base simmers then one can add the rest of the ingredients.
Rice noodles (sotanghon) is an option for making shabu-shabu.
Double Japanese Treat in NYC
It was a wonderful weekend stay in New York City and, I have to share with you a very exciting unplanned rendezvous at the Japanese restaurants in the said city. It all started a day before at a Korean restaurant at Queens borough having our Korean shabu-shabu lunch. As if it was the culmination of our gastronomic experience in New York but, it was not. The following day, after our tour of Central Park on a sweltering heat, we were invited to a birthday party at a Japanese/Korean restaurant. That was quite an experience as the party was set in a Japanese garden. What a lovely way enjoying Japanese cuisine in an authentic ambiance! Since we were invited by another New Yorker friends to a dinner that same day, we ate with caution so as to leave extra room for another bout of indulgence. To our amazement, we were invited to have dinner at another Japanese restaurant in Long Island, New York. We were overwhelmed by the amount and variety of Japanese foods they served in that restaurant. Nowhere to be experienced in Canada, just to keep the records straight. It was an exciting experience, indeed…. Japanese cuisine at its best! And, what could be more exciting than posting this entry while I am in Seoul, South Korea, in transit for my flight to the Philippines. ENJOY!!!
Kosmos special which includes chicken teriyaki, California rolls and shrimps & vegetable tempura.
They call this Momo special, consisting of salmon teriyaki, syumai deep fried fluke. A very good alternative for the vegetarians.
The birthday party at a Japanese restaurant, specifically in a Japanese garden. What could be more authentic than this!
Yuraku Japanese/Korean restaurant at Queens borough. Thanks to Viron, Ching and family for inviting us. It was a memorable experience.
This one is from Minado Japanese restaurant in Long Island, New York. My New Yorker friends Danny and Christine treated us to this huge Japanese resto. Thanks to both of you!
Seafoods galore, including this fresh oysters and king crab legs.
We had the chance to taste all kinds of sushis, sashimis and rolls but, this one caught my attention.. it is fish eggs! This fish egg sushi is made of salmon roe.
Dinengdeng in New York?
After a grueling eight-hour drive from Hamilton, Ontario to New York City, we arrived early Friday morning. This is my 4th trip to the BIG APPLE and, I look forward meeting old acquaintances and family. No trip to the U.S. is ever complete without eating Filipino foods, U.S.A. version that is! Such as dinengdeng, an Ilocano version of our laswa, and, because it is Friday today, I promised myself to go meatless. I hope everyone is alright with the idea. Let’s check out my my “dream deningding“.
Now, you see what I mean. This one is loaded with different local veggies, namely: saluyot, baby zuchinni, lima beans and bungon. Who would have guessed that the "sagpaw" is canned mackerel?
Everyone would agree that this is a sumptuous dinengdeng. My Ilocano friends and readers will totally agree to that!
Side Dishes
Most of my food posts here in Ilonggo Living are main dishes embellished with all the “bells and whistles” to make it more appealing. How about side dishes? True enough, that is why they are called side dishes because they, as the name suggests, have minor role to play with. But for me, I look at side dishes as complimentary with the main course. In the realm of culinary, some side dishes can stand alone as a main dish, at times. And vice versa. It will all depend on “who-what” they are around with, so to speak! Let us check out some of the side dishes.
A perfect example is the Gulai Paku. This can be a main dish or as side dish with rice and fish. The last time we have this, it was treated as main dish.
Another example is liempo or pork belly crunchy or lechon kawali. It can have a dual role of being a main dish or a side dish. As you like it!
Adobong takway and bittermelon salad. More of being side dishes than main one.
Dimsum at North Park, Makati
North Park Makati is a Chinese Dim Sum Restaurant that offers simple dishes at a budget price. It is one of the many restaurants that dots Makati Avenue. Make no mistake when I say budget meals which at times associated with cheap- tasting foods. Not so with North Park! The foods they serve are truly authentic Chinese and exquisitely delicious. Their dim sum entries are varied and sumptuous. Let’s go check it out now!
Their sio mai is simply delicious.
This entree caught my attention because of the name. It is called Cantonese lechon sitting on jasmine garlic rice.
Interestingly enough, this dish is called tofu and fish combo in a sauce.
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