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Friday, September 14, 2012

Finding a "Pasalubong" in Bacolod / Negros Occidental


Name of Trip: The Negros Island Navigation 2009
Date: October 18-21, 2009
Destination: Bacolod/Talisay/Silay cities & Murcia, Negros Occidental and Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
Travel via: Air (Philippine Airlines), Land (van, tricycle and Ceres Liner bus)



Piaya, anyone? :)

Pasalubong - a Filipino word meaning an item that you will brought from a vacation or being away for a period of time. It is a part of Filipino tradition. Some people called it a souvenir while some called it a gift.

During our last day in Negros Island, it is a must to buy something when you go home. It seems that we love to buy pasalubong to our loved ones and indeed we went on different locations to buy the best products that you will show to your families and friends. It is a suger capital of the country, so you will expect sweetness to their products. Examples are piaya, barquillos, cookies, butterscotch and many more. It's more like of a dessert. No wonder, we are in a Sugar Capital of the Philippines. Price are really affordable because you buy the products made fom this province. Here are some of the places we bought our pasalubong:

1. Bongbong's Piaya and Barquillos Pasalubong Center

The name itself, what do you expect to buy here? :) Actually, I love Piaya and good thing we were here and there are lots of piaya in different flavors sold at lowest price. Of course, we were at the center of the piaya making industry. We went to their biggest center at UTC Mall in Araneta Street, Bacolod City.

Piaya is a flat unleavened bread filled with muscovado (raw) sugar. The bread is flaky, just like the Chinese hopia, and the filling is, of course, sweet. The dough is prepared then formed into small balls. The filling of mozcovado sugar is spooned at the center of each ball then the ball is re-shaped. Rolling pins are used to flatten them. Ovens used for commercially produced piaya are not enclosed contraptions but more like huge open griddles. The flattened piaya are arranged in rows and columns, cooked until the underside is lightly browned then flipped over to brown the opposite side. They are cooled then packed for selling. 

We bought many piayas here and aside from that we also bought some pasalubongs such as barquillos, biscocho, pastillas de manga, pinasugbo and bañadas. It was also a souvenir where you buy t-shirts, keychains, Masskara (masks) and a lot more. 



huge area for buyers of pasalubong

also has souvenir shops

array of pasalubong

looking for souvenir

barquillos

have some

buy or not to buy? :)

There were several branches of Bongbong's shop along Negros Island including Panay and Cebu Island. There was also one branch here in Metro Manila - Robinsons Galleria but their prices were definitely much higher than here. For more information on this product, check on their website: http://bongbongspiaya.com/index.html

2. Calea

If you are an avid fan of cakes, well you will love to go here in Bacolod. Calea for me is one of the best cake shops I've visited. Again in a sugar capital of the country, you will expect sweet tooth delicacies and desserts scattered around this island.

We went to their branch in Robinsons Place Bacolod and I bought 3 slices of cake to my cousin's birthday. Once we tasted the cake, we were in heaven, It was so good! I tell you, this place is worth visit when you come to Bacolod! :)

their branch in Robinsons Place Bacolod

Calea with Birthday Girl!

wide array of cakes

yummy!

picture with them

bought birthday present 

How about price? It was very affordable compared to prices in Metro Manila. They have four branches in Bacolod. For more details of their branches, check it here:

1. Ground Floor, Lourdes-C Bldg, 14th Lacson Street, Bacolod City (Main Branch in front LFisher Hotel)
2. Ground Floor, Robinsons Place, Mandalagan, Bacolod City (the branch we went)
3. Calea East Block
4. Balay Quince, 15th Street, Bacolod City

Prices range from PHP80 to PHP120 per slice. It was really a great deal! :)


3. Biscocho Haus

We thought we will never see this place since it was originated from Iloilo City. Along Robinsons Bacolod, we spotted this place along the stalls and we immediately bought their famous butterscotch and of course, biscocho! :) It was a small stall at the ground floor compared to a bigger space in Iloilo City, their main branch.

located at Ground Floor, Robinsons Bacolod

took photo while the saleslady packed our pasalubong

their stall

4. SM City Bacolod

We were so hungry by that time and we went to SM City Bacolod to have dinner. Good thing that the mall was not yet close since we arrived at 8:30PM. We went inside and took dinner at Ted's Batchoy. We bought inasal and their famous La Paz Batchoy. Ted's also came from Iloilo and has different branches all over the country including Metro Manila. Price was also lower here compared to Metro Manila.

their logo during 2009

SM celebrating Masskara Festival

my meal: Chicken inasal with rice and La Paz Batchoy!

their meal was purely La Paz Batchoy

Happy eating!

Trivia: SM logo had already changed and it patterned on what you saw in Metro Manila and other newly built SM mall. It was also expanding as of this time and will soon open by next year. This mall looked like SM Mall of Asia due to the fact that it was built along reclamation area which was also the same as in SM Mall of Asia. It has a huge area which resulted for a massive expansion.

5. Pendy's Napoleones

The following day, we went to Bacolod-Silay International Airport. But before we went there, we dropped by to two other pasalubong centers along the highway. The one was Pendy's for we bought Napoleones. It is a pastry puff dough with a creamy custard in between. We bought boxes especially to my cousin Aris who bought 2 boxes of napoleones. It also tasted good. I wasn't able to took some photos but here what it looks like. Credit to this owner: Foodie Manila

taste so good! :)


6. El Ideal

Along the way to the airport, we passed Silay City and I asked the driver to drop by to El Ideal since I also heard to some bloggers that this was the great guapple pie made. We went to this place and many people lined up and ordered this pie:

Credit to Foodtrippings.com

This was built during 1920's and it is one of the sites in Silay City that preserved its structure. I bought 2 slices of guapple pie and bought some pasalubongs too. :)

Their main store

in a preserved old structure

we went inside

buy some pasalubongs

check some items

bought guapple pie slices

pay the counter

There were two branches of El Ideal, one in Silay City (main) and the other one in Bacolod City. For more information on their branches, check it here:

EL IDEAL BAKERY AND REFRESHMENT
118 Rizal St., Silay City, Negros Occidental
Tel. No. (034) 495 4430 (034) 495 4430


EL IDEAL SNACKS & PACKS
GF North Arcade, Robinson’s Place Bacolod
Tel. No. (034) 453-3565 / (034) 453-3565



After that, we went to the Bacolod-Silay International Airport which was also in Silay City. It was a bit tiring but still a wonderful experience since all we want is to buy pasalubong as presents to your family and friends back home. :)


Continue to next blog! :)





2 comments:

  1. You can add Negros Showroom in your list. It is located on Lacson Street. Check http://metrobacolod.com/ for more places and travel tips in Negros and Bacolod

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi! Thanks for the great post. Been to BongBong's too and they're napoleones is great! I think your link for BongBong's should be changed into just http://www.bongbongspiaya.com as the one that is posted with the /index.html is no longer working. :) Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete

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