Tutubi just loves unplanned trips even just changing his usual route driving around town. It's at hidden corners and not the usual streets where he's "discovered" hidden gems of places, restaurants and hole-in-the-wall eateries and food trip places, one of which is this bakery selling toasted siopao from Naga City, Camarines Sur somewhere near UP Teachers Village in Quezon City.

This is a long-pending post. Tutubi was only reminded only when Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho featured this "delicacy"...err...bicol specialty on her GMA magazine show.

still hot toasted siopao showing pork asado filling

How to make toasted siopao? Toasted Siopao recipe is straightforward:

Toasted siopao, unlike regular siopao that comes in bola-bola or asado variants, is made from wheat flour thus the bread-like texture. Asado pork filling, sourced from Bicol, is stuffed then the dough with filling is baked until toasted and brown-colored.

Price is PhP8/piece

Where to buy toasted siopao in Manila:

TatyStar Bakery:

#45 Anonas Extension, Brgy Sikatuna, Quezon City
Telephone Number: +63.2.386.9604

Door 1 Dahlia Ave., West Fairview, Quezon City
Telephone Number: +63.2.466.0750

#61 CK Bldg. Visayas Ave., Brgy Vasra, Quezon City
Telephone Number: +63.2.466.1325

Remarks: No delivery and not yet ready for franchising.

3N Bakery
Alabang fronting Star Mall, 1780 Muntinlupa City
Telephone Number: 0917 809 2659
Store hours: 7:00 am - 7:00 pm

with branches in Pilar, Las Pinas, R. Tirona, J. Elizalde,
Presidents avenue in BF Homes Paranaque

Labels: Bicol Cuisine, Bicol Region, Camarines Sur, Frugal Food Find, Naga City

Are you sure you've been to Bicol? Sure, you've seen the really beautiful Mayon Volcano in Albay, swam with the butanding in Donsol, Sorsogon, stayed at CamSur, visited Caramoan and other now usual part of Bicol tour itinerary but probably you've missed other lesser known Bicol culinary treasures due to pre-occupation with Bicol "sightseeing tours." Besides the pili nut, have you sampled authentic Bicol Express? This sweat gland-inducing dish seems to be getting spicier as you head south. The equally great pinangat of Camalig, Albay, the less-known hinugom, kuyog, binut-ong, kinagang of Sorsogon plus other Bicol specialties like the sinantolan (different from Laguna and Quezon versions of the ginataang santol dish), the kinunot and other bicol dishes with primary ingredients of coconut milk and chili. This one may be too ubiquitous for you and probably served right under your nose when you got there. The pancit bato was introduced to Tutubi by a close friend from Daet during his first visit to Camarines Norte about 10 years ago. Pancit bato costs just PhP5 per serving then and yet it's so filling it can put to shame Chowking's similar serving costing 12 times as much. pancit bato servd to Tutubi by friends in Paracale In a visit to Paracale, Camarines Norte, he was again re-acquainted with the frugal food find in Bicol, again at P5 per serving but less in serving size after 10 years. Why was it called pansit/pancit bato? It's not made of stone/rocks nor stone used to cook/make them. The noodles were actually made in the town of Bato, Camarines Sur and made from rice cassava (kamoteng kahoy) Tutubi has a future post on regional variants of pancit in the Philippines, a collection of stories and pictures for his "pancit tour of the Philippines" :P

Labels: Bicol Cuisine, Bicol Region, Camarines Sur, Filipino Food

The questions most asked by Tutubi to locals of various places he's visited try to uncover a place's native delicacies and specialties, where to find them and how to make them.

This time, he has yet to ask the question to his hosts in Gubat, Sorsogon and yet his question have been answered when they served him two of Gubat's delicacies that turned his ordinary lunch into a Gubat food trip.

First, besides usual dishes known to Tutubi, was a serving a fried small fish, locally called kuyog or cuyog, probably some sort of anchovy, whose taste reminds Tutubi of bangayngay of his childhood in Paete, Laguna. One of his hosts cautioned though that catching the kuyog fish, still small fries, is illegal but people are so fond of the fish they continue to catch them. Fermented kuyog fish is usually paired with cooked pili fruits as side dishes/appetizers/dips.

crispy fried kuyog.cuyog fish

Tutubi's host narrated how the side dish of cooked pili fruit and cuyog is made from boiled ripe pili fruit. The dark skin of the boiled pili fruit is peeled off and the dipped in fermented cuyog sauce, similar to bagoong, accentuated with a dash of calamansi juice. The pungent flavor of the pili combined with the sour and salty kuyog sauce is heavenly to the locals (peninsular Bicolanos and even those from Catanduanes) but is an acquired taste for others. It's very popularly paired with angol fish in coconut milk.

Next was a serving of brown cake made of rice called Hinagum (or hinagom). The rice dessert is also popular in nearby Samar Island, home of the Warays, where the Bicol Peninsula is separated by San Bernandino Strait. Hinagom recipe is simple, it's made from freshly harvested rice that's pounded, roasted in a pan, then pounded again in a mortar mixed with coconut meat and sugar before wrapping in leaves. It tastes quite similar to espasol of Laguna.

home-made hinagom served to Tutubi by his gracious hosts

Other Gubat delicacies that can be tried there for a Gubat food trip is binut-ong, a simple recipe of glutinous rice mixed with coconut milk and anise seeds, wrapped in banana leaves and boiled over low fire for about an hour and a half.

The timitim, is some sort of cassava cake made from grated cassava, coconut milk, sugar, vanilla, and pili nuts. The video below, a clip fro m ABS-CBN travel show "Trip na Trip" where they demonstrated how to make the various Gubat, Sorsogon delicacies (shot at Veramaris Resort).



Kinagang, a unique Gubat delicacy made of crayfish. How to make kinagang: remove the shell of the crayfish, mash the meat and mix with strips of coconut meat and leaves of herba buena (a mint variety). Wrap the mixture in higikhik leaves (it's one of the secret of the delicacy or else it will taste differently) then steam.

Too bad, Tutubi wasn't able to taste timitim, binut-ong and kinagang but he hopes to be back in Gubat, Sorsogon someday for this

The worst part about Tutubi's stay in Gubat, Sorsogon was that there's really no restaurant where you can sample their gastronomic treats and culinary treasures except from the home of a Gubatnon. People of Gubat, like most other Filipinos, should really showcase their own native delicacies and unique cuisine as well as develop various tourist attractions to improve tourism in their town.

Most people still think Gubat, is a forest, as the name in Filipino means, but Gubat is actually a progressive town in Sorsogon, now with an ATM of her own by Gubat St. Anthony Cooperative (GSAC), and a lovely Rizal beach that can be developed as a surfing, skimboarding, kitesurfing/kiteboarding, and windsurfing beach if the locals and government officials get their acts together.

Combine culinary treasures with natural attractions and pride of place and you'll have a tourism success story!

Related Posts:

Rizal Beach Resort
Veramaris Resort, Gubat, Sorsogon

Labels: Bicol Cuisine, Bicol Region, Delicacies, Filipino Food, Sorsogon

Cooking the Bicolano food is not complete without the ubiquitous coconut and chili. During the Camarines tour, Tutubi and his friends were again introduced to authentic cuisine of the Bicol region using fresh catch from the sea bought from local fishermen.

Simple Bicol dishes are made from traditional recipes with the two earlier mentioned key ingredients: coconut milk and chili

Tutubi, took too long doing something that he wasn't able to take a photo of the coconut being pried open and grated the old-fashined way using a kudkuran (coconut grater). He was only able to capture the on "film" grated coconut being milked

traditional way of milking coconut done on a remote island. notice also kalabasa (squash) being cut into pieces

coconut milk put into a skillet then brought to a boil

the victim...err..main ingredient of lunch: a still alive crab with pincers tied together

coconut milk mixed with crabs, sliced squash, large green chili and other ingredients Tutubi wasn't able to keep tabs on due to his already growling stomach

not unique to Bicol but this adobong pusit (squid) is also tempting

Bicol's most famous dish, Bicol express, whose main flavoring ingredient is bagoong alamang (fermented shrimp), wasn't served that day but laing (taro leaves in coconut milk) was sampled as well as sinantol (grated wild mangosteen in coconut milk with smoked fish, different from Tutubi's favorite sinantol recipe from his hometown using bagoong alamang).

Thanks to Tutubi's friend from Daet who toured the group, and cooked food for them stranded souls on a remote island in a scene similar to the upcoming Survivor Philippines!

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Other noteworthy Bicolano dishes include tinumok (taro leaves in coconut cream with chopped river shrimps and strips of young coconut), pinangat (taro leaves in coconut milk with chopped pork or smoked fish), and sinanglay (using roasted grated coconut, with dressing made from coco milk mixed in with vinegar for the blanched sliced puso ng saging (banana heart))

Labels: Bicol, Bicol Cuisine, Camarines Norte, Filipino Food