Vigan made it to the 14 official candidates of New7WonderCities. Other cities that made the final list are Barcelona, Beirut, Chicago, Doha, Durban, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, La Paz, London, Mexico City, Perth, Quito and Reykjavik.
All votes have been reset. Voting for your top cities around the globe is til December 2014. Vote here, friends. Or vote via SMS: Text VIGAN10 to 29290777.
Photographed by Blauearth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2014
Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders, said, “We began with more than 1,200 nominees from 220 different countries and here have 7 that represent the global diversity of urban society.”
Cities that made the final seven are: Beirut (Lebanon), Doha (Qatar), Durban (South Africa), Havana (Cuba), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), La Paz (Bolivia), Vigan (Philippines).
Weber adds, “We congratulate each of these cities on achieving their New7Wonders status, and we look forward to celebrating their election to the ‘canon of 7′ with their citizens in 2015. The New7Wonders Cites will now join the New7Wonders of Nature and the New7Wonders of the World in becoming part of Global Memory for humanity for ever.”
There’s so much reason to celebrate Vigan’s inclusion in the New7Wonders Cities. Congratulations, Vigan City! Viva Vigan!
Photographed by Blauearth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2014
Vigan gears up for double busy days ahead after being named among the New7Wonders Cities alongside Beirut, Doha, Durban, Havana, Kuala Lumpur and La Paz.
There are new hotels and places to eat such as Bigaa Gastropub which occupies the spot left by Dulcelise. The owners are the same, so the wonderful cakes are still there plus there’s variety — eclectic is the way to describe the menu — ice cream cakes and savory pastas like the Bigaa pasta topped with bagnet. The particular pasta is an explosion of traditional flavor made more current with a touch of tropical mangoes. The sans rival cake was fantastic as usual.
The Vigan Heritage River Cruise.
The narrow Vigan streets seemed even much narrower during the long weekend of the Papal visit.
We rode a tricycle from Vigan’s core to the town of Caoayan to check out the Pinakbet Farm, a municipal project intended to help students with livelihood and encourage farmers to at least switch to semi-organic farming, if not organic. A semi-boodle fight lunch of pinakbet, grilled liempo, chicken and tilapia from the fish farm and an Ilocano song and dance cultural show can be enjoyed for Php300.
As always, the empanadahan at Plaza Burgos was teeming with visitors.
The Bigaa pasta.
Vigan okoy is so good with Vigan’s suka ken lasona (vinegar with red onions).
Met the Abinsay family from San Jose, California
Vigan’s empanada is so much different from Batac’s as well as Laoag’s mongo and papaya filled empanada.
Photographed by Brandon Tan and BlauEarth
© Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015
In business, always at the center of entrepreneur Marsha Navarro Chua’s mind is comfort and convenience (especially for the tired traveler to the North). A pleasurable pasalubong store and rest area, her well-loved Marsha’s Delicacies, which prides of its royal bibingka and other quality delicacies, (along the National Highway in Bantay, only a few kilometers away from world-famous historic Vigan), is complemented by the One Vittoria Hotel, a new place to stay in Ilocos, affording modern amenities for bakasyonistas and travelers alike.
According to locals, from Marsha’s former employee I met in Vigan down to the tricycle driver who brought me to One Vittoria Hotel, Marsha’s middle name is nice. I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting one of my most admired, hardworking women entrepreneurs in Ilocos at the FoodPrints Ilocos Sur shoot. Marsha, originally from the land of pili and sili, is married to a Bigueño.
Marsha’s royal bibingka goes by the tagline, “taste and compare the big difference .”
Sharing a few photos I took of One Vittoria Hotel while waiting for the team.
One Vittotia Hotel National Highway, Cabalanggan, Bantay, Ilocos Sur, Philippines Contact Nos.: +63 77 604 0054 (landline) / +63 925 318 8885 (Sun) / +63 998 984 5101 (Smart) / +63 917 5784728 (Globe) Website: onevittoriahotel.com
Photos with Ms. Marsha Navarro Chua by Melanie de Leon
Photographed by Blauearth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015
The capital city of Ilocos Sur, Vigan, acclaimed for its well-preserved architecture and cobblestone streets, is well-defined in many aspects. Relative to its multi-colored history, other than traditional bagnet and longaniza, Mexican-influenced pipian and delicacies of Hispanic origins like masa pudrida, turones de mani, canatillo and torta, is a subsisting Chinese eatery named Sanitary Restaurant that serves mainstays, such as canton Luzon (pancit), kwekeng (also known as ngoyong), maki, hongkue (stuffed boneless chicken), carne agre dulce (sweet and sour meat), kimlo, lomi and the more popular siopao, mami and siomai. Passed down through generations, Sanitary is said to be the oldest restaurant in Vigan. Married into the family of the original owners, its current keeper, manong Vicente “Vic” Chua, does not know exactly the year it was established. All he remembers is that Sanitary was already in existence when he was little.
Sanitary Restaurant is not foreign to me. I’ve heard about it from, of all people, Manila-based Chinoy friends. I remember Vigan resident Mr. Bonito Singson also recently mentioned about his occasional breakfasts at the old Chinese restaurant. A visiting friend gave us kwekeng, fried pork rolls similar to kikiam, from her Vigan trip, but I really never had the time to go there myself until yesterday. We went to Vigan only to eat kwekeng, and then we ate more.
A photo with manong Vic.
Canton Luzon (they also have a bihon Luzon) is very similat to Laoag’s La Moda pancit, but instead of lechon de carajay bits, it is topped with meatballs and pork; the flat noodles are also narrower. I liked the bun of the siopao — dense and very old-fashioned. The carne agre dulce (there’s also chicken and liver) is presented differently, wherein snow peas and Chinese cabbage take the place of the more common carrots, pineapples or cucumber. Compared to most makis in Binondo, theirs was runny. Likewise in the menu, hongkue, a kind of rice-stuffed chicken steamed for a long amount of time, should be ordered one day in advance. That was what my husband really wanted to try because his dad, who passed away last year, made the best hongkue. My top picks from all that we ordered were siomai and kwekeng with the accompanying sauce.
Locals go there to eat pancit and siopao, but kwekeng, according to manong Vic, is bought in bulk as pasalubong or sent to Bigueños living in Manila.
Ilocanos who grew up wishing pancit instead of spaghetti, will always feel the nostalgia of good old Chinese food.
Sanitary’s well loved kwekeng.
Sanitary Restaurant 18 Gen. Luna St., Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines
Sanitary Restaurant exterior photos by Reny and Brandon Tan
Photographed by Blauearth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015
Remember my very own adventure (hahah, tricycle adventure) in and out of NOAH, in institutional parlance, the Narvacan Outdoor Adventure Hub, a tourism complex in Bulanos in the Southern Ilocos town of Narvacan, which centers on eco-adventure activities, primarily the 280-ft. via ferrata along the walls of Bantay Abot (again, not to be confused with the Bantay Abot Cave in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte) and river and sea adventure thrills?
From its caterpillar stage, Narvacan’s tourism project has morphed into a butterfly, staging sports events and attracting extreme sports enthusiasts.
Among the activities of various genres in the line-up for their summer sea festival, dubbed Fiesta del Mar, was the Narvacan Mountain Bike Challenge, consisting of DH, Enduro, XCO and Fatbike races, attended by top Filipino riders, among them JR Barba, Jeric Farr and Parabanne Mendoza, international downhillers and XCO bikers from as far as Slovenia and Indonesia and local mountain biking enthusiasts.
The number one advocate of eco and adventure tourism in his town, young and dynamic Mayor Zuriel Zaragoza was visible throughout the events.
To calm down the adrenaline rush, on the first night of the weekend races, everyone was treated to the mellow music of the Freestyle band surrounding the Bulanos Beach, harmonizing with the rushing waves from the West Philippine Sea.
Indonesian riders chilling in between rides.
Ilocos Norte’s very own consistent national placer in his age category, the Burgy of downhill biking, Robert John Eulalio Burgos. (now a board-certified engineer, congrats for successfully juggling biking and studies!).
Photographed by BlauEarth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015
One description of Ilocano food that has stuck in my mind was made by Chef Sandy Daza. In the latest episode of FoodPrints, he said, “Ilocano food is simple, with much heart.” Having grown up with Ilocano food, I completely agree with him. Yet through all the simplicity (and almost visual flatness) of Ilocano food, Ilocano cooking varies from house to house, from town to town.
I hail from the northernmost province of the Ilocos Region. In the 80s to the 90s, road trips to and from Manila or Baguio would not be complete without breakfast or early lunch at Clarin’s Restaurant, right beside the National Highway in the poblacion of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur. We’d make it a point to make a stopover at the all-you-can-eat restaurant which serves a set menu of native dishes that includes piping hot lomo-lomo.
Back then, lomo-lomo (browned pork soup pepped up with kuchay (Chinese chives), tinuno (grilled pork), pork adobo, Ilocano-style afritada, imbaliktad (half-cooked beef flavored with Ilocano vinegar, lasona and ginger), igado, balatong (mongo), and their signature salad (that is actually an atchara with katuday (katuray or duboisia flowers) and utong (green beans), depending on availability, were served all at once. Refills would be brought upon request.
Past noontime in Narvacan, as if revisiting an old flame, the hubby stopped and snuck in Clarin’s to take a look at the food counter. He didn’t leave the restaurant without refreshing old memories with his family, most especially with his dad. To this day, the hubby (and his siblings) crave for the resataurant’s difficult-to-copy, tempered bittersweet flavor of katuday-utong salad, tinuno and lomo-lomo.
Something caught my attention while my husband was satisfying his yearning for Clarin’s cooking. According to a hanged enlarged print of a 1990 Philippine Daily Inquirer article, entitled “Eating out in Vigan”, penned by notable food columnist, food critic and book author, the late Doreen Fernandez — her co-author of a foodie guide book, Eddy Alegre, and well-known nutritionist Sanirose Singson-Orbeta, both Ilocaos, agree that “the best eating in Vigan is outside Vigan”.
We chanced upon Evangeline Clarin, the present owner/manager of Clarin’s and daughter of the founder of the pre-war eatery that primarily caters to travelers (largely loyal customers from Vigan and Laoag). “I’m trying to sustain the restaurant.”
The hubby was late for the tinuno, but basically the same familiar viands. An all-you can eat meal costs PhP150. I complained about the lomo-lomo’s not being the same like it was in the past. She said, she didn’t put kuchay. “I knew it,” I retorted, and she smiled. Nonetheless, the salad and the poque-poque (sauteed grilled eggplant with tomatoes) were perfect. The waitress said their old cook and the owner still tend to the kitchen.
While fast food restaurants and carinderias have mushroomed along the northern highway through the decades, Clarin’s yet keeps up with tradition.
Photographed by BlauEarth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015
Discovered something to add to your Visita Iglesia list or if you are looking for a quaint locale for a future wedding.
Established by the Augustinians in 1587 in Narvacan, a town not too far away from Vigan, the seat of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia, the Narvacan Church aka St. Lucy (Sta. Lucia) Parish Church has undergone several transformations since. Natural calamities, fire and war destroyed parts of the stone church, but restorations, with the assistance of the United States War Damage Commission, the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia, and generous patrons, saved the facade’s overall look.
The clean, understated elegance of its interiors is noteworthy.
Caught a glimpse of a cemetery with raised tombs from the left side door.
Located at a distance from the church, the belfry is said to have been constructed in the late 1800s.
Photographed by BlauEarth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015
Little did I know that as early as childhood I was already absorbing influences for a blogging/writing career. Balicucha candies were among the things my second mom, my yaya Cion, would buy for me from the Laoag public market. I knew they were made from sugarcane juice much like palinang and tagapulot (molasses), but I always imagined they were part of the froth or something because of their rather whitish color.
I met these balicucha candies once again at pasalubong stores and coffee shops in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. It has the texture of honeycomb toffee when it’s fresh. A grown-up way to enjoy balicucha is to drop one (in place of sugar) into coffee, and you get a beautiful toasty caramel flavored coffee like no other in an instant. Balicucha also happens to be one of the popular flavors of a well-loved local ice cream made by the Bungro community in San Ildefonso.
Fortunately, I stumbled upon the balicucha makers of Santa Maria at Ilocos Sur’s Kannawidan Festival food and trade fair while doing my research for FoodPrints. Most of the balicucha we get to enjoy today are made by the sugarcane farming communities in Sta. Maria.
Santa Maria is home to another UNESCO World Heritage Site in Ilocos, the Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion Church. The fertile lands of the town bring forth sugarcane among its principal crops. Balicucha might be as old as the dadapilan (sugarcane presser). Other than balicucha, products coming from the several pagdapilan in Santa Maria are muscovado, basi (Ilocano wine) and vinegar. A steel sugarcane crusher has taken the place of the antiquated, original dadapilan from wood. We were actually asked if we wanted the traditional carabao-drawn or the modernized tractor-aided dadapilan.
The photos of balicucha making were shot while Chef Sandy Daza was being filmed in Maynganay Norte for FoodPrints Ilocos Sur.
Trying to form balicucha, in fact the entire process of creating these sugarcane candies, is something I never imagined learning.
Balicucha making starts here. Sugarcane stalks are fed into the mill while a carabao pulls the log (attached to the presser), moving in circular direction, while juice is being extracted.
Pure sugarcane juice is cooked until it caramelizes.
Once ready, the hot caramel-colored molasses hardens fast. Quite difficult to do if you are a first timer, the mass is stretched and looped repeatedly until it manifests an even creamy white shade. From there, small portions for balicucha pieces are pinched out.
They are allowed to bake under the sun before they are packed and sent to consignees and stalls lining the national highway in Sta. Maria.
With special thanks to the warm hospitality of the Kababaihan at Kabataan ng Maynganay Norte Program Inc., the Muscovado Farmers Association of Maynganay, the Sta. Maria Tourism Office and the Province of Ilocos Sur Tourism Office. And to FoodPrints on the Lifestyle Network for the trust.
Photographed by BlauEarth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015
After posting The 10 Best Places To Eat in Ilocos Norte, the time has arrived for The 10 Best Places To Eat in Ilocos Sur.
Ilocos Sur and its capital city, Vigan, is distinguished by its fascinating, centuries-old history, where traditional and inherited dishes remain. Hinged on various opinions from in-demand tour guides, frequent as well as first time visitors in Ilocos, foodies from different generations, not to mention my own personal experiences as a food blogger (who has paid 95 percent of all the food that’s been featured in this blog), the restaurants that made the top ten list best satisfy the curiosity for Ilocano cuisine and beyond. Even the most basic, simple Ilocano pinakbet or dinegdeng requires art. But in an evolving world, it’s also not only just about plain bagnet nor longaniza anymore. It is also how these classics are being used to create yet unmistakably Ilocano food in character. And because eating out is also about bonding moments with family or friends.
1. Cafe Leona. The restaurant is the first thing you see upon entering Calle Crisologo from the Leona Florentino statue and marker. Leona Florentino was an 18th century local poet in the Spanish and Ilocano languages. The mother of Philippine women’s literature was also given the title “bridge from oral to literary tradition.” You go inside the cafe and you might not like the tight, fusty setting that welcomes you, but the menu will reveal it cares about diversity. Pinakbet here is first-rate, and Vigan longaniza too, but fresh uni (sea urchin) and unagi (eel) teriyaki are also always available, and affordable. Native fish tamales, bagnet and ararosip (grape seaweed) salad are among the mainstays in the turo-turo-style counter.
2. Kusina Felicitas and Cafe Uno. While these two are situated in Grandpa’s Inn and often interchangeable, Cafe Uno specializes in short orders like salads and pastas, upgraded poque-poque, coffee, and cakes with a homemade feel and taste (carrot cake and chocolate fudge here are winners), and Kusina Felicitas, on the other hand, is known for traditional Ilocano and Filipino food and Vigan specialties such as pipian with citrusy and minty pasotes and grilled chicken with tropical karimbuaya leaves.
3. Cafe Bossa. Candon’s best kept secret is Cafe Bossa’s lomo-lomo soup with pork loin and liver. Haven’t eaten lomo-lomo like this ever. Topped with one whole egg, it is rich yet soothing. The creative twists to iconic Filipino food like tuyo and aligue, among others, make this cafe unique. They also have great desserts, and it transforms into a tavern by night. It occupies the first floor of an ancestral house tucked in the commercial side of the town.
4. Bistro 23. On the corner of Calle A. Reyes and Calle Salcedo stands Bistro 23, a newbie restaurant and bar with a mouthwatering start. “Comfort food at its best,” says sales reps who travel the north frequently. In the menu, you will find pancit and it turns out it is pancit loaded with fish ball slices and topped with a sunny side up egg. Undressed Vigan longaniza sits on a bed of poque-poque, and also on fried rice. Audacious eaters can bet on kansi and bloody sapsapuriket chicken soup. Tokwa’t bagnet sounds good and tastes good.
5. Bistro Candon. Back to Candon at Chef’s Nic Rodriquez’s home ground. Bistro Candon’s claim to fame is its traditional Ilocano fare and desserts that we’ve grown up with like chocolate cake which has attracted food editors of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, leche flan and brazo de Mercedes. Try the rellenong bangus and bagnet with Chef Nic’s fragrant taburkik bagoong. The restaurant is inside a compound and closes quite early, so lunch is best.
6. Comedor. The name alone suggests Spanish influence. Comedor is the main restaurant of the luxurious Hotel Luna, which is the only museum hotel in UNESCO World Heritage site Vigan. It tries to relive the affluent days with tapas and paella. Paella negra here doesn’t disappoint. Ditto with heritage dishes. Service is efficient and friendly.
7. Bigaa Gastropub. What used to be a dessert shop at the Vigan Plaza Hotel has evolved with more in store for the younger palate. The divine sans rival is still as good. Along with traditional Bigueño entrées, hybrid dishes like rusangis (endemic only to Caoayan) and bagnet pastas and panizza capped with local ingredients tickle the palate. A pasta draped with provincial dinoydoy (mashed squash) is surprisingly bracing.
8. Sanitary Restaurant. The oldest restaurant in Vigan is still a crowd attraction. The little Chinese restaurant is always packed with locals enjoying lomi, mami or pancit Luzon with siopao or siomai. The menu consists of Chinoy-sounding food names peppered with Spanish terms like caldo and agre dulce. You can also find hongkue (Chinese stuffed chicken) in the menu, but has to be ordered in advance. It is said that a typical box of goodies brought out of the city contains bagnet, longaniza, royal bibingka and Sanitary’s famous ngoyong (ngohiong), a kind of Chinese meat roll flavored with five spices.
9. Lilong and Lilang Restaurant. The best Vigan empanada is shrouded in foliage, according to famished tourists checking out the Hidden Garden in the outskirts of Vigan. Lilong and Lilang Restaurant is the place to eat when you like restful natural environment. Ilocano favorites like dinengdeng, sinanglao, pinakbet with bagnet and warek-warek (grilled pork and liver mixed with mayo) dominate the menu. Down to presentation, local color is intensified. Buko and fruit coolers delight especially during hot Ilocos weather.
10. Pinakbet Farm. The quintessential Ilocano food gets top billing in Caoayan, not too far away from the core of Vigan. A mélange of vegetables straight from the garden, alongside freshly-caught grilled tilapia (from its own pond), chicken and pork is the only food there is at this picnic pavillion maintained by the community. An authentic farm-style ambiance that perfectly personifies Ilocano simple living, complete with Ilocano entertainment, is an experience in itself.
Photographed by BlauEarth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015
It’s fiesta season once again in the Ilocos Region. Stumbled upon this poster of Ilocos Sur’s Kannawidan Ylocos Bicentennial celebration schedule of activities on social media and might as well share it with you. Ilocos Sur and its seat of government, Vigan, like to do it customarily grand in their own unique Southern Ilocano way. Kicking off on January 26, with Sun Soaked beach sports competitions and Parokya ni Edgar concert at the beach in Magsingal, the province’s 200 years commemorations will be livened up with a dancing fountain spectacle, art and poetry competitions, Chef Wars, a longganisa eating contest, stamp exhibit, street dancing showdown capped by an Ely Buendia performance, a rodeo parade, a drag race, etc. For more details, visit their websites at the bottom of the poster.
