Bacolod Food Trip -- Gluttony at Its Peak

Life is sweeter in Negros.
- from a coffee mug in Bacolod


The City of Smiles has more to offer than its rich culture and heritage of azucareras and haciendas.
We found ourselves ten pounds heavier, with satisfied faces as we trooped to Negros and headed to savor what the island offers best: Food! Food! Glorious Food! (yes, like the Broadway hit Oliver rendition).

Of course, what tops our list is as follows:

1. Authentic Chicken Inasal 
- This, we found our niche at Bacolod Chicken House in Lacson Avenue (sorry, no photos taken we were so hungry we forgot our manners over lunch) and the best one of them all is at the Manokan Country (Nena III ni Beth) at the Reclamation Area just behind SM Bacolod (again, no photos were taken because we were ravishing, my apologies)

The verdict? Both Chicken Inasal versions were GOOD but the BEST one of them all is the chicken inasal of Nena's at Manokan Country. It was succulent, juicy and namit (local for delicious) and instantly won our palate. The chicken was cooked right --- no blood residues (ugh, how I hate the sight of blood on my meat!) and the flavor seeped right through the bones. No wonder this is called "Manokan Country" (Chicken Land). You get your chicken done just the way inasal should be.

2. Calea's Cakes and Pastries.
- This quaint cake and coffee shop is right across Bacolod City's premiere hotel, the L'Fisher. It was adjacent to boutiques selling clothes, wines and accessories. The building was aptly named Balay Quince. We have been told that Calea offers the best cakes and pastries in Bacolod so we made sure it was on our "must see and eat" place.

Calea's Caffe Mocha
A coffee-based ice blended drink.

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce
This had me at first bite. I nearly had a heart attack from the sugary goodness of this wonderful cheesecake.

Blueberry Cheesecake
OMG. The blueberry sweetness mixed with the creamy cheese and cream on top of a nutty crust blew off my mind.

Black Sambo.
A gracious layer of cream, gelatin and chocolate bursting with rich cocoa flavors.

Trio of Desserts.
Blueberry Cheesecake, White Chocolate Cheesecake, Black Sambo.

Calea's Mocha Frost
Blended with Chocolate Ice Cream.

We left Calea with a sugar rush and went back to the hotel, waiting for our friend who came in from an afternoon flight. When she arrived, we all decided to try out the Pala-pala in Bacolod, famous for its Dampa-style cooking. We boarded a cab and was brought to 18th Street Pala-pala. It turned out that it wasn't the Pala-pala we were supposed to be in. But anyways we had our dinner and ordered buttered shrimps, chili crabs, grilled liempo and adobong lagang (lamp shells, as we were told). The food were not that delectable (they were just OKAY) and we got to have our first taste of the local lagang shell (which actually tasted like squid, with a tougher consistency).

Feasting on a smorgasbord of freshly cooked food.

Ho-hum butter shrimps

I make better chili crabs than this one.
Smothered with store-bought Jufran Chili Sauce, and presto! They call it "chili crabs"!

Fortunately, this liempo tasted good but was so thinly sliced.

3. Cafe Bob's
- The original Pala-pala, we found out later, is actually near the port area of Bacolod and serves cheaper and more delicious food. Not quite satisfied with what we had for dinner, we decided to walk the mile down the street and look for Cafe Bob's. We found ourselves walking the stretch of Lacson Ave. and wounded right in front of the comely doorsteps of the Cafe. Unfortunately, there were no gellatos left in their fridge so we helped ourselves to another sugar sinfulness of cakes, pastries and tea.

Cakes, cakes and more cakes greeted us through their display counter.

Choose your poison!
Mine was a slice of pistachio dacquiose (not shown here)

The abundance of sugar plantations in Bacolod made sinful sweets like these easier to access.

French Macarons, Red Velvet cupcakes and other temptations at your reach.

We ended the night with enough insulin surge to make us wide awake at night. The sweet stuff we literally stuffed ourselves with were enough to put happy faces to sleep. Our next pit stop was to savor 21 Restaurant's Super Batchoy before we head home to Manila. 

Now I understand why Bacolod is called the "City of Smiles" --- with all the sugary, sweet and everything nice we can find there, I would have to agree that life is indeed sweeter in Negros.