Negros Occidental: How to gain weight in 3 days

I admit not having well discerning taste buds, but the food in Negros is too delish to go unnoticed even by a dull foodie like me. Restaurants are lined up along Lacson St. in Bacolod City, with cuisines ranging from local Negrense to Korean and Japanese restaurants.  Being the Sugar Bowl of the country, there are also a lot of good pastries shops here, and most are found right along the same street.

There is also something about the Negrense's way of eating that makes it more tempting for the guests: they eat their food with much gusto! Lucky are those people who were gifted with that delightful way of eating.  The food is one big reason why Bacolod is a city I want to go back to.

Here's a rundown of the places we ate at for 3 days. I would have wanted to squeeze more in but my stomach was beyond full!

Note: Lengthy post ahead. I'd like you to read all the way to the end but if you wish to skim through, click on the links below.

We were relieved to see that most establishments were still open at 11PM.  The Manokan Country is a strip of chicken inasal joints (read: carinderias), offering a dish  for every imaginable chicken part. Think chicken ass, chicken feet, chicken gizzard, and chicken liver.  It's a chicken version of Manila's seafood dampa.

Our stop for the night was Aida's which was recommended in Anton Diaz' blog. Aida's bright interiors outshone the rest, with colorful masks on display that served as a visual treat for us who have never been to a Masskara Festival.

As for the food, frankly, I couldn't tell if it was better than most inasal but for someone as hungry as I was, the chicken pecho tasted good enough.

The chicken pecho with rice and Coke cost P100.

How to get here:
Manokan Country - Ride a jeepeney going to Mandalagan and get down when you see SM City Bacolod. Manokan is along Fr. M. Ferrero St., right across SM.

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In the search for the elusive La Corona Cafe, we ended up in an unassuming shop called Kaffe Sadtu.  Apparently, La Corona Cafe closed down last year when the owner got sick and nobody took over the business. It's a good thing Kaffe Sadtu opened and enticed the taste of La Corona's patrons.

Kaffe Sadtu offers locally grown and freshly brewed coffee straight up and without frills, just like how coffee used to be served.  The place looked like it used to be a hardware store, with some construction materials still on the shelves, but this detail just makes the shop more interesting.  The tables were nothing fancy, and there were no coffee table books lying around, but you could bring a newspaper, use their WiFi, or better yet, talk with the other customers.  The old-fashioned ambiance felt perfect for exchanging stories.

Coffee was served at P15 a cup and truly, the price is never an indication of how good a thing is. Their native coffee tasted better than the usual 100peso-with-whipped-cream coffees.  I ordered the homemade corned beef with toast and omelet for only P35.

Regulars can leave their own cups in the shop and the server keeps it for them. Customer service deluxe indeed!

How to get here:
Kaffe Sadtu - Ride a jeepney going to Shopping or Homesite. Kaffe Sadtu is along Hilado Street, near Burgos and Hilado intersection.  The landmark is the public market along Burgos.

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We were eyeing Cafe Bob's for lunch, but Andrew told us that Cafe Bob's was mostly a hangout for students. He took us then to the original Bob's restaurant, along the same street of Cafe Bob's.

The best seller on the menu was Sate Babe, a pork barbecue dish drenched with creamy peanut sauce paired with java rice. Bob's Fruit Punch is also an interesting concoction of different fruits like coconut, watermelon, and pineapple, and spiked with a hint of rum.  The food is relatively cheaper compared to the prices in Manila for a similar grade of good food. An order of Sate Babe meal plus Fruit Punch costs P187.

How to get here:
Bob's - Along B.S. Aquino Drive, in front of the Riverside Medical Center. 

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Calea is probably the most famous pastries and coffee shop in Lacson St.  Though they are best known for their blueberry cheesecake, the other cakes can't be dismissed. For our meryenda, we bought 4 slices: blueberry cheesecake, mixed berry cheesecake, imported chocolate, and double chocolate cakes.

Each cake had its own distinct and scrumptious taste, but of all the 4, I enjoyed the mixed berry cheesecake best while my friend finished all of the double chocolate cake.

There's no need to worry about choking on all those sugar as the crew here were very attentive, they made sure our glasses of water were always filled to the brim.

Most cakes cost P85 per slice.

How to get here:
Calea - Ground floor, Balay Quince building. You can take a jeep bound to Bata, but a better way to explore restaurants here is to walk along Lacson St.

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Andrew's suggestion was to order Kansi, and so we did!  Kansi is an Ilonggo recipe that looked like bulalo (beef bone marrow) but tasted sour like sinigang. It was a good soup to warm up a starving stomach. The place had a typical inuman feel to it, complete with  cottages for big groups. Enting's also had several kilawin specialties I also had their fried chicken which reminded me of BBQ Chicken & Beer's Original Chicken set. And to top it all off, I finished mine with a beer.

How to get here:
Enting's - Located at 16th cor. Lacson St. 

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Guapple Pie at El Ideal

El Ideal translates to Guapple Pie. That was what we learned when we had lunch there. The pork chop meal was nothing special and I'm pretty sure I've tasted better halo-halo than what they served.  The guapple pie though, is the gleaming silver lining in their menu.  It's an explosion of sweet guava and crunchy apple in a flaky pie with a hint of a cinnamon.

How to get here:
El Ideal - The sign is huge enough so you won't miss it. The bakery sits along Rizal St., Silay City. Take a bus to Victorias and alight at the bus stop nearest El Ideal.

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Just behind El Ideal sits Cafe 1925. A small coffee shop whose lunch menu (baby back ribs and the likes) was recommended by Ramon Hofileña. Unfortunately for us, it was already late in the afternoon when we went. Our merienda was a chocolate shake, mango sans rival, and a brownie ala mode.

How to get here:
Cafe 1925 - Located at the street beside El Ideal, J.Pitong Ledesma Street. Right behind BPI.

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Dinner at The Ruins

The last stop for our trip was The Ruins in Talisay City, and last stop often means splurging. And boy did we splurge on this dinner! Italian food is served at The Ruins Restaurant. Oven-baked Hawaiian pizza, pesto, and carbonara pasta was our choice. Both pasta dishes were flavorful but the pizza could do better.

We chose the outdoor tables right across The Ruins but guests also have an option to eat inside. Everyone goes here to catch the sunset, but when the moon rises, most people pack their things and go. That leaves behind a serene and nicely lit-up architecture that's a perfect setting for dinner.

Photos by Aaron Manila.