CLARK FREEPORT – For Chef Rafael “Tibong” Jardeleza II, Iloilo food is more of a merienda for the Ilonggo, but a full meal for many Kapampangans.
“The locals here take it as a full meal because it is also best taken with rice, just like other Kapampangan dishes,” Chef Rafael told Punto Central Luzon during the launching of the Iloilo Food Festival at the Holiday Inn Clark recently.
He says everything about Iloilo cuisine, from the famous La Paz Batchoy (or pancit molo) to the Enchaladang Langka, is now at the Mequeni restaurant at Holiday Inn Clark.
Chef Rafael says he cooks all kinds of Iloilo food and prepares local delicacies like the “Baye-baye” that tastes like Cavite’s “Espasol” minus the powder.
He also says “Iloilo cuisine is not the typical Kapampangan food that you can prepare anytime of the year.” “This is because other ingredients like the popular “Batuan” are seasonal.”
While showing a few pieces of Batuan, Chef Rafael says it is being used to add tartness and a better alternative for sampaloc or santol.
On the other hand, dessert will never be complete without eating “Pinasugbo”, a combination of dried strips of bananas coated with creamy brown sugar.
Thelma Valdepeñas, food and beverage director of Holiday Inn-Clark, says Chef Rafael came all the way from Iloilo to share his passion for cooking, especially in preparing Iloilo food.
No less than Holiday Inn-Clark General Manager Michael Melzer, a German, was all praises for it as he joined print journalists, radio hosts, hotel managers and other newspaper executives in an all-Iloilo buffet lunch.
Holiday Inn Clark Public Relations Manager Mabel Roman says “the Iloilo Food Festival consists of different and unique variety of delectable cuisine ranging from Filipino cuisine to Spanish Mediterranean food specialties.”
It features classic Iloilo cuisine, as well as local specialties from bendunggo, lina ga, pata or tripe, local delicacy beef tongue slowly cooked with mushrooms (con cetas con olivas) or in tuba with saba plantains and potatoes (lengua estofada).
Roman says everyone can experience the delicious Iloilo food from June 15 to June 30 at Holiday Inn Clark Mequeni Restaurant. Buffet is pegged at P1,100 for lunch and P1,200 for dinner.
