Philippines – Manila Davao Borocay – Travel Food Entertainment

Above: The ever warm and welcoming charisma of the Iloilo Biscocho House

A trip to Iloilo would not be complete without making a stop at the Biscocho Haus – a famous bakeshop and food gift shop. From being a simple snack store in 1975 it has grown more into a dozen branches. The very first Biscocho Haus and mother of all the branches is located at Lopez Jaena, across Jaro Plaza and Cathedral and for almost three decades it has become a household name capturing the taste of both the local customers, travelers and tourists.

Biscocho Haus got its name from its very own main delicacy – the Biscocho, a toasted bread topped with butter or milk and sugar, or garlic in some cases. The word Biscocho is derived from the Latin phrase word ‘bis coctus’ which means “twice baked”. The delicacy has already gained popularity and will always be synonymous with its birthplace, Iloilo. With its unique taste, the biscocho has become very popular even outside Panay Island and has even included as a part of the Filipino cuisine.

Above: Counters and display windows at any Biscocho House are always stocked.

Biscocho Haus, however, has also ventured into other types of snacks and does not just offer biscocho in its stores. It also has a variety of tasty food products that certainly suits the customers’ budget. Some of the favorite delicacies include butterscotch, barquillos, piyaya, banana marble, and rosquillos. Some Biscocho branches now even offer regular meals which feature popular Filipino specialties.

Practically every mall in Iloilo City has a Biscocho Haus shop and other branches are along Iznart Street near YMCA building; Biscocho along Gen. Luna near Assumption School, and Biscocho at the International Airport. If one fails to locate a Biscocho branch in Iloilo, there’s really no reason to be disheartened since the supermarkets in the various malls in Iloilo may also have Biscocho Haus products.

Balut was featured in Fear Factor or other dares on international TV sitcoms where you actually get paid when you eat it. If all contestants were Filipino, most probably it would be like a peace of cake to perpetuate that certain act of munching on Balut. Is it something to fear about or be disgusted at, well, in a case to case basis. If you grew up in such culture where Balut is in it, and you certainly have developed the taste then it isn’t. But however put, Balut is a delicacy.

Above: Little girl eating balut

Not so different from other countries where they fry grasshoppers and other insects of some sort to eat, and even worms to fry or snakes blood to mix with wine. Balut is just the same as these. The only difference is, you get to hold it warm in your hand, crack it on the tip, put tiny salts to mix with it’s soup, drink that soup first, slurping it from the tiny crack opening you’ve made and walah!, the shell’s ready to be cracked open for it’s contents to be eaten. But to be honest it’s not good in presentation and if it’s your first time, you might as well eat it in the dark, but boy does it taste good.