We LOVE Bacolod!

October 15-17, 2011 - Bacolod City, Negros Occidental - Masskara Festival

Masskara Festival, a beautiful mix of colors, smiling masks, dancing and food all in one place. LJ and I went to the City of Smiles with our friends to enjoy the local culture and of course FOOD! :)

The Masskara Festival started to lift up the spirits of the local people when their main agricultural crop (Sugar) was in crisis. Sugar prices were at an all time low during the 80's and so the people of this area had to find a way to attract tourist and also bring happiness to their land.

Looking at all of these wonderful sights made us really hungry. Actually, majority of what we did in Bacolod was EAT!

AIDA'S - MANOKAN COUNTRY

Manokan country is this whole strip of Chicken Inasal restaurants. Our friend Joanna who has been living in Bacolod for a year and a half told us that AIDA's has the best chicken in the strip.

We wanted to order PECHO (Chicken Breast) but they ran out. We all had PA-A (Chicken leg) instead. Don't forget to eat this with garlic rice and drizzle chicken oil on top of it. Make your own sauce made out of Sinamak (special spicy vinegar of Negros), soy sauce, calamansi and sili (chili).

Just look for this green chicken and you'll find AIDA'S! :)

CALEA PASTRIES & COFFEE

If Bacolod's main crop is Sugar Canes, then the people here must love sweets!

I love the cake display. You'll really have a hard time choosing what to order here.

Too many cakes to choose from!!

White Chocolate Cheese Cake - We fell in love with this cake as soon as we took our first bite. It was creamy and the bits of white chocolate inside the cheesecake was a perfect creamy combination.

Mallow Mud Pie - Oreo Crust, Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream and Marshmallow Top. LJ and I loved the crust and Ice Cream part but we couldn't understand the marshmallow topping. The texture was like gelatine and didn't taste like anything. But anyway, it was still good because of the other parts.

BOB'S CAFE

At night, we went to LACSON Street where the street parties are happening. We went to a local bar and drank the night away and danced to great music. This really made us hungry and so we went to the streets to find something to munch on. We saw that BOB'S Cafe had a tent set up on the street and they were selling ribs and sate babe (pork bbq with peanut sauce).

We ordered Sate Babe Sticks. It was so tender and juicy. The sauce is the perfect balance of peanut butter and soy sauce. Wish we went back for more!!

21

Going to eat, AGAIN!

Lamb with Curry Rice - I was expecting a lamb steak and not small pieces of lamb. Cutting it into small pieces might toughen the meat but they did a pretty good job cooking it. The lamb pieces were flavorful and tender. The rice was a good compliment to the meat since the curry didn't over power the flavors.

Tenderloin Steak with Mashed Potatoes, Onion Fries and Veggies - It's your usual meat and potato meal but presented in a very refine way. The meat was tender and soft plus marinated well. No need for salt or pepper here! The winner side dish was the thinly sliced onion fries. It was crispy and sweet!

Chocolate Cake - This chocolate blob is the one of our favorite cakes in Bacolod. It was so rich, chocolatey and moist. It had a very nice dark chocolate and nutty taste to it. Everything you could want in a chocolate cake. It was served warm and you can see the chocolate ooze down to the plate. Inside is filled with a custard which really didn't taste like anything but it still went well together with the chocolate part of the cake.

We're only halfway through our Bacolod food trip. Wait for the next blog post! :)