NEGROS ORIENTAL: Foodtrip and Pasalubong

The eastern half of Negros Island has some specialties to offer, some of which owes to sugar industry where lands used to be tilled. Here are some treat you can take home from this province:

1. Sans Rival

The pride of Dumaguete, this pastry is made basically of meringue sandwiched with cream and butter and showered with cashew nuts. Sliced akin to loaves of bread, this light dessert is perfect with coffee to satisfy your buttery cravings. I took a slice and at first bite, the cream seeps in to your taste buds as it was served chilled. I finished the slice in a minute and felt like I want to ask for more. However, I need to try the second item.

2. Silvana

This sister of sans rival is a cookie made also of meringue but filled with butter and cream. It is chewier and best eaten chilled, closer to ice cream sandwich. Once you took a bite, you won’t stop to take or eat a box of these. I’ve tasted ones from Nueva Ecija and guaranteed their milky goodness. Can’t help to take more but I have to buy other delicacies as well.

3. Budbod Kabog

This rolled millet rice cake from Tanjay City is their specialty. Millet, a kind of round grain is made into these sticky cakes and a common staple for breakfast in public markets in Negros. There rice cakes are more expensive than common glutinous rice varieties but the texture is different. The taste varies as it is not too sweet, perfect with a slice of ripe mangoesf and chocolate drink for a fulfilling breakfast.

4. Inato Pecho

Visayans have several ways of grilling chicken like inasal and inato. Lately I found out that Dumaguete is the birthplace of famous Jo’s Chicken Inato. This barbecue, grilled to a tender-juicy crisp, is marinated in a special sauce for its aromatic flavor, and served with atchara or picked papaya. Their single serving is big enough to make you full. Couple with unlimited rice, I enjoyed every bite and left nothing but little inedible chicken bones.

5. Barquiron

Barquiron is a fusion of two delicacies: barquillos (wafer rolls) and polvoron (powdered milk candy). Polvoron is put in every wafer roll and packed. The taste is light as sweetness of polvoron overpowers the plain flavor if barquillo. It is a perfert pasalubong for people who enjoy these two-treats-in-one package. 

NEGROS ORIENTAL: Walking Tour at Dumaguete City

 

It was a fine Sunday morning when I arrived at the port from Siquijor. I walked by the bay passing the good old Silliman University, city’s largest university that occupies the northern part.

Silliman University seen from Dumaguete Bay

Silliman Gate Markers at Hibbard Avenue

Silliman Chapel

You can see the oldest building within it near the port: Silliman Hall or officially known as Silliman Anthropology Museum. It has an exhibit of artifacts and archaeological findings, some dating 2,000 years and an ethnographic collection from minority tribes in the Philippines. Silliman Hall is in itself a cultural relic of old America.

Next stop is the Rizal Boulevard named after our national hero, who came from exile in Dapitan, had a stopover here to operate the eye of former head of Negros Occidental.

A landmark at one part of the boulevard is the marker where Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres landed at the bay to establish the first educational and medical institutions in the city.

Walking towards the cathedral is the Quezon Park celebrating its centennial, graced by Rizal monument.

Nearby is the city hall flanked by central schools, which has a colonial stone house motif.


Across the Quezon Park are the two famous landmarks of the city:

The Saint Catherine of Alexandria Parish known as Dumaguete Cathedral is the flagship Catholic church within the city. Regarded as the oldest stone church in Negros, it was originally built in 1754 with coral stones like in Siquijor churches. The reconstruction started in 1585 up to 1936. Nowadays, many modern renovations have been incorporated in the interior and exterior of the church.

The most famous landmark is the Campanario de Dumaguete or simply the bell tower located a few meters away from the cathedral. It was initially built in 1811 as a lookout to forewarn locals of any incoming danger brought about by Muslim pirates. This is the oldest bell tower in the Visayas. Hence, its name was derived from Cebuano word dumagit meaning "to snatch".

Famished after the day’s walk, I took at hot cup of milk at a painitan (breakfast stall) within the public market and bought some budbod kabog (rolled millet rice cakes), a famous delicacy from Tanjay City.

Before leaving Dumaguete, my trip won’t be complete without tasting their famous desserts: sans rival and silvana served at Sans Rival Bistro. The café is already packed with patrons lining up to take home these sweet treats.

I took a quick lunch from the main branch of Jo’s Chicken Inato, a famous chicken barbecue chain that originated here in Dumaguete.

'Til next time Dumaguete! (n_n)

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