The Bicol Region is known for chillies and the Pili Nut. Since I am a big spicy food lover, I excitingly looked forward for this trip.
Upon reaching Legaspi,
Biggs Diner can be seen on every corner. The place lights up a whole block and
made up to look like an American Diner. It is the biggest fast food chain in Naga. We went to Embarcadero and ended up dining at Biggs.
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| Biggs Diner |
The resto's interiors has a nice nostalgic feel.
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| Inside Biggs Diner |
The resto offered different Pinoy rice meals as well as American food fare. Prices are very affordable at around
Php100 to
Php150 a dish.
We ordered the following...
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| Ordering at Biggs |
The Double Cheese Burger with so much extenders. Bad!
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| Double Cheeseburger |
The Brick Oven Cheese Pizza was a big joke.
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| Cheese Pizza |
They literally put an oven inside an enclosed bricked area.
The redeeming dishes were...
The huge two-piece Fried Chicken was nice and crispy.
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| Two Piece Fried Chicken with Rice |
The vegetables rice topping tasted simple and filling.
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| Vegetable Rice Topping |
Biggs Diner
Address: Found everywhere in Legaspi
Website:
www.biggsdiner.com
After dinner, we headed to
La Mia Tazza cafe which was right across Biggs Diner. If not for the signage, you would easily mistake the cafe for Starbucks. The interiors looked like a carbon-copy of the American franchise.
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| La Mia Tazza Cafe |
The cafe served home-grown coffee as well as desserts. One of their specialties is the Pili Nut Latte.
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| Coffee and Desserts |
Chunks of Pili Nut was mixed in with the cafe latte. I'm not a big fan of this.
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| Pili Nut Coffee Latte |
La Mia Tazza Coffee
Adress: Embarcadero, Legaspi City
After a so-so 1st meal in Legaspi, we were awakened with the best Pandesal I've ever tasted. When we were in search for a bakery to buy bread for breakfast, everyone in the neighborhood was pointing to one place...Emong's Malunggay Pandesal.
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| Emong's |
Upon reaching the bakery, a long queue greeted us as we took a whiff of the sweet aroma of freshly baked bread. To our surprise, the bakery was open for 24 hours and it only sells one item.
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| Freshly Baked Pandesal |
When I took my first bite, I knew and understood how a bakery that's open 24/7 can survive by selling one thing alone. The bread has the right crunch on the outside with a soft and moist center. The balance of sweetness and saltiness is perfect. To top it all off, it was fortified with Malunggay (Moringa Leaves). Malunggay is supposed to be extremely nutritious which contains vitamins and minerals. Til now, I'm still craving for it!
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| Emong's Malunggay Pandesal - Php 2.00 a piece |
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| Best Pandesal: Emong's Malunggay Pandesal |
Emong's
Address: Just ask the locals and they'll point you to the right direction
After the trip to Busay Falls, it was off to
Waway's Restaurant to try some authentic local cuisine.
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| Waway's Restaurant |
We ordered every local dish that we found. Each dish was cooked really well and tasted great. Aside from being spicy, another main ingredient that the Bicolanos use is Gata or Coconut Milk.
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| Waway's Spread |
Bicol Express consists of chopped chillies with pork bits cooked in gata. For spicy-food lovers, this is the dish to try and order.
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| Bicol Express - Php 68.00 |
Laing is Taro Leaves with chillies cooked in gata. Some people would shy away from this dish because the leaves has a slight slimy and chewy consistency but I suggest people to give it a try. You might surprisingly find it good just like the first time did.
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| Laing - Php 68.00 |
Pinangat is the same as Laing but the leaves are tied up with coconut leaves.
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| Pinangat - Php 68.00 |
Kinunot is a Bicolano delicacy that uses either Shark or Manta Ray meat mixed with Malunggay leaves and chillies cooked in Gata. I liked the Manta ray version better, the meat was more tender and has a geletanous feel compared with the tougher Shark meat.
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| Kinunot - Php 68.00 |
We also ordered other Filipino delicacies...
The Pritong Lumpiang Ubod is a fried wrap with a heart of palm filling. Deliciously crunchy.
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| Pritong Lumpiang Ubod - Php 28.00 |
The Ginataang Kalabasa is a creamy mixture of gata and Squash. String Beans are often mixed in together with the choice of meat.
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| Ginataang Kalabasa - 1/2 order Php 60 |
When we saw the Squid and Fish on the grill, we got tempted and decided to order the Grilled Squid.
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| Grilled Tilapia and Squid |
The grilled squid was cooked perfectly. Soft and chewy with a subtle charred flavor.
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| Inihaw na Pusit (600gms) - Php 290 |
When our bill arrived, we were surprised on how cheap each delicious dish were. We definitely got a bang for our buck.
Waway's Restraurant
Address: Penarada Street, Legaspi City
After the our spicy lunch in Waway, we headed to
1st Colonial Grill to try a specialty ice cream that is only found in Legaspi. The Sili (Chillies) Ice Cream.
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| 1st Colonial Grill |
Aside from the Sili Ice Cream, we also found other interesting flavors.
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| Ice Cream Menu |
Sadly the Pili Flavor was unavailable so we ended up with Sili, Malunggay and Tutong (burnt rice) Ice Cream. The Malunggay ice cream tasted herby, creamy and sweet. I was surprised the Tutong Ice Cream , it really has Tutong in it. The Tutong imparted a slight burnt and bitter taste to the sweet concoction.
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| Scoops of Tutong, Malunggay and Sili Ice Cream - Php 79.00 |
The Sili Ice Cream was a unique experience. When I was downing spoonfuls of it, I was wondering why it was called such because it wasnt spicy. After waiting for a minute or two, I felt heat coming out of my throat to my mouth. It was the happy spicy feeling I was looking for, I was eating something cold but yet it was exuding heat.
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| Sili Ice Cream - Php 79.00 |
1st Colonial Grill
Address: Old Albay District, Rizal Street, Legazpi City
Tel. No. 481-1212
In Dosol, Sorsogon, we only got to dine in a resto that is strongly reccomended in blogs....
Baracuda Seafood and Cocktails. The place was filled with foreigners and tourists thus food prices are kind of steep.
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| Barracuda |
When we settled down, Ms. Juliet Dela Cruz, the quirky owner of the resto came out with a big bowl of their fresh catch of the day. A couple of fish and huge prawns was in the bowl, we decided to order the more popular stir fried prawns.
The Prawns were divine, no wonder bloggers were raving about this. When I commented and asked Juliet how she prepared it, she blurted that it was a simple dish made with olive oil, garlic and a lot of love. The Prawns were lovely indeed.
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| Stir fried Prawns (350grams) - Php 595 |
The Pesto Pasta was a big failure. It came out too dry even after Juliet bringing out a whole bottle of olive oil and adding more of it.
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| Pesto Pasta - Php 200 |
The Herb Potatoes tasted ordinary, nothing special.
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| Herbed Potatoes - Php 80.00 |
We also ordered cocktails and we were surprised when Juliet cheered with glee.."Rum Shots for everybody!!!"
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| Mango Daquiri - Php 175 |
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| Margarita - Php 175 |
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| Free Rum Shots |
Baracuda Seafood and Cocktails
Address: Dancalan, Donsol, Sorsogon
Mobile No.: +639266400863
email: baracudabar@yahoo.com
For spicy food lovers, the Bicol region is the perfect destination. It definitely left a pleasurable warm spicy feeling to me.
