Western Visayas Food Trip: A Taste of Bacolod

On a visit to Bacolod, I stopped by Manokan Country to enjoy authentic chicken inasal at Aida’s, a popular restaurant along the strip. Bathed in spicy annatto oil and smoky with real bits of char, this grilled chicken leg is one of the best I’ve had in a long time. Namit gid!

Kansi, a sour, hearty beef shank soup that uses a lime-green, chestnut-sized fruit called batuan to deliver its definitive tang, was also definitely on my list. Growing up in Manila, my family never bought nor cooked with batuan, and I later learned it’s because batuan trees, endemic to Negros and Panay islands in the western Visayas, simply never proliferated beyond the region in large enough numbers for many people to cook with it - and consequently absorb the fruit as a component of their local food culture. Among the people of Negros and Panay, batuan is king - that bowl at Sharyn’s Cansi was everything.

Another local dish I had to try was KBL, which stands for “kadyos, baboy, langka” - the Ilonggo trinity of pigeon peas, pork, and unripe jackfruit, also soured with batuan. While a steaming bowl of shades of brown may not be everyone’s top pick, goddamn that soup is delicious. It’s a totally different type of sour than what you’d get with boiling ripe tamarinds for sinigang. It’s comforting, soul-filling and homey. And locals have known this forever.

I also visited 21 Restaurant, a legend in Bacolod’s restaurant scene. Look at those lemongrass skewered squid! Perfection in a bite.

Around town, I visited the San Sebastian Cathedral, the National Bookstore at Robinson’s Mall (look what I found!) and Bacolod’s Capitol Park. The city’s got some funky spots, like the mural-covered Weego Bistro - I was told which painter these murals were inspired by, but unfortunately I’ve forgotten to jot this down!

I loved visiting the Negros Museum and definitely recommend a guided tour. Local docents are the best! I learned so much in an hour, then spent another few leisurely wandering the galleries.

Around the corner, I spotted the Provincial Library, and as my instincts suggested, the tiny library had a couple books I’ve been looking for forever. “LASA: A Guide to Dining in the Provinces” and “LASA: A Guide to Dining in Metro Manila” are two Doreen Fernandez titles I’d love to own a copy of!

An hour or so from Bacolod City, you can take a local bus to the town of Tomogtong - a very random place I ended up visiting, after chatting with some tourism officers at the mall (the Provincial Tourism Fair happened to be the weekend I stopped by). Mangroves are an important part of coastal ecosystems, and heading on a little trip down the bamboo-forested trail was a nice surprise!