Ilocos Norte's Bistro 51 for Crispy Binagoongan and Poki Poki

In my last visit to Laoag, the capital city of Ilocos Norte, we were fortunate to be billeted at a hotel near Bistro 51. The place reminded me of Baguio City's Cafe by the Ruins, re-imagined as a beer garden. The dishes border on the very tasty, best paired with your alcohol of choice. 

We had an excellent dinner there, but the following are the stand-outs. 

The excellent spicy-sweet crispy binagoongan, pork sauteed in shrimp paste. Very tasty, the pork and innards envelope your mouth in umami goodness. This is a unique take on the binagoongan--I love the  mix of textures.

Another winner is the poki-poki, a vegetable dish made of grilled eggplant, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and egg. It is like tortang talong, only less dry and without the chopped meat. Bistro 51's poki poki is smoky and tasted like it was cooked on fire.

If your trip to Laoag  will revolve around food, here are my recommendations:

• Bagnet - Saramsam Restaurant 
• Sspicy binagoongan and poki poki - Bistro 51
• Dinuguan - La Preciosa

Bistro 51

Escoda National Highway

Laoag Cioty

(-63) 77 670 6607

Garlicky Longganiza: Alaminos and Laoag

It all started with this photo I posted in Instagram. I was craving for garlicky longganiza last December, and I posted this Laoag variant which I ate during breakfast in Fort Ilocandia the month earlier. I remember how potent the Iloko vinegar was, perfect with the longganiza, and how happy I was. My Instagram friend recommended the Alaminos variant, which is garlicky--not sweetish at all--like the Laoag longganiza. She said Kalye Juan serves Alaminos longganiza. I made a mental note to try the latter.

A week later I dropped by Kalye Juan and promptly ordered the Native Longganiza (P150). You can also have the set meal all-day Longsilog Breakfast (P175). The former has more sausages. For those craving for garlicky longganiza, both are good value for money. I love the accompanying omellete, which is how we cook our scrambled eggs at home. It also reminded me of poqui- poqui, without the eggplant. 

Just a few weeks ago I was at MOA and had my Alaminos longganiza fix.

A quick note: Philippine longganiza comes either as garlicky or sweet (hamonado), and some provinces are known for their peculiar takes on this Spanish influenced sausage. Needless to say, I'm partial to garlicky ones.


Kalye Juan
Robinson's Manila
(+63) 02 525-8052

Poqui-poqui Face-Off: Saramsam and Preciosa

During my visit to Laoag City, I had the fortune of eating at two premier restaurants, Saramsam Ylocano Restaurant and Bar and La Preciosa. Saramasam means an informal gathering, or pica-pica, and is quite the iconoclast, serving traditional regional dishes in different ways, such as the dinuguan (blood stew) pizza. La Preciosa Restaurant is more traditional, and is the favorite restaurant in the city per the website Tripadvisor.

Poqui-poqui may be named unfortunately (it's a Tagalog vulgar term for vagina), but it sure tastes heavenly. It's basically eggplants, eggs, onions, and tomatoes. The first time I tried it it was vaguely familiar, until I remembered how my father  was so fond of a version that uses no eggplant at all. It dawned of me I've been eating a variant since childhood.

Saramsam's version uses smoky eggplant, and this reminded me of the home-style goodness of meals cooked in wood of my childhood. 

La Preciosa's is saucier, and the onions used were so fresh they were sweetish. Of the two versions I'm partial to the latter. Forgive the unfortunate picture composition, but La Preciosa's is the tastier dish.

Ilocos Norte's Saramsam Restaurant for Bagnet

Bagnet with KBL (kamatis, bagoong, lasona). Bagnet is a staple in Ilocano cuisine, so be sure to sample it when traveling north of the country. These are pork chunks that are boiled, air-dried, and deep-fried. 

Bagnet appears to me as hefty chicharon, and I prefer it, along with my lechon, with fermented fish sauce, tomatoes, and native onions, as pictured above. Lasona is a potent onion variant. It is a favorite of my grandfather, and when he was alive he'd usually have it as relish, or the main dish.

Saramsam Ylocano Restaurant and Bar

Laoag City

(+63) 77 771 5825

Ilocos Norte's La Preciosa for Crispy Dinuguan (Blood Stew) and Kilawin na Tanigue (Mackerel Ceviche)

No trip to Laoag is complete without going to La Preciosa Restaurant. A quick look at Tripadvisor yields the  factoid that it is ranked #1 among 22 restaurants in the city. If you're after a sampling of Iloko cuisine, such as higado, poqui-poqui, pakbet, and bagnet, go no further. I came for the crispy dinuguan. I left charmed by the kinilaw na tanigue as well. 

A quick note: dinuguan is a stew of meat and/or offal cooked in pork blood, garlic, green chilis, and vinegar.

the fried pork makes this dinuguan extraordinary. i love the crunch and the thick sauce

mackerel ceviche. the use of vinegar was just right, allowing the
creamy goodness of the fish to shine though

La Preciosa Restaurant
JP Rizal Laoag City
(+63) 77 773 1162

Fort Ilocandia's Laoag Empanada

Ilocos empanada. I remember the first time eating this around 5 years ago in Laoag at the ancestral house of one of my colleagues. I feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about it--that's how rich it is. Last November I found myself in Fort Ilocandia, and by the ice cream parlor I espied a stand  offering the lovely orange beauties, the color courtesy of annato seeds. They say eating empanada via ambulant vendors lends a more authentic experience, but since I was pressed for time this would do.

Let's just say I didn't feel shortchanged. Picture the hot orange crust that you have to bite into to pour in the dark Iloko vinegar, which blends beautifully with the runny egg and minced meat. They say the oft-repeated oil adds to the character of the dish, which leaves one warm, satisfied, without a care to the woes of the world.

The crust is made of rice flour. The basic ingredients of the filling are eggs, monggo  (mung peas) shoots, and Ilocos longganiza.