The Flavors of Paoay
Published Mar 29, 2018 12:05 am
By CJ Juntereal
ILOCANO MEXICAN Vista del Lago serves Mexican-inspired food and updated Ilocano dishes.
The first thing I noticed was the absolute neatness. Front yards swept free of leaves and trash, trimmed grass, and neatly placed stones to mark where gardens ended and the road began. Then I noticed that rice fields and vegetable plots were squeezed in wherever possible, ending just by the road as if every available foot of land had to be productive.
We were in Ilocos Norte. Not in Laoag City, which is the busy center of everything that goes on in the province, but in Paoay. Paoay is known for its lake, the very striking baroque church Saint Augustine that is more commonly known as Paoay Church, and of course its vast stretch of sand dunes for 4x4 rough riding and sand boarding. It had always been very provincial, and people usually made Laoag (30 to 45 minutes away) their base for day trips.
Today, Paoay has lovely small hotels and restaurants that serve high quality food. A few months ago the owners banded together into the Paoay Hotel and Restaurant Association. It’s a friendly, laid-back organization, rather like Paoay itself. They eat at each other’s restaurants, argue good-naturedly over the correct way to make bagnet, but agree on working together to make Paoay a dining destination. We were in Paoay on their invitation, and for four days we ate our way through Ilocano cuisine.
The people of Ilocos Norte are often called kuripot, which loosely translates to stingy, but perhaps a better description would be frugal. Our guide Rene Guatlo, who is an author and passionate advocate for Ilocos Norte, says the Ilocano’s frugality was shaped by weather and environment. Although its land area is large, the soil is unforgiving and the terrain is rugged and rocky, so every bit of tillable land must be used.
A HEARTY BREAKFAST Poqui poqui, insarabsab, and rice at Sito Remedios.
Bagnet and longganisa may be the most sought after Ilocano delicacies, but they are not eaten every day. The everyday food is usually vegetables and seafood. It is also seasonal food, and nose-to-tail in order not to waste precious meat. Because the vegetables are always fresh, they are simply steamed or boiled, and seasoned sparingly to let their natural sweetness shine. The vegetables are sometimes seasoned with monamon, the Ilocano bagoong made from fermented anchovies. The many Ilocano vegetable dishes should not be skipped in favor of more meat.
The first dish we tried was poqui poqui, well known because of its risqué sounding name. It is grilled eggplant sautéed with egg, tomatoes, and onions. Everyone makes it differently, and I loved every single version I tried. It was served to us at breakfast, together with insarabsab, grilled meat flavored simply with calamansi and ginger, at Sitio Remedios, our home base for the trip.
Sitio Remedios is a heritage village resort-by-the-sea in Currimao. The 11 different bahay-na-bato residences are made from salvaged materials from Ilocos towns. Vintage furnishings and lots of art pieces are used in all the houses. The gardens are tranquil, the eating area looks out over the deep blue West Philippine Sea, and food is cooked with care from the day’s fresh ingredients. There is no a la carte menu. Instead, guests prearrange their meals and menu when they book their stay. The kitchen’s traditional dishes are very, very good, including bagnet, and yosi, a clear, clean tasting soup with pork and liver, rather like a batchoy.
ITALIAN ILOCANO Kamarinn Cafe's pasta with diced vegetables and mango, drizzled with monamon and chili oil.
We stayed in a sister resort, Palayupoy, which could only be reached by walking a few hundred meters along the beach. Our cottage, Ragsak, was the perfect beach home—all bamboo, raised off the ground for ventilation and so that sand from the beach could just fall between the bamboo, big windows open to the breeze with wide ledges for napping, banigs, and pillows for lounging, and with a view of the sunset. It was rustic, except for the modern plumbing and the blissfully cool air-conditioners in the bedrooms. There was no TV, no internet, barely a cellphone signal—the perfect way to unplug. Each morning, a rooster and a herd of goats would wake us up, and the caretaker would bring over coffee and hot pan de sal to fortify us for the walk down the beach to breakfast.
There are a number of good restaurants around Paoay Lake. Vista del Lago on the Paoay-Laoag Road is a Mexican-inspired restaurant with a balcony that overlooks the lake. Owners Sam Blas and Eric Asuncion (the chef) are friends who used to work in California until Sam felt the pull to come home. While nachos, quesadillas, and straightforward Tex-Mex dishes are on the menu, the restaurant’s strength lies in dishes that use local ingredients. We sampled a soup made from small local clams called onnok, and corn; pickled singkamas sticks with the bite of jalapeño; and a refreshing salad of pallang (winged beans) with tomatoes, coconut cream, and ginger. The Ilocano boiled vegetable dish dinengdeng was interpreted as SaRaKa oll—crisp fried lumpia filled with saluyot, rabong (bamboo shoots), and kalabasa (squash).
Beside Vista del Lago is Kamarinn Café, also owned by the duo. It has a roof deck, and an eclectically decorated main dining area that could easily transplant itself to Manila. Its menu is non-traditional, with dishes from Sam’s inventive palate. Longganisa and saluyot make their way into quiche, pasta with diced fresh vegetables and fruits is surprising with the addition of monamon and a drizzle of hot chili oil, and ukoy turns itself into airy crackers dotted with green onions and miniscule shrimp.
A little way down the road is Terrazas, a good place for early morning bird watching. The morning we were there, local enthusiasts Richard Ruiz and Dr. Petrus Calope lent us binoculars and pointed out egrets, migrant ducks, a black cormorant, and a bromini kite. We also drove to Paoay Lake National Park for more bird watching. Aside from a typical Filipino breakfast, Terrazas served tinolang manok made with native chicken. In Paoay, they add malunggay (moringga) flowers to the soup. As a sweet ending, we ate sumal latik, which looked just like a tray of biko (sticky rice cooked in coconut milk and topped with sweet latik). Across Terrazas is Veranda Suites, which opened in late 2017 with 12 spacious bedrooms designed along clean lines and traditional Ilocano accents. One of the owners is a rowing enthusiast so Olympic rowing boats and oars are mounted on the restaurant’s walls, and kayaks, paddle boats, and row boats are available for rent if guests want to explore the lake.
Bellagio Hills is a new luxury boutique hotel inside a residential subdivision overlooking the lake. It looks and feels like a contemporary home, and only has four suite rooms available. British chef Paul Kimpson, who retired to Ilocos Norte with his Filipina wife, runs the restaurant. Kimpson serves an international menu with on-point steaks, grilled fish, pastas, and hearty soups. He also bakes his own breads, including a tasty roll stuffed with longganisa.
Look out for my second column on other things to do in Paoay, and the restaurants around the Paoay Church plaza. Email me at [email protected] or follow me on Instagram/@eatgirlmanila.
Sito Remedios and Palayupoy. Brgy. Victoria, Currimao, Ilocos Norte. 63 917 332 0217.
Vista del Lago and Kamarinn Café. National Highway, Paoay Lake, Paoay, Ilocos Norte. 63 917 729 3074.
Veranda Suites. Brgy. 22, Nagbacalan, Paoay, IlocosNorte. 0906 527 6038. [email protected]
Bellagio Hills. Brgy. 22, Nagbalacan, Paoay, Ilocos Norte. 077 676 0553 or 63 929 355 8207. [email protected].
ILOCANO MEXICAN Vista del Lago serves Mexican-inspired food and updated Ilocano dishes.
The first thing I noticed was the absolute neatness. Front yards swept free of leaves and trash, trimmed grass, and neatly placed stones to mark where gardens ended and the road began. Then I noticed that rice fields and vegetable plots were squeezed in wherever possible, ending just by the road as if every available foot of land had to be productive.
We were in Ilocos Norte. Not in Laoag City, which is the busy center of everything that goes on in the province, but in Paoay. Paoay is known for its lake, the very striking baroque church Saint Augustine that is more commonly known as Paoay Church, and of course its vast stretch of sand dunes for 4x4 rough riding and sand boarding. It had always been very provincial, and people usually made Laoag (30 to 45 minutes away) their base for day trips.
Today, Paoay has lovely small hotels and restaurants that serve high quality food. A few months ago the owners banded together into the Paoay Hotel and Restaurant Association. It’s a friendly, laid-back organization, rather like Paoay itself. They eat at each other’s restaurants, argue good-naturedly over the correct way to make bagnet, but agree on working together to make Paoay a dining destination. We were in Paoay on their invitation, and for four days we ate our way through Ilocano cuisine.
The people of Ilocos Norte are often called kuripot, which loosely translates to stingy, but perhaps a better description would be frugal. Our guide Rene Guatlo, who is an author and passionate advocate for Ilocos Norte, says the Ilocano’s frugality was shaped by weather and environment. Although its land area is large, the soil is unforgiving and the terrain is rugged and rocky, so every bit of tillable land must be used.
A HEARTY BREAKFAST Poqui poqui, insarabsab, and rice at Sito Remedios.
Bagnet and longganisa may be the most sought after Ilocano delicacies, but they are not eaten every day. The everyday food is usually vegetables and seafood. It is also seasonal food, and nose-to-tail in order not to waste precious meat. Because the vegetables are always fresh, they are simply steamed or boiled, and seasoned sparingly to let their natural sweetness shine. The vegetables are sometimes seasoned with monamon, the Ilocano bagoong made from fermented anchovies. The many Ilocano vegetable dishes should not be skipped in favor of more meat.
The first dish we tried was poqui poqui, well known because of its risqué sounding name. It is grilled eggplant sautéed with egg, tomatoes, and onions. Everyone makes it differently, and I loved every single version I tried. It was served to us at breakfast, together with insarabsab, grilled meat flavored simply with calamansi and ginger, at Sitio Remedios, our home base for the trip.
Sitio Remedios is a heritage village resort-by-the-sea in Currimao. The 11 different bahay-na-bato residences are made from salvaged materials from Ilocos towns. Vintage furnishings and lots of art pieces are used in all the houses. The gardens are tranquil, the eating area looks out over the deep blue West Philippine Sea, and food is cooked with care from the day’s fresh ingredients. There is no a la carte menu. Instead, guests prearrange their meals and menu when they book their stay. The kitchen’s traditional dishes are very, very good, including bagnet, and yosi, a clear, clean tasting soup with pork and liver, rather like a batchoy.
ITALIAN ILOCANO Kamarinn Cafe's pasta with diced vegetables and mango, drizzled with monamon and chili oil.
We stayed in a sister resort, Palayupoy, which could only be reached by walking a few hundred meters along the beach. Our cottage, Ragsak, was the perfect beach home—all bamboo, raised off the ground for ventilation and so that sand from the beach could just fall between the bamboo, big windows open to the breeze with wide ledges for napping, banigs, and pillows for lounging, and with a view of the sunset. It was rustic, except for the modern plumbing and the blissfully cool air-conditioners in the bedrooms. There was no TV, no internet, barely a cellphone signal—the perfect way to unplug. Each morning, a rooster and a herd of goats would wake us up, and the caretaker would bring over coffee and hot pan de sal to fortify us for the walk down the beach to breakfast.
There are a number of good restaurants around Paoay Lake. Vista del Lago on the Paoay-Laoag Road is a Mexican-inspired restaurant with a balcony that overlooks the lake. Owners Sam Blas and Eric Asuncion (the chef) are friends who used to work in California until Sam felt the pull to come home. While nachos, quesadillas, and straightforward Tex-Mex dishes are on the menu, the restaurant’s strength lies in dishes that use local ingredients. We sampled a soup made from small local clams called onnok, and corn; pickled singkamas sticks with the bite of jalapeño; and a refreshing salad of pallang (winged beans) with tomatoes, coconut cream, and ginger. The Ilocano boiled vegetable dish dinengdeng was interpreted as SaRaKa oll—crisp fried lumpia filled with saluyot, rabong (bamboo shoots), and kalabasa (squash).
Beside Vista del Lago is Kamarinn Café, also owned by the duo. It has a roof deck, and an eclectically decorated main dining area that could easily transplant itself to Manila. Its menu is non-traditional, with dishes from Sam’s inventive palate. Longganisa and saluyot make their way into quiche, pasta with diced fresh vegetables and fruits is surprising with the addition of monamon and a drizzle of hot chili oil, and ukoy turns itself into airy crackers dotted with green onions and miniscule shrimp.
A little way down the road is Terrazas, a good place for early morning bird watching. The morning we were there, local enthusiasts Richard Ruiz and Dr. Petrus Calope lent us binoculars and pointed out egrets, migrant ducks, a black cormorant, and a bromini kite. We also drove to Paoay Lake National Park for more bird watching. Aside from a typical Filipino breakfast, Terrazas served tinolang manok made with native chicken. In Paoay, they add malunggay (moringga) flowers to the soup. As a sweet ending, we ate sumal latik, which looked just like a tray of biko (sticky rice cooked in coconut milk and topped with sweet latik). Across Terrazas is Veranda Suites, which opened in late 2017 with 12 spacious bedrooms designed along clean lines and traditional Ilocano accents. One of the owners is a rowing enthusiast so Olympic rowing boats and oars are mounted on the restaurant’s walls, and kayaks, paddle boats, and row boats are available for rent if guests want to explore the lake.
Bellagio Hills is a new luxury boutique hotel inside a residential subdivision overlooking the lake. It looks and feels like a contemporary home, and only has four suite rooms available. British chef Paul Kimpson, who retired to Ilocos Norte with his Filipina wife, runs the restaurant. Kimpson serves an international menu with on-point steaks, grilled fish, pastas, and hearty soups. He also bakes his own breads, including a tasty roll stuffed with longganisa.
Look out for my second column on other things to do in Paoay, and the restaurants around the Paoay Church plaza. Email me at [email protected] or follow me on Instagram/@eatgirlmanila.
Sito Remedios and Palayupoy. Brgy. Victoria, Currimao, Ilocos Norte. 63 917 332 0217.
Vista del Lago and Kamarinn Café. National Highway, Paoay Lake, Paoay, Ilocos Norte. 63 917 729 3074.
Veranda Suites. Brgy. 22, Nagbacalan, Paoay, IlocosNorte. 0906 527 6038. [email protected]
Bellagio Hills. Brgy. 22, Nagbalacan, Paoay, Ilocos Norte. 077 676 0553 or 63 929 355 8207. [email protected].