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| La Preciosa - Laoag City, Ilocos Norte |
This food trip is still part of my Ilocos Norte travel late last year, before I started working on my new job. Oh yeah, this post is "uber" late and ancient, almost a year after the fact but I will still share it here to at least preserve the memories of my first trip to Ilocos Norte. ;)
~ oo00oo ~
I've read a lot of travel posts, watched several local travel shows too; and whenever the trip is in the Ilocos Region, particularly in Ilocos Norte, food adventures will always be part of the trip. We had our share of food trips there too; more of street food trips actually since they were on small eateries but of course, I'm still glad as I was able to taste authentic Ilocano dishes. But it's not all street foods that I was able to try, I've had a try of fine dining in Ilocos Norte too, and that's in La Preciosa.
La Preciosa is said to be a fine dining restaurant in Laoag City but it doesn't mean people in casual outfits couldn't get in. We saw several customers dressed up for the place but there were also those like us wearing casual clothes, in denims and shirts, so yeah it's open for everyone, as long as you're decent and have money to pay for your orders...hehe. :P
So what did we have at La Preciosa? Puqui-puqui is one of the dish in the list as I was curious about it. Not because of the dish itself, but more because of its somewhat intriguing name that may have raised eyebrows of some people. By the way, puqui-puqui is an eggplant dish with onion, garlic, tomatoes and beaten eggs sauteed in butter (at least that's what I got from the taste of this dish in La Preciosa). It's somewhat like the omelet in the Tagalog region but this one's more watery while the Tagalogs' omelet is dry, fried actually. So what can I say with this dish? It's okay, flavorful really since it's sauteed in butter but I easily got tired of its taste. If I would be asked how I want my eggplant dish would be, I'd rather have it the traditional Tagalog way - eggplant omelet. ;)
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| Puqui-puqui - Php165 |
We also had crispy dinardaraan, the Ilocano term for blood stew, also known as dinuguan in the Tagalog region. It's made of crispy pork poured over with blood stew. Ilocanos dinardaraan is a bit dry compared to the Tagalogs which is more soupy. My verdict: I'm not a fan of dinuguan actually but if I have to choose between the dinardaraan of the Ilocanos and dinuguan of the Tagalogs, I'll choose dinuguan. It's more flavorful and has no unsavory aftertaste of a pork meat. Am I being biased here because I am a Tagalog? I think I'm not, it's just that this dinardaraan has this aftertaste of a pork meat that I don't like, much like the crisply dinuguan I've tasted from Kanin Club in Ayala Triangle. Sorry my Ilocano friends, I'm just being honest here but as some people say, different strokes for different folks. I may not like it but you may, so go ahead and try it if you happen to visit Ilocos Norte. :)
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| Crispy Dinardaraan - Php195 |
Another Ilocano dish I've tried at La Preciosa is warek-warek, an Ilocano delicacy made of tongue, intestine and/or liver and some veggies (onions and tomatoes) blended with pork's brain or mayonnaise. I dunno if what we had in La Preciosa has pork's brain (I tasted just the mayonnaise, actually) but I don't like it. Just that, period!
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| Warek-warek - Php195 |
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| Hototay soup, as I like to have steaming soup during meals - Php160 |
For dessert, I've tried La Preciosa's carrot cake. And for a change, I would say this is a must-try! The cake is moist and sweetened just right, with creamy frosting and generous fresh carrot shavings on top. This is the best carrot cake I've tried so far, I love it! If I happen to visit Ilocos again, I'll surely go back there even just for this yummy carrot cake - my precious find at the precious La Preciosa! ^_^
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| Carrot Cake - Php100/slice |
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| early Christmas greetings from La Preciosa :D |
~ oo00oo ~
La Preciosa Fine Dining & Catering Services
J.P. Rizal Street, Laoag City, Ilocos Norte
Date of Visit: November 16, 2013
aww. we weren't able to go on a food trip during our ilocos tour. but i've heard of puqui-puqui and warek-warek already. my dad's from vigan kasi. :) and it's totally fine if your stories are ancient, at least you still get to document your trip. :)
ReplyDeleteI guess is is really a foodgasm experience..hahahaha! parang di kaya ng taste buds ko 2..haha:)
ReplyDelete