Ilocos Norte Food Trip 1: PINAKBET PIZZA
Saturday, 7 April 2007 | By Mike | Category: Appetizers, Asian, Culture & Tradition, Filipino / Pinoy, Glorious Food, Ilocano, Pastries, Pinoy Food, Regional, Snacks, VeggiesIlocos Norte is known for its magnificent and charming architectural landmarks such as the world famous
The province’s culinary traditions have also attracted and gained the interest of both visiting foodies and the consumer public. Ilocos Norte has become synonymous to the scrumptious biscocho (next to salt!) of Pasuquin, and the savoury empanadas of Batac – arguably the best in the entire Ilocos region. In my two recent trips to Ilocos Norte, I was once again reunited with my Ilocano roots and learn to fully appreciate its culture and culinary delights.
A wonderful new discovery here is Herencia Café. Herencia, which literally means “heritage”, is a restaurant that aims to remain as faithful to the traditional Ilocano cuisine by offering and serving authentic Ilocano dishes like pinakbet, igado, and bagnet among others. Herencia Café, situated right across the plaza of the historic
In its effort to be on the forefront of the latest advancement in culinary development, Herencia whips up its own “fusion” delicacy by taking the classic Ilocano dish pinakbet, elevating it to a different level of culinary experience and concocting the country’s first ever gourmet pinakbet pizza. This unique treat combines the traditional pizza crust and mozzarella cheese with local ingredients used for pinakbet.
Herencia’s pinakbet pizza is a real discovery and delight to Ilocanos like me as well as adventurous foodies. Here, anchovies, which, for ages have been used as a popular pizza topping, are replaced by a similar yet our very own native ingredient, the bagoong. A pinakbet pizza won’t be without the usual eggplant, ampalaya, okra, sitaw, and some kind of meat like bagnet or longganisa. Toss them all on a mozzarella cheese-covered, hand tossed thin pizza crust and you have one of the most unique gastronomic creations ever in the country!
For taste, texture, and consistency, I give it two thumbs up! Its crust is unusually thin and stays crispy even when left on the table for some time. The crust, says Sammy Blas, is a secret mixture of local rice and commercially-available all-purpose flour and shortening, its name (I cannot divulge), yet brings back more childhood food memories and a smile as I devour this newly discovered treat!
Herencia Café, with the elegance its old world ambience is the perfect setting to savour the mouthwatering pinakbet pizza. The café’s decor is a mix of antique wood, glass and wrought iron furnishings. The most notable feature is the dining table bases of old sewing machine stands complete with foot pedals, and a wall mural depicting Sitio Remedios, a “heritage village” resort in Currimao. The café’s wide, arched French windows offer a superb view of the majestic
Mangan tayon!
Above clockwise: Sammy Blas, co-owner of Herencia Cafe; Herencia Cafe at night; the cafe’s old world charm; old sewing machine base for the dining tables.
Herencia Café is located along
Hi Mike! Looking forward to your San Fernando post. Thanks!
Hi Ivan,
My Good Friday SF post is now up . . . Thanks for dropping by and the link-up!
Hi Mike!
I think I saw a short feature about this “pinakbet” pizza in one of the networks not long ago - I just didn’t pay attention to it that much! It does look interesting and appetizing! I wanna try that myself.
Will you also have a post about those yummy looking biscochos and empanadas?
Mike! Cool post and what an interesting pizza this one is! I wonder if they’d experiment on other toppings like bagnet or dinuguan and other ilocano delicacies? :-)
PaulN, yes it was in a short feature on one of abs-cbn’s news programs. I also have pending posts on biscocho and empanadas.
Dino, Herencia indeed started experimenting on other toppings too. We did not get the chance to sample them though.
Well yeah… I’ve had pizza with anchovies and veggies and it’s great so this pinakbet pizza must be good :-)
whodda thunk!! :) pinakbet pizza sounds fantastic! yeay for ilocanos. haha!! I’ll have to put this on my must taste list.
Iska and JMom,
The pinakbet pizza is really good! I went back to Ilocos Norte three weeks ago for an assignment and the same restaurant (Herencia Cafe) is now test-driving heir new pizza offering - the Dinuguan Pizza! Their new joint in Laoag should also have opened by now. It’s a hip joint called SARAMSAM. Yehay! really, for the Ilocanos!
[…] maybe, LUNA will get to try the first (4) pinakbet pizza in the world direct from Herencia Cafe in […]
dinuguan pizza is so yummy…. a must-try :P