Golden yellow biscocho from My Bakeshop in San Miguel Bulacan is such a great food discovery
Filipinos are natural foodies.
Whenever there’s a group gathering—be it with family or friends, chances are,
food will always be a part of it. And when we travel, we have this pasalubong custom
where we make sure that we bring something home from the places we visit—most often
than not, that pasalubong will be food. Perhaps all of these things strengthen
our bond with the people we love and value the most.
Different regions in the country
have various delicacies and specialties of their own. We were fortunate enough
to taste them and witnessed how they were made. But of course, there will
always be products that naturally standout and are good enough for world-class
export quality. I have been fortunate to visit some of the different places in the Philippines and each town always have something new to offer. The last town I've visited was San Miguel Bulacan where some of the sweet treats and delicacies originated from.
Mamon Tostado from My One Bakeshop in San Miguel Bulacan
And I was surprised to find out that although the bread Biscocho is more popular in the Western Visayas island, you can find world-class export quality Biscocho in this small quaint town of San Miguel. My good friend, Ervin who hails from San Miguel and also owns Arki's Grill recently told me about how proud of him of this particular Biscocho brand made in his hometown. "Hindi ako mapapahiya," he said in full confidence. He was referring to the Biscocho made by My Bakeshop, a bakery that began its operation in 2013.
Biscocho in various flavors are available at My One Bakeshop and perfect pair for choco or coffee drink
"We're basically a relatively small scale family-run
bakery in San Miguel. My wife is a culinary graduate of Center for Culinary Arts [CCA] so we decided to open a bakeshop to put her knowledge into good use," explains Paul Cruz, the owner of My Bakeshop.
Arki's Grill in San Miguel Bulacan is along the highway so it's perfect for a stop over.
Have you ever had a Mookata dining experience? I've just had them recently for the first time at Arki's Grill in San Miguel Bulacan. Imagine fresh meat, seafood and vegetables grilled right on your table with a light and steaming broth simmering at the sides of the special dome grill.
Arki's Grill has a lot more to offer than just grilled food items.
A visit to Arki's Grill was part of the two-part heritage and culture tour of the town of San Miguel in Bulacan where we also had the chance to attend and witness the recent San Miguel de Payumo Festival. Arki's Grill is owned by Architect/restaurateur Ervin Garcia and wife Kat Payawal-Garcia.
Architect and restaurateur Ervin Garcia, owner of Arki's Grill
Arki's Grill offers Thai-Mookata style dining experience as well as Korean Samgyupsal among many others on their wide range of food choices on their menu. Thus, it gives diners a whole new and refreshing way to rediscover different cuisines. Indeed, Arki's Grill is another flavorful dining destination awaiting to be discovered in this bustling food scene in the town of San Miguel, Bulacan. Read on and take a tasty peek at some of Arki's Grill's signature and mouthwatering dishes...
On specific nights, Arki's also entertains guests with a live performance by local singers
With a cozy and homey vibe, Arkis'Grill welcomes guests with a smile
Arki's Grill also offers daily buffets at a very affordable price
Thai cuisine is known for its seamless blend of contrasting flavors with umami, sweet, sour, salty, and refreshing bitter notes capped by a soothing layer of heat in one dish. And that's exactly what you'll get at Arki's Grill when you order their Mookata meal.
See those smoking Mookata flavorr cooked right in front of our table?
Arki's Grill Mookata is composed of grilling fresh ingredients delivered right on your table. With fresh shrimps, beef, pork, chicken, kani, enoki mushrooms (my all-time favorite!), meat balls, vermicelli noodles, and fresh greens--is the perfect set to get acquainted with Mookata-style dining.
Purple Plum Fairy with blogger friends Mercedes Maata and Daryll Dial Villena having fun at Arki's Grill as we cooked our Mookata.
San Miguel de Mayumo festivity with Hon. Mayor Marivee Mendez Coronel, town councilor Nica Santiago, the bloggers and heritage enthusiasts and Architect Ervin Garcia
I recently had the best and tastiest sightseeing culinary and heritage tour, or a Food Trail Tour in San Miguel, Bulacan. On my recent
visit to the quaint town of San Miguel, where i had attended the San Miguel de Mayumo event, I not only got to experience delicious
local foods and delicacies, but also got to tour a growing mushroom farm and
watched several food demonstrations on how they do pickled papaya (achara),
cottage cheese (kesong puti), a well-loved rotiserrie (lechon manok)
patronized by the local for years, and even sweet pastillas (made from
carabao’s milk)—giving me such memorable experience.
The lovely smiles of the San Miguel youth
I guess I was indeed lucky enough to be part of San Miguel
Bulacan’s Culinary and Heritage tour organized by Architect Ervin “Arki”
Garcia of Arki’s Grill in cooperation with Hon. Mayor Marivee Mendez Coronel
and other entrepreneurs. The said tour had given me a glimpse of the kind of
hospitality and warmth this town has for visitors and guests. So what makes the
town of San Miguel Bulacan worth your visit? Check out my many reasons why.
·I have said this so many times but I won’t mind
saying it again: I had never seen such amazing hospitality as I had experienced
here in San Miguel. I won’t elaborate much because it’s best to experience them
first-hand. But you could really feel the warmth of its people.
The San Miguel municipal hall was adorned with festive ornaments
·The native delicacies and local foods: I’ve been
through the different foodie stops here and there are two things I’ve noticed,
one is that they DO NOT SCRIMP on INGREDIENTS, and two, they DON’T DO SHORTCUTS
here. Now, what do I exactly mean here? It means to say that no matter how difficult the process of making a dish, they
still do it manually and as naturally done as possible. Therefore, they prefer
not to make use of anything conveniently “instant” such as MSG and other
flavored seasoning. In fact, Sir Arki’s aunt Tita Lucila “Lucy”Payawal who is
in her mid-70’s painstakingly makes her famous native recipes even up to this
day. She manually does her pickled papaya and creates to-die-for Kalamay (sweet
glutinous sticky rice) with latik. She does heirloom recipes that’s worth
publishing and sharing in books. And she proudly says she does these with TLC.
“It’s not for everyone (what she does), because it requires not just patience
but hard work and extreme dedication as well,” explains Tita Lucy. She hopes
someday that she will be able to pass on the said legacy to younger generations
that’s why she has agreed to do the food demonstration despite her age. For
someone in her mid-70’s, I truly admire Tita Lucy’s strength and vigor. She still had that bunny energy in her that
may even rival that of a millenial’s.
A bottle of Achara or Pickled Papaya
I never realized the efforts one has to give in order to make this bottled pickled papaya or achara as it is known locally. It was only after the food demo made by Tita Lucy Payawal that I learned it's not an easy thing to make. It takes not just patience but creativity and one has to really put her heart into it in order to make one. Definitely not for the lazy ones like me. It has to have some TLC from the process of making up until the bottling.
The very first time I had set foot in San Miguel Bulacan was
last year when I was tapped to cover the ribbon cutting of the new clinic of
the Camp Tecson donated by SM Foundation. However, the said visit was indeed a
brief one that I never had the chance to see what the town of San Miguel
Bulacan can really offer.
The Cultural and heritage group who visited San Miguel Bulacan
I was privileged enough to be given another chance
to visit San Miguel Bulacan again. This time, however, I vow to see more of
this place and learn more about its rich history, culture and taste its food.
Architect Ervin Garcia, owner of Arki’s Grill together with its town mayor,
honorable Marivee Mendez Coronel spearheaded a culinary and heritage tour with
my good friend Rence Chan of #walkwithchan fame. Together with the help of
other local entrepreneurs and restaurant owners, they had united with that one
goal of helping promote the town of San Miguel, not just as a tourist destination
but also as a place for foodies to discover.
Purple Plum Fairy's official ID as participant in the said culinary and heritage tour
Some travel to take in the sights, or to raid the shops and
markets, while others travel in pursuit of indulging in unique cuisine in
foreign lands. Culinary tourism is a growing trend as travelers are becoming
increasingly focused on defining cuisine as a true artistic expression of a
country's or in this case, San Miguel Bulacan's unique culture.
Culinary tourism is simply travelling beyond your immediate
neighborhood to find great food. For me it includes any “tourism experience in
which a person learns about, appreciates, consumes, or- dare we say- indulges
in food and drink that reflects the local cuisine, heritage, or culture of the
place”. The further you travel, the wider the range of culinary experiences
enjoyed. It is not about the food you eat; food tourism is not necessarily
about dining luxuriously, but more about eating adventurously to seek out new
culinary experiences.
We found some of the best culinary discoveries in this quaint town for all the
foodies out there. So whether you want to learn more, find a new local
favorite or tour the town in search of some of the best food, check out this
article!
