Cebu's Best :))

The love for food can bring you to a journey of endless possibilities. Delicious food is a matter of personal choice and preference. However, the adventurous kind often discovers more than the usual new tastes and flavours of food, but also learns to appreciate the new cultures and ways of life of where the food was lovingly prepared. Travel and food go hand in hand in many ways. When you travel to new places, there is the same exploration for the locals’ delicacies and food staples. Discovering new food is indeed like finding a secret treasure you are bound to share because of its goodness. Travelling brings that wonderful excitement, as food adventures offer the same warm and exhilarating feel. Food prepared in the islands are often embraced by many tourists especially those living in the mainland. The food preparation alone for island foods is an extraordinary treat and a unique experience. The flavourful and tingling aroma of unusual mixes of herbs and spices leave the tourist or any local wanting to devour any well-prepared dish cooked in the islands.

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Balbacua is a favorite wayside eatery dish that originated in Cebu but widely accepted and also popular in other parts of Visayas and Mindanao. There are some restaurants in Manila that now serve the same dish to the amusement of first time eaters. Its rich, thick and peppery broth plus the tender and succulent meat have delighted many customers. By the Western standard, it might be considered as a bit unusual as it uses exotic beef parts such as oxtail, skin and feet (“paa ng baka”). Although some may be appalled, I’m sure many will love it.

Balbacua, like “Dinuguan”, is another proof of the cooking abilities of Filipinos to transform what others will consider as unusable parts of meat into wonderful dishes, comparable to those made from the prime cuts. Strange as it may seem from the stand point of international cuisine but its good taste and delicate texture are bound to propel it to further acceptance in the Luzon areas and who knows, in other parts of the world.