Tourists Say Bongbong’s Bacolod Pasalubong is the Best!

Did you know that Filipinos who go home from out of town trips never leave the area they have been without first buying pasalubong? Yeap, it’s seldom, if not totally nil, for Filipinos to go home from their trips without bringing something home for the entire family, including sometimes their neighbors and friends. Take for instance visitors of Bacolod City, famous for its moniker “The City of Smiles. Visitors of this beautiful city normally would take home delectable treats they bought from, you guessed it right, Bongbong’s Piaya and Barquillos. So what are the more common Bacolod pasalubong they would often bring home?

Perhaps the most popular Bacolod pasalubong that visitors from out of town would buy from Bongbong’s to bring home to their families is the flaky pastry treat known as piaya. Actually, there is no single historical document that could point out to the actual origin of, and how it came to be called as, piaya. Ask any local if he or she knows how it came to be called piaya and you would definitely get a blank stare along with a sheepish “I don’t know” answer. You might say “Oh, that’s easy to find out – just google it!” Unfortunately, even people at the giant search engine Google are at a loss on how it came to be known as piaya.

In fact, try searching for “what is piaya?” on Google and the first item on the search engine result page is an information about “Paella” which is an altogether different food with origins traced back to the Spanish province of Valencia.

Regardless of how it came to be called as such, the fact is that it is often the number one item on the list of visitors from out of town to bring home. Why? Simply put, it is very delicious. Once you have tasted it, you will definitely find yourself reaching out for another piece. The best thing about piaya is that it can be served with any beverage, from water and soda to hot or cold coffee. In a way, you could consider it a “versatile” delicacy. This versatility and delicious taste are perhaps two of the major considerations on why it remains very popular among visitors from out of town and locals.

Caramel, macapuno, cheese and mango tarts are also high on the list of out of town visitors. In fact, these pastry types are among the favorites, not only of local tourists, but foreign tourists as well.

Take the case of Japanese tourists. They are famous for having a discriminatory taste, particularly when it comes to foreign food. Who can blame them? After all, Japanese cuisine is among the best in the world, alongside French, Chinese, Italian, and of course, Filipino dishes. Japanese tourists are very selective of the food they eat and you can be sure that they will never come back to a restaurant or food shop if they find the foodstuffs there unsuitable to their palate. The fact that a lot of Japanese tourists, along with other nationalities, keep coming back to the number 1 pastry shop in Bacolod City, Bongbong’s Piaya and Barquillos, to buy cheese tarts and many other delicacies and treats, is an affirmation on the quality and delicious taste of their products.

One Japanese guy, Takeshi Oda, when asked on what type of “Omiyage” (in loose context, may also be considered pasalubong – Japanese style) would he like to bring home, he answered, without hesitation, “cheese tarts” by Bongbong’s Piaya and Barquillos. When asked why? He said that he liked it so much because it tasted very much similar to quality and expensive pastries that are available in various specialty food shops and convenience stores in Japan. The only difference is that he can buy almost four packs here for the price of a single, small Japanese cheese pastry treat.

Oda also said that his family would always remind him to bring home a box or two whenever he happens to be visiting Bacolod City.

This only shows that the quality products that Bongbong’s Piaya and Barquillos is producing can match even the most delicious pastry delights in other countries.

Another well-known and delicious Bacolod pasalubong is biscocho. Sometimes spelled and pronounced as “bizcocho,” it is made of a toasted cake or muffin topped with frosted sugar, which has been blended until a creamy texture was achieved, heated, and poured over the flat area of the biscocho. This delicious pastry has actually Spanish origins and may have been brought to the Philippines by Spanish conquistadores. Visitors from out of town say that they love the tasty crunchiness of the bread and the delicious frosting, which surprisingly, have just the right amount of sweetness.

If you think that these yummy pastry delicacies are the only treats being offered by the number 1 pastry shop in Bacolod City then you have another think coming. Bongbong’s Piaya and Barquillos offer a broad range of scrumptious pastry treats that would make any food connoisseur salivating in delight. Click here to visit the product section of the Bongbong’s website see their wide array of pastry offerings.

So if you are a visitor from out of town and would want to bring home the best Bacolod pasalubong, look no further than Bongbong’s Piaya and Barquillos delicacy store. You will surely enjoy the delicious treats they offer.