The Best of Baguio Food with Erwan Heussaff

in this episode we're going to show you some of our favorite bites in this city from a whole pig snout to blood sausage to baccareta the perfect bowl of soup and other igorot dishes I just want to smash this so tighten your belt buckles and fasten your seatbelt as we take a road trip to Baguio but first let's start from the beginning one of the most famous cities in the Philippines it's dubbed the summer capital of the country and is a gateway into benguet and the mountain Province It Is by no means off the beaten path I used to pass through it mostly to explore the cordiera mountain range and the breathtaking beauty of the area but more recently I've lingered in the city and found a side of it that I never really saw before amongst its fast development there is an unmistakable Rhythm here one that begs you to slow down and pay attention even though it probably looks very different than it did 20 years ago there's a sense of nostalgia in the air attention that pulls it between the highly urbanized sensor that it is and the groundness of its history the food we go eat and the people you will meet today are probably the best representation of that [Music] bag is a really strange city it feels like it almost shouldn't be where it is I mean you're in the central Baguio it's really busy lots of traffic nowadays lots of restaurants kind of feels like a city that you'd find anywhere else in the Philippines what makes it really special is that it's really built on a mountain once you go a bit further out from the Baguio City Central you find places like this that are literally built on the cliff and more and more businesses now are branching out into these kind of lesser known areas lesser densely populated areas and you get beautiful views and finally it starts really feeling like a special mountain town and it does have kind of like this Allure and Magic that is hard to find anywhere else in the Philippines no wonder why so many people decide to call this place home and yeah it's a strange one really one of the kind when you come to the Philippines okay I'm getting out of breath no one told me that there's going to be this many steps even though it is a major city in the Philippines you have a mix of igorot and ilocano pride in absolutely everything and that's why I feel people can really feel like themselves and express themselves in Baguio that's we have lots of artists lots of restaurants lots of cooks really doing what they feel is right and kind of like finding their own voices here which creates a really special atmosphere for Creative people and athletes good taste doesn't serve local food but in a way it does it's a meeting place of everyone who comes to Baguio from tourists to locals it's a great place to get a pulse of the area and eat like how we Filipinos enjoy too the big portions budget-friendly meals that are ready to share locals here call this the food factory and I can see why it's an absolutely massive restaurant with long tables perfect for families and looking at the price and the size of the meal it really is well priced like you have these massive plates for 250 pesos so if you're a lot of people it comes down to a couple hundred even 100 pesos per person so that's why it's always full of massive cues outside of just people waiting to be SAT but even though maybe price is a huge motivator these guys have been on the scene for about 30 years so it's been a long long time they're one of the main reasons why so much produce has moved through Baguio the owner I believe passed away during cobit unfortunately but he really left his Mark here with two massive restaurants that are always busy especially at peak times and I believe he has also his own Farm or market and that's why he kind of moves a lot of fresh vegetable items on the menu all this looks absolutely insane these four versions are way bigger than what I expected the Bata dim just to give you an example 500 pesos the buttered chicken we got the small which is 250 pesos that's insane I mean it tastes like the butter chicken that I grew up eating okay xiaomi that's good and one of the reasons why this place does really well it's open 24 hours I'm gonna be a Shanghai hmm I mean it's comforting food right it's what you're used to it's what you expect for the prices you're paying it's delicious it's fresh it's freshly made it It's Quickly served there's really no question why this place would be an institution Chop Suey is really good vegetables are still nice and crunchy and there's an abundance of vegetables that's in the plate which is always really nice to see and Pata Tim let's see if it's really really soft that's pretty insane all that gelatin super fatty gelatinous sweet salty everything you want it to be [Music] thank you if you want to experience cordiator and cuisine in an accessible and well curated way farmer's daughter is a great place to visit it's located beside the famous tamawan Village away from the center of the city the food is straightforward authentic and presented in a rustic yet attractive way [Music] get some soup this looks really good this is like the whole snout got some cartilage in there and got some ears you got some fat a little bit of everything really deep Porky broth which is something you don't often get a lot of the times it's deep it's creamy it's kind of everything that you want a nice broth to be especially when it's cold and that's why I'm always really excited to come to places like this because it's nice to be able to have this kind of food that you would not find in Metro Manila next I'm going to move on to one of my favorite Eagle Rock foods and that's pinun egg I think blood sausages when you think of your French Buddha your British black pudding your Korean blood sausage you don't really think about Filipino bread sashes but it makes a lot of sense pork pork blood we have things like diniguan and everything why not have a sausage out of it and here it's probably one of my favorite ones the chef owner here is actually a very skilled Butcher and you can tell there's expertise there and it's not like overwhelmingly bloody or gamey lots of spices there so it really balances out the whole flavor it's one of those dishes I feel like is extremely underrated in the Philippines still within that meaty Vibe I know you've probably heard of attacks before so it's a preserved salted meat it's counterpart or this other style of doing it is kinudai area smoked pork they also make a version of chicken and beef I think on their menu but traditionally I think it's it's pork and yeah you can taste that there's a smoker right outside actually you can taste that that has been seafood and smoke for a long long time it's really intense and really kind of takes over your whole palette which is why it's perfect to order it with lots of vegetables their menu is actually filled with vegetables and I saw the Paco salad and I knew I had to have it Bach was probably one of my favorite Filipino greens very delicately dressed Tomatoes I think salted egg some cucumbers nice and clean refreshing really well balanced so good [Music] thank you [Music] Ed bakareta is a place you should stop and have a meal not only does the owner have an amazing success story from being imprisoned to becoming a man of God we made a full documentary about him that'll be out soon but his food is timeless and truly Filipino is so good like I love how how much pepper there is in there if you're looking for coffee you don't really have to look far there's a buzzing coffee scene in Baguio serving up both locally roasted and imported beans if you're up for a caffeinated crawl check out Rebel Bakehouse hot cat hatch coffee Peak cup Igor charm leandros cafeteria Farm to cup or Nest coffee [Music] Luisa's Cafe started around 1957 if I'm not mistaken it was started by my grandfather and grandmother who migrated from China I would say Luisa's Cafe is a bestseller would be the noodles and our siopao the noodles as well we do it fresh every single day it's a recipe from my grandfather way back in China Luisa's is one of the oldest restaurants in the city it keeps a very simple and made fresh Chinese menu when the temperature drops it's the perfect place for a copious bowl of mommy noodles there's a reason that this restaurant is still here often frequented by locals Reminiscing on the old days [Music] I am so stuffed this is kind of like the perfect either breakfast or dinner Place Louisa's is an institution for all the right reasons it might seem strange to have like this amazing kind of field chai food here but it makes a lot of sense there was once kind of like a very big thriving Field track Community some noodles pork fat some chicharon some pork some dumplings this looks like a really beautiful bowl of food perfect I'm just gonna sit down and enjoy this pork stomach okay very clean and that lining it's gorgeous this is legit a really good bowl of food and these noodles are just so perfectly cooked and they taste so good I just want to smash this one of my favorite bites of food so far in Baguio I mean I almost don't want to eat the shovel because the soup is so good the pork is already really nice and sweet reminiscent of tiny sausage So Soft that's a really thought about your food I mean I see people talking about a lot of different restaurants but for me this should definitely make it to the top of your list if you're looking for something really comforting that has all those notes that you're so used to and nostalgic it's really well made and feels very Baguio and I heard this is like a hot spot for a lot of journalists so we're gonna go upstairs and see if anyone wants to talk to me and kind of shed some light as to why this is such an institution I would say the journalists it's accessible in a sense they're in within the business district one journalist will come they'll tell stories share their stories to that the next journalist and then eventually even though way back when I was not even born they were already here they were supporting our business [Music] so where are we headed now so we're going to alos at uh Katipunan Cafe but before that we're just gonna drop by ililika for a while okay check out the works of tigao the guy you met earlier yeah then Eli is owned by the national artist for film so yeah it's kind of like uh I don't know if you've been there before no never never actually I've been to Baguio yeah but a lot of times I feel like it's so busy that you never really know where to go right because the city has changed tons right I'm sure you've been documenting it for for how long now uh probably about more than 30 years three decades started off well Early College I won't I won't ask you how old are you yeah but would you feel like the essence of Baguio is still very much alive and present through its food through the shops it's probably it's more of your this is probably one of your more Cosmopolitan places in the country yeah I'm actually presently surprised that a lot is still happening around yeah people feel like you know okay yeah session wrote it sounds like a very touristic thing to do but it's true a lot of kind of like these institutions are still very much around here right thank you [Music] so this is okay that's the facade beautiful yeah and so this is kind of like just an artist's Haven right yeah this is Tony hi hi he's a resident uh floor artist here so yeah this is where we enter ah okay nice yeah so here you'll see a restaurant gear shops exhibitions some really mixed use yeah then of course you it's a it's like a labyrinth very cool [Music] this really for me represents kind of like what Baguio is all about in terms of the converging of cultures of people of artists yeah there's another Cafe there this is a vegetarian Cafe yep [Music] so this is the theater sometimes they have film showings here this is so cool I never even saw pictures of this place wow this is really special yeah if you notice the wood these are the trees that were felt during when there were typhoons so every year they repurpose it they ask for it from the like that trunk over there that's a whole Trio actually that's so cool [Music] and here uh this this is the part of the city where the gold trading is normally done okay so they actually buy gold nuggets okay from the miners around around the area yeah if you notice in the city's logo there's a three gold coins yes there are three gold coins signifies the three major mining areas in the province we still produce major gold uh reserves for the country I did not know that okay so if you notice the audio is the only city that has a different layout as against the other uh municipalities CDC in the country yeah where the traditional layout was the church then the government center here it's the main street there's a main street and that's where everything happens and then everything's built around that yeah aside from ililika you can also visit the Ben cab Museum The tamawan Village arca's yard or museum cordiera for your creative fix but we were after more local food and our guide wanted to show me a place that he considered represented the side of Baguio that is an important part of the city you go up here up here yeah that's nakatipunan they used to have a store there but it's closed right now okay welcome welcome to Katipunan so I like I like that this place feels like a secret it feels like you need to know like where this is to be able to come here actually this is known before for about actually but the until now we just don't know why it's still a secret most yeah but actually this area is known to be a meeting place of um pocket miners yeah yeah okay and then also the vegetable dealers and you've been in this location for how many years actually my mother started here since 1970s oh wow yeah [Music] this is what you could consider because we could consider that actually as serving yeah because we don't usually add some spice some other spices yeah what we just do is boil them and then just recall that one fries and fries and then just uh garnish that's all with the chili yeah nice okay so this this this feels like something that more people should kind of come know about it and know up right like and I feel like this kind of food is what people now are are looking for this is probably the early 70s to the 80s uh that restaurants like these were by madasi yeah but now they're they're the only restaurants that serves this kind of food here in this particular area in the city and how did yeah so how did you find this place for example when you're when you're out drinking the whole night so you end up in the morning yeah nursing hangover so the first thing you want to do is drink I like look for a place where they served hot broth this is the favorite this is I'm loving this by the way yeah it's really good we normally have Su or the pigs now that's it and it's just boiled until it's like really tender is just slice and then to serve yourself so you cut up a piece that's how it goes and here that's it that's it [Music] pork also another beef beef this is the cheeks right yeah yeah but you're really tender really fatty and this is the lambo dealer that's really tasty grilled pork yeah I feel like the food is is I mean it's like what you said that's good very simply seasoned but so tasty and very different from anything you'll find in Manila like forget about it you can't find a whole pig snout in any Manila restaurant I feel like that's what makes it special right it is it's nice to see places that still kind of stand behind their culture and behind the food you guys grew up eating it feels like how maybe maybe this is how Baguio was maybe all of Baguio was like this in the 70s right and a lot earlier actually because before the miners go to the mindside yeah the this is where the the transport Hub so they get to pick up here or they get to be dropped off here after they get paid okay so that's why you have these places here serves this kind of food because these are the kind of food that that powers them for that yeah this will yeah your protein your fat and you've got everything you need and then obviously check out the rice servings it's really big yeah [Music] we didn't show you the modern eateries International Food Restaurants all the coffee shops and bakeries around the city there are a lot of them and most of them are worth the visit I wanted to take you around to places that I feel represent this Mountain City well gems that I hope will stay open for decades to come serving an important slice of culture for those willing to seek it [Music]

Channel: FEATR

Views: 781,394

Keywords: erwan, heussaff, thefatkidinside, featr, baguio city, cordillera cuisine, food trip in baguio, cafes in baguio

Id: F7w5kIFUG0c

Length: 22min 53sec (1373 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 27 2023