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This is the blog of Ian Rosales Casocot. Filipino writer. Sometime academic. Former backpacker. Twink bait. Hamster lover.
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Bibliography
The Great Little Hunter
Pinspired Philippines, 2022
The Boy The Girl
The Rat The Rabbit
and the Last Magic Days
Chapbook, 2018
Republic of Carnage:
Three Horror Stories
For the Way We Live Now
Chapbook, 2018
Bamboo Girls:
Stories and Poems
From a Forgotten Life
Ateneo de Naga University Press, 2018
Don't Tell Anyone:
Literary Smut
With Shakira Andrea Sison
Pride Press / Anvil Publishing, 2017
Cupful of Anger,
Bottle Full of Smoke:
The Stories of
Jose V. Montebon Jr.
Silliman Writers Series, 2017
First Sight of Snow
and Other Stories
Encounters Chapbook Series
Et Al Books, 2014
Celebration: An Anthology to Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Silliman University National Writers Workshop
Sands and Coral, 2011-2013
Silliman University, 2013
Handulantaw: Celebrating 50 Years of Culture and the Arts in Silliman
Tao Foundation and Silliman University Cultural Affairs Committee, 2013
Inday Goes About Her Day
Locsin Books, 2012
Beautiful Accidents: Stories
University of the Philippines Press, 2011
Heartbreak & Magic: Stories of Fantasy and Horror
Anvil, 2011
Old Movies and Other Stories
National Commission for Culture
and the Arts, 2006
FutureShock Prose: An Anthology of Young Writers and New Literatures
Sands and Coral, 2003
Nominated for Best Anthology
2004 National Book Awards
Follow the Spy
Recent Crumbs
Blogs I Read
© 2002-2021
IAN ROSALES CASOCOT
Saturday, January 02, 2016
11:00 PM |
Food Roundup Dumaguete 2016: Jo's Chicken Inato
I am an accidental foodie: I used to write a food column for a local paper and have written extensively about the Dumaguete food scene for national magazines and newspapers -- until I decided to discontinue the enterprise about four years ago. Still, people I know who visit Dumaguete keep asking me about the best places to go to eat, and I've found I no longer quite know the scene. A lot can change in half a decade. So I've decided to try a new approach this year and go about sampling the local food culture once more and document everything online in the course of twelve months. The city has grown and expanded enough in the years since 2011, and a significant part of what's happening food-wise has become unfamiliar to me. Consider this a personal adventure.
Let's begin with a Dumaguete institution:
Jo's Chicken Inato, along Silliman Avenue, with its famous milky chicken barbecue -- a staple of local food culture that has endured over the years despite copycats and competition. That popularity could be attributed to the distinctive flavor which reflects a totality of local taste (hence, "inato"), something quite different from other regional variations of chicken barbecue such as the "inasal" from the other side of Negros. I have always preferred this dish -- and in particular, the "pecho" over the "paa" -- which is soft and milky and crispy in just the right places, and has none of the blandness of the Mang Inasal franchise nor the over-syrupy concoction of the Chicken Burger variety. The restaurant, founded in the early 1980s by the Bejar/Ng family, started out as a cake house and a small traveler's hostel, until chicken completely took over the identity of the establishment. Refurbished almost twenty years ago, it has since grown greasy and dim over the years -- but for some reason this has added to the no-frills appeal of the restaurant. (This is still a place, after all, where you're encouraged to eat with your hands.) Tonight, the pecho I ordered could have used some more satisfying finish and a meatiness that was largely absent. But hey, it's January 2nd and the place was brimming full of customers when I came in -- which could explain the weary unwelcoming looks of the wait staff. Still, not bad. I am a Dumagueteno, and my taste buds have been conditioned to love this chicken. Regular chicken meal priced at P120. Placed my order at 7:35 PM. Order received at 7:40 PM.
#FoodRoundupDumaguete2016
Labels: dumaguete, food, life, negros, review
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
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