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First Downtown Iloilo Food Crawl

posted in City Escape, Iloilo, The Travelling Sissums by lazylykee on

 Note: This is not a sponsored post or a food critique post. This is entirely just my experience joining the said event.

I joined the Downtown Iloilo Food Crawl organized by the Google Business Group – Iloilo for three reasons. First, and seriously the main reason, is because food is FREEEEE! Before I get to the other two reasons, I’ll give a bit of a background about this event.

I just copied this from the Facebook group:

This is the first Google Local Guides meetup in Iloilo city. The goal of this event is to raise awareness among locals that they can help map out and add content on Google Maps as Local Guides. This is a FREE event. Food will be sponsored by Google PH.

Qualifications are as follows:

  • Willing to walk — if you read about my travel posts, you’ll know this is not a problem with me
  • Serious foodie — if my sudden change in body built is not enough proof, I don’t know what else would
  • Smartphone with Google Maps — Google Maps had been my savior since Day 1 of my solo travels

Okay, back to my reasons. Second reason was to provide reviews in Google Maps because unlike most travelers I know who are dependent on TripAdvisor and other travel websites or blogs, for me, it’s simpler when I search for the place in Google Maps and I read the review and see the photos right then and there.

Lastly, it’s a guide for travelers going to Iloilo and looking for local food. Even though a local, this was a problem I had the first time I started with Couchsurfing. I know local food is everywhere but to think of the best restaurants to bring my guests to experience local cuisine, I found, was quite a challenge.

For this event, I was with my sister (The Travelling Sissums) and her friend. We started at American Legacy where we got introduced to the organizer behind the event and got to know each other. Participants varied as there were students, history students, event organizers, online professionals, photography hobbyists, and representatives of certain groups. There were also two participants from Singapore .

Then, we were oriented on the flow of the crawl, and where we were divided into two groups: the heritage and the random group. The heritage group will walk towards Central Market, passing some Chinese candies store, and probably kakanin along the way. The random group will walk along Valeria street and along JM Basa Street. Both groups will meet at 5 PM at Plaza Libertad. My sister and I chose to follow the random route.

The Drill: Take pictures of the food as well as the interior, add the photos and leave a review in Google Maps. If it’s not yet in Google Maps, one of us will add the place and then we leave reviews.
California Dog Shareable

Group photo before the walkathon starts

This was suggested by one of the participants. I think medyo nawindang ang food crew kasi ang dami namin, lels.
This was a good opportunity for me because I’ve passed by this resto a few times before but didn’t get the chance to taste their food.
Chicken in a Basket for P299

Balbi’s is known for their palabok. I think I’ve tried their palabok before. I’ve been there in their place but I think that time, their palabok was not available so I didn’t end up eating there.

This one bilao of palabok for P800.

We visited Inayan while waiting for our order at Balbi’s
Taste sample of peanuts with coffee

Their specialty is peanuts. They also have other local products like tablea, coffee, and others.
Their place is also open for those who’d like to chill. They only serve brewed coffee and tea in teabags.
Our next stop is Dainty House. It was my mother who introduced me to this restaurant. I occasionally drop by to buy food for take out or bread. I didn’t know they have a second floor.

Bihon perfect for me, little to no vegetables!

Because we’re out of time, and there was not a lot of space for us, the organizers just bought a siopao for each of us as take out.

I know Roberto’s is known for their siopao especially the Queen siopao, but my favorite here is their cheeseburger. Also, I love their bihon and sotanghon.
After photo at Plaza Libertad to end our Food Crawl, photo by GBG-Iloilo

The pips from the Heritage group shared some bread from Buho Bakery. We were given Local Guide stickers as freebies. Hopefully, there will be T-shirts next time, the organizers told us. Also, they were planning to do this meetup for three straight months so if you’re interested to join this, watch out for their announcements in their Facebook group. They also have other free events that you might want to check out.

One of the participants was a tour guide so he offered to give us a quick tour at the Iloilo City Gallery.

We dispatched eventually. It was a tiring day for my sister and I, but our bellies were filled and happy! But we’re thirsty so we stopped by Dakasi.

The Travelling Sissums signing off for the day. We realized that we may not be the type who chase for new restos, we were at least Downtown Iloilo food junkies. Ask us about downtown Iloilo stuff (from sewing to art stuff) and we can answer, well, maybe 60-70% of your downtown Iloilo questions.

Post note: I was really happy to know one participant who knew me because of my blog. Actually, he knew my What Lilac Learned Today page and remembered my post about a Pecha Kucha event I attended before. This just means so much for me! You can send your love too by commenting below or dropping me a message in my page or in any of my social media.


american legacy Balbi's chessy's dainty house explore iloilo food trip iamiloilo Iloilo inayan Roberto's the travelling sissums
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