Bring Home the Best of Bacolod at These Famous Pasalubong Shops When in Bacolod, one can immerse in culture, heritage, and love for all things made with sugar. One of the best things about Bacolod is the food, as evidenced by its vibrant restaurant scene. Having that in mind, BacoleĂąos have created an industry of various pasalubong (take-home items) centers so that you can share your experiences with friends and family back home.
Sugarlandia
Piaya, or unleavened flat bread filled with muscovado, from Sugarlandia The roots of Bacolod can easily be revisited by taking a bite out of the delicious treats by Sugarlandia. It started as a home-based industry in the 1930s. They were the first to introduce some of the staple delicacies of the city such as barquillos (crispy biscuit roll) and the famous piaya (muscovado-filled flat bread). Sugarlandia has survived for about nine decades by retaining the recipes of the family matriarch Tia Dami. The new generation of owners have come up with innovations such as barquirice, which uses organic rice as a flour substitute. Aside from their two signature products, they also sell meringue, pinasugbo (fried bananas), candied fruits, and more.
Virgie’s Homemade Products
Caramel tarts are boat-shaped tarts with meringue icing on top Similar to Sugarlandia, Virgie’s Homemade Products also started as a small home-based business at their rented house where the main branch still stands. They are best known for their sweet-tasting tarts. One of their best-selling variations is the pastillias de manga (mango tart) which is a half-moon shaped tart filled with mango jam. The boat tart or caramel tart is also one of their most popular products. Other variations include cheese tarts, macapuno (coconut sport) tarts, langka tarts, mango cashew tarts and pineapple tarts. They also have an assortment of delicacies available in their shop, some of which are dried fish, squid rings, butterscotch, galletas (round crispy bread), Napoleones (cream-filled puff pastry) and polvoron (powdered milk candy).
Margie’s Cakes & Pastries
Hopia sebuyas is a mix of sweet and sharp flavors. If you ask any Bacolod local where to get the best hopia (sweet rolls), they will probably answer Margie’s in a heartbeat. The hopia from Margie’s Cakes & Pastries is so renowned that it was even featured on an episode of Rated K. Hopia is a circular pastry puff with different sorts of fillings. One of the more popular variants is the hopia sebuyas which is made with spring onions. They also have hopia hapon which is filled with sweet mung bean paste, as well as garlic hopia, hopia wasay (oyster-shaped hopia) and monggo hopia (mung bean hopia). Margie’s is also experimenting with new flavors such as orange hopia, langka hopia (jackfruit hopia), and more. Their other best sellers include ugoy-ugoy (layered flaky biscuit), meringue, pulseras (bracelet-shaped biscuits), and crunchy pan de sal (bread roll).
BongBong’s Piaya
Bong Bong’s piaya is best paired with coffee. BongBong’s is one of the biggest pasalubong stores in Bacolod.You can easily find their stores all over Bacolod. You can also find their branches in the airport and at the pier. BongBong’s is known for their delicious and affordable piaya. They are sold in packs and come in different flavors: original, chocolate and ube (purple yam). You can snack on their freshly made piaya while you look around the store. Tourists also flock to BongBong’s for their toasted muffins, biscocho (baked bread), and their wide assortment of flavored barquillos.
Merzci Bread and Pastries
Delectable Napoleones from Merzci “Sa Merzci tanan manamit� (Everything is delicious in Merzci) is the famous tag line of this highly competitive pasalubong center. They started as a small bakery and rapidly grew to become one of the leading pasalubong centers in the city. They also have a large number of stores around the city including the airport and at the pier. They serve a variety of delicacies such as bandi (peanut brittle), banana brittle, piaya, bukayo (young coconut with sugar), crackers, and different types of cookies.
Roli’s Bakeshop
A bit-bit (carry-along) box of Napoleones from Roli’s Bakeshop Roli’s is practically an institution in Bacolod City as they have been around since 1940. However, the small kiosk in Roli’s arcade along La Salle avenue has recently been refurbished into a posh and modern café. You can still get your boxes of chicken or meat pies, half-moons, and Napoleones in their new café. Napoleones, a classic favorite among Bacoleños, is a squareshaped layered puff pastry glazed with sugar and filled with sweet, creamy custard. It is advisable to call in advance for orders and reservations.
El Ideal Bakery
El Ideal’s specialty, the guapple pie El Ideal Bakery is not your typical bakery. It doubles as a tourist spot in Silay City. The bakeshop is located at the ground floor of the Cesar Lacson-Locsin Ancestral House, a heritage structure certified by the National Historical Institute. It has been around since the 1920s. El Ideal is known for their delicious pies, especially their creative take on the American apple pie. They substituted apples with guapples, an oversized variety of guavas. El Ideal also has some of the best-tasting biscuits and pastries. Locals and tourists alike enjoy their sinambag (crumbly tamarind-shaped cookie), baùadas (cookie glazed with melted white sugar), paciencia (meringue cookies), lubid-lubid (sugar twist), and their assortment of cookies.
The Negros Showroom
The Negros Showrooms carries local pasalubong products from Virgie’s. Located along Lacson St., the Negros Showroom serves as a product display and business center for its member-producers. They showcase different locally made household items, souvenirs, and trinkets. Here, you can find beautiful laminated coconut husks, art pieces by local artists, lamps, frames, embroidered clothing, key chains, souvenir shirts, and figurines of the signature Masskara Festival masks. Some of Bacolod’s best food products are also sold in the showroom including Virgie’s and Sugarlandia.
Have you tried shopping at these famous pasalubong shops in Bacolod? Let us know in the comments section below! Click the store links to see the exact addresses and contact numbers of featured establishments.