Growing up in a small town in Iloilo and being a frequent visitor of the city center (despite my many vomit episodes), I used to think that Bacolod City was the snobbish twin of Iloilo City. It was a little uppity for me, and the shirt that I received one Christmas, which said “Ang kuwarta sa Negros, ginapiko kag ginapala” with an image of a man sitting on top of a ginormous money bag bursting with gold coins did not help dispel my misconception.
Having said that, my few visits to Bacolod City have proved to be phenomenal. I discovered that regardless of the way the Negrenses mine their money, one thing is certain, their food is lip smacking good.
In terms of their pasalubong, I have been familiar with two brands: BongBong’s, which makes great thick ube piaya, and Merzci. However, I remain loyal to Biscocho Haus and Margec’s. It pains my Ilonggo heart to buy BongBong’s piaya and I am sure that it must have died a thousand deaths when I bought two bags of Merzci products on top of the three boxes of Iloilo-made goodies.
For more information, please read Pasalubong – Bacolod City, Part II.
*Here are some pasalubong from Bacolod City:
TR with pasalubong from Bacolod City
Merzci Piaya Ube, 5 pieces, P30.00 (US $0.57). I eat these piaya at room temperature or after they are microwaved for a couple of seconds. The filling is thick and the outer layer is thin. One thumb up. 🙂
Merzci Piaya Ube, 10 pieces in a box, P60.00 (US $1.14). The ube filling is not too sweet and the ube flavor is pronounced. These are as good as the BongBong’s ube piaya. It is high praise coming from me.
Merzci Piaya Original, 10 pieces in a box, P58.00 (US $1.10). In general, I do not like original flavored piaya, but this one is better than Biscocho Haus’s.
Merzci Hopia Special, 24 pieces, P59.00 (US $1.12). These are not the yummy hopia I grew up eating but they were not bad. They tasted decent and I ate five in one sitting. Then, another five. Eating these hopia was just a little messy.
Merzci Barquillitos Pandan, 100 grams, P42.00 (US $0.80). The pandan flavor was not strong enough for me, but these bite-size barquillitos were fun to eat. The popping pandan color was a bonus. My officemates enjoyed eating them, so they must have been decent.
Merzci Barquillitos Ube, 100 grams, P42.00 (US $0.80). The uber flavor was stronger than the one in pandan version. My classmates in Spanish gave rave reviews of these cute and colored barquillitos.
Merzci Napoleones, box of 12, P162.00 (US $3.08). I think the Napoleones was the best in the bunch. It looked sweet but in reality, it tasted tame. The sweetness of the top part was tempered by the middle part. I ate half of the content of this box — in a span of three days. ☺ I like these almost as much as I like Iloilo’s cream horn.
Merzci Napoleones
Top view of Merzci Napoleones
*US $1 = P52.57