Dinner at Ponsyon by Breakthrough at Plazuela

What to do at a city renowned for gastronomy but enjoy the food. Due to the inclement weather (there was a storm the past days), we decided to eat at a familiar place at Plazuela. Ponsyon by Breakthrough is conveniently located near where we are staying and serves items on the menu of its mother restaurant in Villa. They just don't have live seafood that you can choose from.

Baked scallops

Halaan soup as we like it

Grilled managat is something we regularly order. Managat is a variety of snapper that can be cooked in a variety of ways including sinigang (with soup) or steamed.

This was a really good dinner for our first night in Iloilo during this quick trip. 

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Christmas 2025 grilling

We were once again hosts for our family Christmas lunch. And Christmas lunch will always involve grilled food. 

Pork barbecue and tuna belly

Close-up of the tuna belly

Pork barbecue with home made sauce used also for grilling

We acquired this grill back in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was already in decline. The first major use was during Christmas 2020 when we celebrated our survival from what was the probably the worst health scare of our lives.

We usually have grilled prawn and I always got these from my suki at the Antipolo Market.

Close-up of the prawns being grilled

The finished product - tender pork barbecue

Grilled tuna belly the way our family likes it.

We had a hearty lunch and celebrated life, love and health in 2025. Afterwards, we had our traditional photo shoot around our Christmas Tree. 

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Tuna at the market

Its Christmas time and the family and friends celebrations always lead me to the market to purchase tuna and/or prawns. We usually have grilled tuna and prawns on this special occasion. They are part of our idea of great food for our family Christmas meals. Following are photos of what we'll likely enjoy next week - tuna belly and panga.

Yellowfin tuna being prepared at my suki at the Antipolo Market

Yellowfin tuna ready for carving

Tuna panga (jaw)

Tuna belly

Grilled tuna panga

I haven't decided yet whether we will have tuna and/or prawns for Christmas lunch and dinner.  That will depend on the family plans including on whether we will be hosting Christmas Day lunch at our home. That decision might be made this weekend when I go to the market to buy the tuna and/or prawns.

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Dinner at Breakthrough Restaurant, Arevalo, Iloilo

Our first dinner in Iloilo had to be special since it was our daughter's first time in Iloilo. My wife also was not able to join their group dinner when she arrived ahead of us. It had to be Breakthrough but not at the nearby branch at Plazuela but at the one in Arevalo, by the sea. There was no traffic on that Friday evening so we got there ahead of the usual Friday dinner crowd. Here's what we had at the restaurant:

Grilled managat (red snapper)

Their version of the popular Chop suey

Prawns cooked in garlic and butter

Blue crabs also cooked in garlic and butter

Clam (halaan) soup

There are many places to eat at in Iloilo but we really just had to had our meals at the "must go" places like Tatoy's and Breakthrough. We are already looking forward to the next trip to the city of gastronomic delights. 

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Lunch at Tatoy's, Atria, Iloilo City

I continue on my feature on our recent travel to Iloilo. This time, I just wanted to share about the food in Iloilo, which has been recognized as a gastronomic destination (UNESCO Creative. City of Gastronomy) And that was before that Michelin list came out! Being half Ilonggo and regularly traveling to my Tatay's hometown and elsewhere in the province, I've enjoyed the food there and would gladly recommend the usual, popular dishes. But I do recommend people trying the food they usually serve in homes including many versions of adobo, KBL, laswa and kansi.

Baked clams (talaba)

Tatoy's version of the popular pansit bihon

Grilled native chicken

We actually had two lunches at different Tatoy's branches. On our first day, it was at Atria. On the second day, we went to the main branch in Villa, Arevalo. There is another branch near the airport but perhaps that's a place to eat at as a last resort or last chance before departure? Maybe others will eat there upon arrival after missing Ilonggo food for a long time?

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What to bring home from Davao? Seafood!

We had a great time dining at a friend's place in Obrero and ended up ordering tuna and pompano to bring back to Manila. There were many of us so we ended up with 20kg of tuna and 20kg of pompano to be split up among more than 10 people. Note to those who want to bring seafood from Davao and other cities - do have them packed well and placed inside styro boxes that you must seal to make sure any liquid (water and others) will not seep out of the box. This is true whether you're checking-in a big amount or just a small package with a few items.

Tuna is very much in demand and costs perhaps 1/2 or 1/3 of the prices in Metro Manila. This tuna panga was priced at

Pompano is also much in demand as you can cook it many ways. These cost also 1/2 or 1/3 of the prices in Metro Manila.

As it is only a week since our return from Davao, I'm not sure if my colleagues have already cooked their share of the fish. We certainly did last weekend when we grilled some of the tuna panga for Sunday lunch. I didn't get pompano as this was coveted by most and I also had my source of pompano at the Antipolo Market. Nevertheless, I think my colleagues are planning to order these on a more regular basis but they have to go through the freight terminal, flown in perhaps on a morning flight and picked up by someone at the terminal. Of course, we are already looking forward to the next trip to Davao and bring home more of these fresh seafood.

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Back at Alavar Seafood Restaurant in Zamboanga City

One of the things we truly miss from the travels prior to the Covid-19 pandemic was the food. We usually tried new places to eat at. And then, of course, there are the old reliables and certain restaurants we definitely try to eat at when were in certain cities. One of those restaurants is the Alavar Seafood Restaurant in Zamboanga City. It gets pretty crowded when you come in even for an early dinner so the timing should be to arrive between 6:00 - 6:30PM. Whole families eat out here even without an occasion to celebrate.

There were already a lot of diners when we arrived at around 6:15PM.

Noticeable for me were the changes in the interior. They actually rerouted the entrance so you proceed to the larger, more spacious dining hall instead of the original air-conditioned restaurant.

There were 6 of us so we decided to order 2 seafood platters.

Here's the second platter. The platter or bilao sets already come with a big bottle of iced tea that can be shared by 3 to 4 people.

The staff informed us that they also serve the popular Knickerbocker. We ordered one each.

Here's a close-up of my Knickerbocker

A sala set near our table. I assume one can have a meeting here where you order some food and drinks like coffee and merienda.

We were not disappointed with our food. I would say that Alavar will always be a "go to" restaurant for us whenever we are in Zamboanga City. The restaurant's main dining hall is spacious and obviously laid out to meet or comply with the health protocols. The staff always wears masks. There's a temperature check at the entrance of the restaurant but they do not ask for proof of vaccination (i.e., vaccination card).

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Salmon for dinner

I forgot about this draft I started just before Holy Week last April (yes, that was a couple of months ago). I was at the supermarket to replenish our food and drinks when I spotted these salmon products beside the freezer where I got our supply of bangus (milkfish). I usually see only the salmon belly and the imported smoked salmon in the frozen section of the supermarket so these were a pleasant addition to the choices for seafood.

Lemon pepper salmon and herbed salmon

I got two of each as I assessed that one box won't be enough for us whether its lunch or dinner at home. It was Holy Week so the seniors usually prefer to eat seafood over meats (beef, pork or chicken). Still, seafoods here in our country is quite good so the 'sacrifice' part of Lent is lost when one goes for the likes of tuna, salmon and shrimps. The salmon turned out to be very good. I liked the lemon pepper more than the herbed salmon. The former tasted fresh while I found the latter to be somewhat on the overwhelming side because of the herbs. Of course, that's me and my palate there, and I'm sure others will be choosing the herbed salmon over the lemon pepper.

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