aside from breakthrough, most of our meals in iloilo were at the home of our hosts – there we had a very good lechon and amazing pancit molo. but one of the places we did eat out at was called buto’t balat. there’s a branch downtown, but that’s nowhere near as charming as the one we went to near SM

we love the fact that you can be in the middle of the city and still find a place as rustic as this to dine.

of course we had our regular seafood favorite, oysters

this one i saw the price – it was P140 for a whole heaping plate full. these oysters were lightly steamed, but still – beer.

we also had a famous ilonggo dish, chicken binakol (with native chicken)

it was our first taste of binakol and we loved it! the base is very similar to a tinola but with an added dimension of lemon grass and the sweetness of coconut. and the native chicken does make quite a difference. served out of a palayok, this was fantastic.

there were two other dishes – simply because it seems one type of dish per person is never enough – bangus sisig and sizzling mixed seafood

these were nice, but not necessarily revelations. the revelation was the halang halang – a dish buto’t balat is quite known for

it’s spicy ground chicken on a bed of potato chips. a nacho concept. all the blogs we read said this dish had to be taken with beer. and all those blogs were right. halang halang is the quintessential beer food and way delicious. as i type i find myself with this strong urge to get some halang halang. too bad it’s like a plane ride away.