These pasalubongs from the City of Smiles will make your loved ones grin!
Image: BongBong's Piaya and Barquillos Facebook Page
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 their famous pasalubong, as evidenced by its vibrant restaurant scene.
Having that in mind, Bacoleños have created an industry of various pasalubong (take-home items) centers so that you can share your experiences with friends and family back home.
Eager to find out where to get the best pasalubong from Bacolod? Check them out below!
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 flatbread). 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.
August 2020 Update: Sugarlandia is open for delivery only.
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).
August 2020 Update: Virgie’s Homemade Products has resumed operations.
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 product of Bacolod 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.
August 2020 Update: BongBong’s has resumed operations.
Merzci Bread and Pastries
Delectable Napoleones from Merzci
“Sa Merzci tanan manamit” (Everything is delicious in Merzci) is the famous tagline 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.
August 2020 Update: Merzci Bread and Pastries has resumed operations.
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 square-shaped layered puff pastry glazed with sugar and filled with sweet, creamy custard. It is advisable to call in advance for orders and reservations.
August 2020 Update: Roli’s has resumed operations.
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), bañadas (cookie glazed with melted white sugar), paciencia (meringue cookies), lubid-lubid (sugar twist), and their assortment of cookies.
August 2020 Update: El Ideal is open for delivery via Grab Food.
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.
August 2020 Update: The Negros Showroom is currently closed.
Make sure to visit Yoorekka to learn and find out more about the best pasalubongs in Bacolod City.
Have you tried shopping at these famous pasalubong shops in Bacolod? Let us know in the comments section below!
This article was originally published in Yoorekka on July 28, 2017.
Click the store links to see the exact addresses and contact numbers of featured establishments.
Photos/Images are from the official websites and/or Facebook pages of featured establishments.
