The Ivatan cuisine is very simple. It is usually made from fresh ingredients locally grown or harvested. Some of the most prominent and authentic Ivatan cuisine are uvud – made of banana pith, fish and local herbs, yellow ginger rice and tatus or coconut crabs. Pension Ivatan is one of the perfect places to try Ivatan dishes.
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| Ivatan Platter P1,700 |
Pension Ivatan Hometel and Restaurant
Pension Ivatan Hometel and Restaurant offers sumptuous authentic Ivatan cuisine in Basco. They’re the only restaurant in Basco which serves a wide range of Ivatan dishes. Pension Ivatan is owned and managed by Tess De Leon who also manages Kusina Cagayana in Tuguegarao City. She did not finish a degree in culinary arts but her passion for cooking runs in her blood. She’s able to create dishes which caters to both Ivatans and tourists in Batanes. According to Mrs. De Leon, the traditional Ivatan dish is a little bland so she made a little twist to it to make it more savory.
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| Pension Ivatan in Basco |
During our visit at Ivatan Pension, we were offered with different type of Ivatan dishes. While waiting for the main dishes to be served, we were served with a starter – a basket of crispy sweet potato (camote) chips. It is thinly sliced and then deep fried. It’s healthy and a very good starter for a long night of eating and chatting.
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| Sweet Potato (Camote) Chips |
Then, we were served with the main dishes. Yes, we were able to sample Ivatan Pension’s authentic Ivatan dishes. We had Bulalo, Stuffed Gabi Rolls, Batanes Flavor Platter and Ivatan Platter.
Ivatan Platter (P1,700)
Pension Ivatan Hometel and Restaurant’s Ivatan Platter is composed of Payi (Lobster), Tatus (Coconut Crab), Uvud Balls (made of banana pith with minced pork and fish flakes), Luñes or Lunez (Ivatan Adobo), Vunes (dried gabi stalks), Grilled Dibang (flying fish), Inihaw na Tadyang ng Baka, Kanañiz (grilled cuttlefish), Ivatan Salad (pako or fiddlehead fern salad), Supas (Tumeric or ginger rice). It is definitely a must-try while in Batanes. My personal favorite is Kanañiz, I love its tender and chewy texture.
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| Vunes (dried gabi stalks) P130 |
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| Uvud Balls P150 |
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| Grilled Dibang (P70/gram) |
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| Inihaw na Tadyang ng Baka (Php 150) |
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| Kanañiz (grilled cuttlefish) P230 |
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| Luñes (Ivatan Adobo) P280 |
Batanes Flavor Platter (P250)
Batanes Flavor platter is made up of Kinilaw na Isda (Tangigue), Caliente (beef soft skin), Inihaw na Liempo, Beef Tapa and Camote Chips. I enjoyed eating the beef soft skin. I love its taste and texture. It is mixed with ginger so it made it more spicy and yummy.
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| Batanes Flavor |
Bulalo (P280)
I was very interested on how the Ivatan Pension’s bulalo tasted like. I never expected that a fern which is grown on our backyard can actually be an ingredient in a Filipino’s favorite bulalo. The Ivatans call it humahum or a baby fern. I was surprised that it blends well with the soup. Another must-try dish at Ivatan Pension Restaurant.
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| Ivatan Bulalo with humahum or a baby fern |
Stuffed Gabi Rolls (P200)
The stuffed gabi rolls consist of dibang (flying fish) with gabi stalks and young coconut, gata (coconut milk) and a little alamang (shrimp paste). It is the Ivatan’s version of the famed laing of the Bicol region.
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| Stuffed Gabi Rolls |
Dukay Salad (P50)
We ended the night with a dukay salad for dessert. It is a creamy dessert made from boiled tuge, a locally grown root crop, milk and cream. For drinks, we tried Pension Ivatan’s house blend tea (P50).
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| Ivatan Pension’s House Blend Iced Tea |
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| Dukay Salad |
It was such a well spent night of mouth-watering food and travel stories with friends. Awesome food, awesome people! Thank you Pension Ivatan Hometel and Restaurant and Ferdz Decena for a wonderful night.
This blog post is part of our absolutely free BATANES TRAVEL GUIDE. You no longer need to spend a lot of time researching, we already did it for you. All you need is just a click away!
This blog post is part of our absolutely free BATANES TRAVEL GUIDE. You no longer need to spend a lot of time researching, we already did it for you. All you need is just a click away!
Pension Ivatan Hometel and Restaurant
Barangay Kayvalugan, Basco, Batanes
Website: http://www.pensionivatanbatanes.com
Email: pensionivatan@yahoo.com.ph
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pensionivatanbatanes
Disclosure : Pension Ivatan has invited travel bloggers to sample their food.
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