Food tripping in Boracay
BY LITO CINCO

Boracay remains a prime tourism destination despite the common belief that it is overdeveloped. The island’s pristine beaches, friendly locals and year-round party atmosphere continue to attract millions of visitors every year.
Of course, a visit to Boracay will not be complete without a sampling of the culinary offerings in the area and this was what Boracay Garden Resort and its airline partner Southeast Asian Airlines or Seair had in mind when it invited members of media to a “weekend of epicurean delights.’’
Boracay Garden Resort is a member of the Regency Group owned by Iloilo businessman and hotelier Henry Chusuey. The group’s other properties include Boracay Regency and Regency Lagoon.
Seair vice president Patrick Tan was not kidding when he said that we would reach the Caticlan airport from the Manila Domestic Airport in 35 minutes. We did get there fast and less than an hour after we left Metro Manila. We had reached our destination.
Even in the off season, Seair makes 10 round-trip Manila-Caticlan-Manila flights every day. The airline is offering a spacial rate of P1235++ for Caticlan until October 15.
Among the media guests were Joseph Cortes of Business Mirror’s, Pennie de la Cruz of Sunday Inquirer Magazine, Sam Marcelo of Business World Rina David of Philippine Daily Inquirer, Tanya Lara of Philippine Star, Eugene Santos of Manila Bulletin, Deni Rose Afinidad of The Daily Tribune and Troy Barrios of Food Magazine.
We were given a sneak preview of the hotel’s new ala carte menu that will be launched soon. The restaurant is going through a renovation and when this is done, a new restaurant will open.
A dinner with the hotel owner turned out to be a very interesting evening as he shared how he got into the hotel business in the late 90s because he was looking for a place to stay so he thought that if you can't find a place, then you can build your own. Chusuey also revealed that he is setting his sights on Bohol as the site of a future hotel for the Regency Group.
He also regaled us with his personal insights on a lot of matters, from local tourism, management styles, education, to politics to relationship, and his opinion that Singapore is the best country in the world. Too bad though that a lot of the views expressed were off-the-record.
Chusuey is also the chairman of the Boracay Foundation whose aim is to promote and protect the island. He says he is in favor of building an airport on the island, only if it does not affect the environment, .
The idea behind the new menu is to change 40 percent of the existing one. The hotel was formerly owned by a Korean group until the Regency Group took over its management.
“In Boracay, we do not have a specific local viand but the main fare will always revolve around ihaw-ihaw or grilled seafood with fish, lobsters, shrimps, and that is why for our set meals, we always make it a duo, with one a seafood. For the ala carte menu, it will be basically regional dishes combined with other Asian dishes like Japanese, Indian, Chinese, and definitely Korean, then international like Mediterranean items and European,’’ says master chef Mario Gatmaitan.
Among the dishes that we tried were tulingan cooked in banana leaves; chicken binakol, which is like sinigang but with buco strips and ginger; inubaran which is simmered chicken with ubod and coconut milk; inasal na liempo; adobong hipon sa aligue and Sprite; lauya, which is another version of nilaga but with camote and banana; fried itik cooked Szechuan style; sisig with mayo and calamansi; home-cooked bangus sardines; kaldereta but only using goat meat, and crispy pata with different dips.
We also had a taste of the hotel’s filet mignon with prawn, seared scallops with tomatoes, roasted snapper with tomato and mozarella, chicken breast cooked like pata tim, ensaladang ampalaya, sinaing na talakitok with pork liempo-inasal, and calabasa leche flan.
The weekend was not just about eating. We were divided into two groups and we had to compete in a swim relay, patintero and a make-you-own sandwch contest. The members of the winning team received spa gift certificates.
We also competed in a make-your-own pizza contest, which allowed us make artistic and delicious representations of how we think pizza should look and taste like.