We had dinner at Café Leonora Restaurant here in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

Things that attracted us to the place:

• “Bagnet!” clearly written on the menu board
• a barbecue stand of liempo, fish, pork barbecue, vegetables and sili
• and an interior that fits well with their Halloween decorations (i.e. walls with pain falling apart – part of the ambience).

Casa Leonora has a very wide menu. Food ranges from local barbecue classics, Ilocano dishes, Japanese sushi, bento or noodles, Italian, Filipino sizzling delights and others.

Of course, we went for Ilocano dishes Bagnet and Pinakbet.

Check out:

Casa Leonora at Crisologo cor. Florentino streets at the Heritage Village, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Tel. No. 063 (077) 722-2212 .

ka edong
bagnet boy, on the way to sidni!

Next Tuesday: “The food was great, but the plate was terrible!”

We reached Vigan way beyond sunset, my brother, my mom and I. We drove around town to search for the office of our contact person. Meanwhile, my brother kept up his “Wow!’s” and “oooohs” and “aaaaahs” with the beauty he saw in the dimly lit streets of Vigan.

It was charming, I agree. The yellow-light lamp posts that illuminate the streets helped bring out the beauty of the old walls, windows and antique doors of the old buildings of Vigan.

The two rotundas at the city center were well-lit too as lovers and friends promenade around the park. Half of the Vigan empanada stalls along the street were closed, but I managed to buy some of the last pieces.

The heritage village is a street paved with cobbled stones, lit with incandescent bulbs within Spanish-style street lamps. The heritage village is especially pretty at night. Like a lady dressed down for the evening, relaxed, quiet and content.

There are a few antique shops still open when we passed through the heritage village, enough to quench the need to see some souvenirs. Some kids were still playing along the streets. There’s a piano at the second floor of one of the houses. Do people _really_ live there? Or is it a ghost who has learned his piano lessons well?

The ubiquitous scooters continued to zip and zap through the streets while the last of the calesa drivers offer a last-hurrah ride for the night before they head home. The churches’ façade lends an imposing backdrop, watching the city’s quiet bustle fading away into the night.

Next time you catch Vigan at night, take a walk around the parks within the two rotundas in the city center, have a beer or some pizza at Plaza Maestro (a cluster of commercial establishments in stylized “old-Vigan” architecture), take a bite of the famed Vigan empanada and ukoy, walk the length of the Heritage Village, have dinner at Café Leonora, take an evening calesa ride around town.

Vigan has a different charm, a different beauty in the evening. A different face from the daytime Vigan.

Like many people around us, don’t you think?

ka edong
kai-vigan

Next tuesday: Cafe Leonora at Vigan