Experiencing hot chocolate
weather in Iloilo?
Then drop by Camiña Balay nga Bato. The 150-year-old ancestral house turned restaurant is a showcase of Ilonggo culture, heritage and gastronomy. It was declared as Important Cultural Property by the National Museum of the Philippines and has been awarded by the city of Iloilo for best adaptive reuse.
The house was designed by the first parish priest of Molo, Anselmo Avancena, for Don Fernando Avanceño, who died a holy man healing the sick. It is now under the care of the 6th generation Camiñas family.
I really wanted to try their
buffet offering but it requires a minimum of 10 pax. I ended up just doing a
guided tour of the house, which was amazingly preserved from the sala, dining
room, prayer room, to Victorian-era board and batten walls, narra and ivory
flooring, large wood posts, staircase and capiz windows. There’s more to see -
antique furniture from the Philippines and abroad, old family photographs and
mementos, collections of pottery, grand piano, vintage TV, artworks, religious altars and
relics recovered from other ancestral houses in Iloilo. There is also a souvenir
shop selling tablea and batidor, Ilonggo delicacies, and textile fabrics.
The tour was capped off with a
cup of thick hot chocolate called “Tsokolate Eh” and biscocho. The tour guide
was very particular that when drinking the hot chocolate, I should hold the cup
with my pinky finger raised the way the elite and cultured people did. I like
pretending.
Camiña Balay nga Bato
#20 Osmeña St.,
Arevalo, Iloilo City
Tel. No.: (033) 336-3858
