The Beautiful - La Preciosa

La Preciosa Fine Dine and Catering Services

Laoagueño’s or Ilocanos, tourists and tourist guides alike, or Balikbayan’s had been the constant patron for this fine-dining restaurant that serves not only foreign cuisines but also has its Ilocano flair that everyone loves, La Preciosa, or roughly translated as The Beautiful.

 What started as a small kitchenette on the late 70’s, La Preciosa has now become a successful restaurant and catering service situated at the main and  probably the busiest street in Laoag City, Rizal Street. This family business has expanded gradually with over 30 years of history. But in those years, one thing remained, good food and good service that they hope to retain for many more years.

My bestfriend Rechel eyeing the camera

Chinkee and Bruce waiting for their Bagbet

                 And so, one day, after a rigorous practice session for a speech choir competition, my friends, Bruce and Rechel, together with our other friend Chinkee and I, decided to dine out to La Preciosa to reward ourselves with a good food for our hard work in training hard-headed students, and also to be able to document more Ilocano foods for our food blog in New Media, hitting two birds in one stone.

 Upon entering the place, you can definitely feel the homey and cozy vibe of the restaurant adding the warm welcome of the staff, you become more excited for the dining experience. It has two floors, the first one mostly a café style and on the second is for the fine dining, it also has a veranda part where couples could have their private moment. When we got into the restaurant, we already planned out that we would only order Ilocano foods, no more, no less, but knowing our fickle mindedness, we got into an argument that we should also order some of Bruce’s favorite, lemon fish, and after 30 minutes of picking out food in the Ilocano menu, we all decided on four appetizing Ilocano Cuisine, Insarabasab (grilled pork and liver in papaitan sauce), Poqui-poqui (unique kind of tortang talong with lots of slice of tomato and onions), Bagbet (deep fried pork belly with pinakbet sauce) and Duyduy (squash and bitter gourd dish).

La Preciosa's homelike interior

               It was about 20 minutes wait before our order came, and as soon as they landed on our table, Bruce, Rechel and I simultaneously whipped out our camera’s and took pictures of our food, it was indeed a bit crazy. After few more shots, we dig in into our food. First I tried the poqui-poqui, it was a personal favorite of mine, but it requires a lot of cooking techniques to make one. It looked delicious, but for me, it’s not flavorsome enough, it lacks flavor than what I’m used to. Next was the insarabasab, just like the poqui-poqui it lacks on the flavor cause I prefer it to be more juicy, and it seems a little dry, with a few onions, it did a little to my taste, it doesn’t even help that most of it are liver, so hate eating lover. Next on my taste test was the Duyduy, growing up in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur, my grandma would always cook us some fine Ilocano dishes, and one of them is Duyduy or Dinuyduy, but unlike the restaurant where they use bitter gourd, my Lola would use of the vegetable’s leaf than the bitter gourd itself. Not that I’m comparing, but maybe, the style of cooking where just really different on what I’m used to growing up. And last dish left unattended on the table was the Bagbet. Not be mistaken with BAGNET, it is BAGBET, with a B. It was a new twist to our ever favorite bagnet which we usually dip in fish sauce with tomatoes and onions, Bagbet comes with Pinakbet sauce, and amazingly they complement each other, its all-in-one package, and the meat was tender, and the amount of sauce poured into the Bagnet was generous.

POQUI-POQUI

INSARABASAB

BAGBET

DINUYDUY

                     Our dining experience ended with a chocolate cake shared by us four, a P850 bill, some chit-chatting, picture takings, and an unforgettable dinner at La Preciosa that will surely be followed in the coming weeks. And I’m absolutely looking forward to it.

   

  

After 30 minutes

   

    Chocolate Cake