Trying the Best Empanada Ever!

ILOCOS EMPANADA _{"The best empanada I have tasted."}

I do not really think I can do a good post about food because I dont know about preparing and cooking food except those that are really basic. What is even worse is that I do not like bussing the table and washing the dishes afterwards.

But I feel the need to post about this one because this ILOCOS EMPANADA was really special. It tasted really good. It is worthy of a feature. It must be known to everybody.

After our short exploration of the Marcos Mansion, we headed to a small market to eat snacks and try their empanada. I was not very excited at first because I have tried a lot of empananda's already and yes they tasted good except those that are sold inside the school which are mostly made of flour and little fillings of meat and vegetable.

The driver parked the van somewhere near the food market. We saw this very well sculpted wall of a stage and it also features the Empanada itself. That means these people living here are really proud of their product because they have a festival for it. That is how the general Filipinos show our love and faith to something - we make it a festival. It is a beautiful culture though.

GLORY'S EMPANADA

The first and last empanada stall we went to was this Glory's Empanada. We intentionally chose that because it was the biggest, busiest, and the crowdiest (if that is a word). That is a common rule I follow when I go to strange places and I want to eat good and safe food - people should be swarming the food stall or restaurant.

We found a table for us, so we sat down and waited for our order. While waiting, I noticed this old woman who was packing some orange paste in a small plastic. I was very talkative that time, that I greeted and asked her, "Hello, Nay. Ang busy nyo naman po. Ano po ba yang pina-pack ninyo?"

I was asking her what she was doing. She told me that she was packing the so called "Asuete" which serves as the coloring of their empanada, different from the regular empanada sold here.
Because of that one question, we already had a very good conversation about the Empanada. These are the things that she shared to us.

She was Glory. The sole owner of this empanada stall.
She was one of the original seller of empanada in Ilocos.
She was able to make her all children good education because of her Empanada business.
She claims that she has the best tasting Empanada in Batac, Ilocos.
She was interviewed and featured many times already because of her business.

After our conversation, Grace and I asked to have a photo of her. We wanted to have a memorabilia of the owner of the best-tasting Empanada of Ilocos.

I had a fun time talking to Nanay and also the talk was also a perfect way to kill the time of waiting for our order. We ordered the special empanada which was made to order.

The Making of Ilocos Empanada

_{Her role was to make the empanada wrapper by flattening it.}

_{She uses a clean piece to separate her freshly made wraps}

_{Then another worker was assigned to wrap all the fillings of the empanada. I wished I had known all the fillings but I didn't.}

_{After carefully wrapping, another woman was assigned to fry it, and the display it in the rack or tray.}

_{This 3rd woman was also assigned of entertaining the customers if they want to order.}

_{This is how the common empanada looks like.}

Tasting Time

The wrap was very crispy and it doesn't feel very strange even it was the first time that I taste it. It tastes like a home-made product. It tasted very Filipino. Nanay Glory told us that it tastes better if you add catsup on it so we also tried that.

We enjoyed our little snack here. We wanted to buy more of this and maybe bring this as a pasalubong, but its shelf-life is not long. I remember Nanay Glory told me that if they want to taste their Empanada, they should intentionally visit them.

Anyways, it was a 10/10.
✅ Taste
✅ Experience
✅ Story