Last Thursday, I started a series on my Bacolod food trip and posted about my chicken inasal crawl (read it here). On this post, I’m writing about the soup dishes that Bacolod boasts of. I tried 3 soup dishes and they are:

Cansi at Sharyn’s Cansi House

Cansi is an Ilonggo/Negrense bone-in beef shank soup. You can think of it as a cross between Bulalo and Sinigang minus all the veggies and soured by batwan, a fruit native to Southeast Asia, instead of sampalok (tamarind). In Bacolod, there are two eateries that are known for their cansi: Eron’s and Sharyn’s. Both are just a few shops away from one another and are located along Narra Ave., at an area famously called “shopping”.

I preferred to go to Sharyn’s for 2 reasons. First, they are known for their Fried Cansi, which I learned is good. And second, they’re listed 32nd in the Top 50 World Street Food Masters by the World Street Food Congress 2017. So they’re serving a world-class dish!

So I ordered Sharyn’s 2 bestsellers. The Cansi is actually good for 2-3 persons. But I managed to finish the whole bowl by myself, probably to the surprise of the waitress who attended me. LOL. So how was the dish? I started tasting the steaming broth and it’s not as sour and fruity as I expected (if you’ve tasted PatPat’s Kansi in Iloilo/Makati, you’ll understand what my preference is, though I’m not saying it’s legit cansi taste). I find it a little salty. While I’m bit underwhelmed by the broth, I’m amazed about the meat and the tendon. It’s incredibly tender!

But to be honest, I liked Sharyn’s fried version more than the soup one. It’s like a cross between corned beef and jerky. The raw white onions add to the flavor of the dish. And here’s a warning: It’s addictive!

Fried Cansi (P450) and Cansi (P400?) — Fried *Cansi* (P450) and *Cansi* (P400?)

I’m glad to have brought home my leftover fried cansi back in Manila. I ate it with sinangag (garlic fried rice) and sunny side up egg and man, it was glorious!

Address: C-58 Capitol Shopping Center, Narra Ave., Brgy. Villamonte, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental | Operating Hours: Monday, 7:30AM-8PM; Tuesday-Friday, 7AM-8PM; Saturday & Sunday, 7AM-7:30PM | Facebook

K.B.L. at Sandok Comfort Food

K.B.L. is actually an Ilonggo soup dish made of kadyos (pigeon peas), baboy (pork), at langka (and jackfruit). In Bacolod, the restaurant Sandok is known for this dish so I went there.

So how was my K.B.L. experience? It was served to me boiling hot in a special kind of bowl. I first tasted the broth and it was sour due to batwan (apparently, this fruit is a souring agent for many Ilonggo/Negrense dishes). It also has an earthy flavor because of the peas. The meat wasn’t too tender except for the ones attached to the fat; those ones are melt-in-the-mouth soft.

For me, the dish isn’t spectacular but definitely worth the try. (Maybe I should try to find where this dish was born and taste the original.)

Sandok has several branches in Bacolod. Check them out here.

Linaga at Saning’s Eatery

For the last soup dish in this entry, I tried the linaga (nilaga or beef stew). The difference of linaga from cansi is that the latter has a sour broth and uses the leg part of the cow. The former has beef stock flavored with different ingredients and uses other cow parts such as paras (ribs), unod (cubes), and kasudlan (innards). To my knowledge, Saning’s, a humble eatery along Burgos Avenue and just across SM City Bacolod, makes the best linaga.

I ordered Saning’s unod and a mix kasudlan (a combination of 2 kinds of innards). I was underwhelmed by the kasudlan. I find it gamey and lags far behind gotong Batangas (read my entry on it here). But the unod was amazing! The broth is simple yet full of flavors, and the beef cubes are super tender. Pair it with rice and it’s the perfect linaga experience (I got an extra rice!). For me, Saning’s unod (and maybe even the paras) is the best Bacolod soup dish I have ever tried, even beating cansi.

Saning’s Eatery has several branches. Check them out here.

Are there other soup dishes or establishments that I missed to try in Bacolod? Comment them below.

Other entries in the Bacolod (Food) Trip series: My First Solo Adventure Outside Luzon | The Search for the Best Chicken Inasal

Bacolod Food Trip: Trying Out Cansi and Other Soup Dishes

Cansi at Sharyn’s Cansi House

K.B.L. at Sandok Comfort Food

Linaga at Saning’s Eatery