Less flesh, more pots: Angeles City, Philippines, wants to be known for its food
For decades, Angeles City has hosted one of Asia's most thriving red-light districts. But since 2010 local officials have been trying to promote the city 80km north of Manila as a dining destination.
At the Angeles Beach Café two hours north of Manila, guests surface during dips in a palm-fringed swimming pool to order beef steak or salmon, chased by chocolate mousse.
Those who prefer something more native than this 24-hour, 90-seat European-themed restaurant might end up at Ikabud SM Clark for sizzling sisig: chopped pig's head, liver, onions, peppers and vinegar. Sisig has been endorsed by celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain as "a come to mama moment".
For decades, Angeles City has hosted one of Asia's most thriving red-light districts. But because it has so many restaurants and prostitution occasionally spills over into crime, local officials have tried since 2010 to market the city as a cuisine magnet.
"We highlight local cuisine as a vital element of a visit to the city," Angeles City tourism officer Richard Daenos says. Some day cuisine could replace adult entertainment as the chief reason to visit, he says, although he calls the two "complementary" today. Bar tourism spins visitors off to nearby restaurants.
"Anything is possible," he says. "It is our vision that one day [cuisine] becomes our best leverage in promoting Angeles City."
The Tourism Office publishes a food-related magazine twice a year. It places food-related ads on radio, television and social media. Last year the city held nine public events to promote cuisine to inbound travellers, who numbered 845,024 last year. The city has no natural attractions such as a real beach.
Angeles, a relatively prosperous agricultural hub city of 200,000 people, draws visitors mainly because of its scores of hostess bars in the Balibago district, which took off decades ago as American military personnel from the adjacent Clark Air Base would visit for entertainment.