One of the very few local celebrities that I follow on Instagram is
Neri Naig-Miranda, wife of Parokya ni Edgar frontman Chito Miranda. Her IG feed features snippets of her life as a homemaker and mom-to-be, random stories about love and marriage, plus her cooking adventures.
 |
| Photo credit: Neri Miranda. |
Through her Instagram, I also discovered the sophisticated version of dried herring, or
'tuyo' as we call it here in the Philippines. Cooked and bottled in olive oil and infused with onions, garlic, chilies, and spices, your plain ol' dried herring get's a 'face lift' and becomes '
gourmet tuyo'.
I love
tuyo, and have been wanting to give this
'avant garde' version a try for the longest time. I was finally able to satisfy my curiosity and satiate my craving over the weekend - yay!
 |
| Old packaging of Neri's Gourmet Tuyo. |
Apparently,
Neri's Gourmet Tuyo now has an official reseller in my area. Stocks are usually available during the weekends and can be purchased at
Kpop Bang, a Korean restaurant located within the city proper.
 |
| What's inside. :) |
Neri's Gourmet Tuyo comes in 120 mL bottles, and is available in two variants -
Original, which retails at
Php 170 per bottle, and
Spicy, which sells for
Php 175 per bottle. I bought the Original variant, thinking that the latter might be a tad too spicy for my liking.
 |
| Made with olive oil. |
In one of her Instagram posts, Neri mentioned that she uses only
olive oil for her gourmet tuyo, which is good since this oil is considered as the healthiest among all cooking oils. In addition, olive oil lends a distinctively fresh, earthy taste to virtually any dish. This gourmet tuyo is also infused with garlic, onions, and spices, plus diced carrots for the crunch factor.
 |
| Dried herring + aromatics + spices + olive oil. |
I love that
Neri's Gourmet Tuyo is neither too salty nor cloying, and is seasoned just right. How I wish I had bought more than one bottle, because that particular bottle was emptied in no time. Haha! Definitely buying two (or more bottles) next time!
 |
| This was gone in a jiffy, lol. |
In the future, I hope Neri's Gourmet Tuyo will also be available in luggage-friendly packaging. As in pouches, so I can stuff them easily in my luggage and bring some whenever I visit my husband abroad. I'm sure a lot of OFWs missing the taste of home will appreciate this as pasalubong, too!
c/o Kpop Bang,
Paseo de Escudero St, San Pablo City
