My wife and I were walking around the Salcedo market yesterday and she was in search of freshly 
made piaya that she had tasted there many months ago (she doesn’t typically get up that early on a Saturday to make it to the markets). Thankfully, the piaya man was there and she got a container with 20 small piayas for PHP100. I think they are the only vendor of freshly made piaya in that market. I’m not really sure what the attraction is but I suspect they are a childhood thing for Mrs. Marketman. While they are a delicacy from Negros, she first tasted them in Cebu and has been hooked ever since. Unleavened dough, somewhat akin to the host at a Catholic mass but thicker encases some dark muscovado sugar. In some renditions, there are copious amounts of sesame seeds. While I like piaya, I don’t seek it out as much as Mrs. Marketman does. And with my current attempts to diet, I really shouldn’t have more than one a day…
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They look like crumpets. Yep, I would definitely keep my distance. Besides they look like vehicles for butter, dulce de leche or matamis sa bao just waiting to happen.
Piyaya originated from either Silay or Bacolod, Negros Occidental. It is made by Mrs. Bailon who also makes fresh lumpia. It is made like bibingka — heat up and heat down (charcoal). Mascobado is the best. You can also now get mascobado cubes from Silay. It is my opinion that the best sweets come from Silay.
I remember getting very flat, freshly-cooked Piayas at Salcedo. They tasted good though. Yours look airy and seem to have more body.
when I was still in college (UST) around 2002-2003 fresh piaya stalls were emerging around manila areas, there was one beside UST before, and I buy piaya everyday hehe. . . all flavors ube, pandan, red munggo, even chocolate etc. (hehe. . . its like flattened hopia) but I think it did not click that much, but fresh piaya tastes better than the packaged one, still warm and it has a better flavor. . .
what i remember when my mom would bring home piyaya from her travels around the phils. whenever there would be police exams(she worked for NAPOLCOM) are these flat bread and they weren’t really special looking; they have these burn marks from charcoal i guessed but they tasted great! i quickly had to have more of them. they were sweet and crunchy and they do have sesame seeds in them. though what she would be bringing home would be thin ones and flaky. what you have in the picture is thicker but i bet they have more stuff inside making them more sweet and moist. piyaya is also a popular pasalubong from boracay, i wonder why?
I used to love those, too. Although… for the life of me I can’t remember where we got ’em.
I love piaya with and without sesame seeds and also pinasugbo, only the ones from Cebu and Negros, though. It won’t taste the same with different fillings other than muscovado paste.
Funny — I was on the phone with my mom last night discussing my bilins and item number two was piaya. Number one was bottled tuyo in oil. :D
I get two piayas and a regular coffee at Tommy’s and my Saturday mornings are set. They are flatter at Salcedo, do they puff up after a bit of waiting? Mine never last long enough to get that poofy.
When I was a kid, i remember eating a piaya that had a sort of caramelized coating outside that reminded me of argellanas. It came from someone who hails from Cebu. I have never seen it since. Anyone know the source of that?
I love piaya…haven’t had any in ages though! My mom would bring them home (to Cebu) whenever she went on a trip to Bacolod. I never even knew they were made in Cebu as well…go figure! I don’t think I’ve ever seen them available here in the US.
Sandra, I agreee with you. My mom is from Silay and Ive tasted the best piayas and bagoong (guinamos) there. My late grandma used to make them when we spend our summers in Silay as kids :)
Loved piaya as a kid, then got to taste some of the best when I married my Bacolodian/Ilonggo husband! I don’t know where his family gets it from, but that is always one of our bilins when someone comes to visit NY (the other bilins being a can of Panaderia de Molo and pinasugbu.)
Freshly-made piayas are the best. When I was still a kid, my mom had a good friend who had a piaya and barquillos factory. Sometimes when we would go visit her we would be served really bagong luto piayas and they were so moist and so good. When you buy piayas in the store sometimes you get malas and end up with old stock, when the muscovado filling has hardened. Hmmm, yet another item to add to my list of must-haves when I go home for a visit.
Like Mila and Mrs. MM, I need to buy the freshly-cooked piaya whenever I’m at the Salcedo Market. (And also like Mrs. MM, I’m rarely awake early enough to go.) It’s the only place I’ve seen piaya made fresh, and ever since the first time I tried it, I’ve been hooked. Wilson, you’re so lucky! Warm piaya every day, in different flavors to boot! Salcedo Market is also the only place I’ve seen a flavor other than muscovado, but they only have red bean — no ube, pandan or chocolate. I wish that UST vendor would open somewhere nearby.
My fave pasalubong from Mom whenever she would come back from Guimaras is piaya, pinasugbo, merengue, and foods for the gods. I could just eat a whole packet in one sitting. Sarap!
i also love piayas but i can’t find piayas which are freshly made…just the typical too dry but still yummy ones in the supermarkets or at the u.p. mall. i’ll be visiting the salcedo market this coming saturday and i hope that the man selling them’s there.
your photos are superb. galeng! :)
hi MM, i wanted to email you directly, but your contact feature cannot process it. anyhow, you should check out the Negros Fair at the Powerplant Mall. Yesterday was their opening day. There are lots of new foods to try like the Squid (+Ink) salsa and the crispy piaya. also ECJ farms has a stall inside selling bottled chilies and batwan purees. hope you check it out (and sana blog about it hehehehe)
BAILON’S PIAYA IS THE BEST! so paper thin parang crust and the muscovado is not chewy but brittle cuz of the thinness… very nice and wet inside when microwaved!!!
juls, I go to the Negros fair EVERY YEAR. Problem is, I have been out of town since Friday until a minute or so ago. I will try to hit the fair tomorrow before it closes Tuesday. I have to get me some batwan to try… thanks for the reminder…
HI MM
This post brings back memories of Bacolod and Silay. I just bought boxes upon boxes of Merci’s Bacolod Piaya. I was attracted to the beautiful design and was told they commissioned a local artist to draw it.
The piayas really hit a soft spot in my heart.
I came upon this site by accident. My family makes the piaya from Bacolod. We are the Bailons, and the recipe came from my grandfather who has passed away. We have brought the business to Manila as well.
If this is the piaya you remember, please send me an email and I will give you our phone numbers: Thin, crisp, airy, toasted brown with sesame seeds. Thin coating of muzcovado inside. As you bite into it it is crispy, and becomes more chewy as you go along.
Thanks.
Correction: the recipe is from my grandmother, who married into the Bailons. Sorry.
good thing its available na in Manila! i like the ones w/ muscovado than those w/ flavors… :)
i wanted to know how much is th piaya bread now. thanks
joy, sorry, I don’t recall exactly how mch these cost, PHP20 each perhaps?
Please call 843-6673 or 843-3721 to inquire about the piayas. I am currently out of the country and am no longer up-to-date with the business’ prices (the last time I was home it was PhP6.00 or PhP6.25 per piece, I think. But if you have any questions please post it here and I will make a point to check this site once in a while. You should also ask about our other specialties… empanada and fresh lumpia, Ilonggo style (the garlic sauce is inside the lumpia, and not poured on top of it). Thanks.
Here’s a recipe I found online.
https://blueapron.i.ph/blogs/blueapron/2006/09/12/finally-piaya/