Cansi (kansi) is a traditional food both in Iloilo and Negros which is bone-in beef shank stew soured with the local fruit batuan. Cooking cansi takes hours so the meat becomes very tender it falls off the bone. Cansi may be just plain meat but others add langka (jackfruit). It’s a little similar to the Tagalog’s bulalo, only a little sour.
If it’s your first time in Bacolod, before going to tourist destinations, try the food first because you’ve never been to Bacolod if you haven’t tried local delicacies such as cansi and the Bacolod chicken inasal. The best place to find the culinary havens are not at the malls or at the posh business centers. You can find the best local cuisines at the public market or at the places where common folks would frequent.
If you want to have the best-tasting cansi in Bacolod, you go to Sharyn’s. Sharyn’s is located at Narra Avenue, Bacolod City at the Chinatown of Bacolod City, the Capitol Shopping Center or most commonly referred to as Shopping. Don’t expect some fancy ambiance. It’s a simple restaurant with monoblock chairs and tables arranged close to each other. Just be a little courteous if you happen to bumped with the customer on the table next to you. Who knows, you might be rubbing elbows with Bacolod’s who’s who, literally.
A typical serving at Sharyn’s is a bowl of cansi with bone-in beef shank with that sinfully delicious bone marrow. Totally “cardiac delight”! They also serve you with additional soup in a mug. If you’re a little conscious of the cholesterol in the bone marrow, you can order meat only or “lawas”.
Shary’s cook their cansi for hours so the meat is really tender and the sourness of the batuan is just right. For us women, a bowl of Shary’s cansi is already good for two and you can just ask for additional soup.
I remember Cansi in Saning” subra gid ka namit .,
Im so crazy about cansi
ano ang number sang sharyn’s?
It’s 21 Restaurant now and it no longer bears semblance to its hole-in-the-wall days as it is already one of Bacolod’s best restaurants.
These establishments are already “institutions” as far as I’m concerned. They are there ever since… I remember we (me and my classmates) used to have afternoon “pamahaw” of bread buns and steaming cansi after playing billiards at nearby Noel’s Billiard Hall, obviously I’m talking straight from the 80’s… when sometimes classes would be suspended in support for the Lady in Yellow… 🙂
Yes, most eateries serving good food are the proverbial hole-in-the-wall types. Did you know that 21’st Food Corner.. (or what’s it called right now?) started as a hole-in-the-wall kiosk serving batchoy? I know because I’ve seen how that place grew from a dainty batchoy stall… into a full blown resto… with a bar to boot…
Bob’s still serves the best burgers… Can’t compare it to even the flame-broiled chunks they serve here in Manila… Roli’s …. mouth watering Napoleones… Aida’s Inasal… The talaba joint near the CENECO office..(Cabarles is the name??). El Ideal fresh lumpia… Calea pastires… etc..
Hay… Maybe I’ll jet down there for a weekend and eat my fill of all these… 🙂
Thanks for visiting Eric. Yes, you should go there if you’re here. Be careful with the cholesterol though.
i miss the cansi house in shopping….. i should go back there this april.
Namit man da nilaga sa Corner Eatery. Amo na sya ang sa may bangga pakadto UNO? Tapos ang pata sa Martir sa may San Juan. Ang mga namit na pagkaon sa Bacolod ara sa mga hole in the wall gd ya.
if you want the prime pork pieces be there by 10:30 to 11:00. A lot of folks troop to the corner eatery to take out lunch and the KBL stockpot is the first to be emptied.
Thanks Lee for that info. May try it soon. It’s mouth watering reading your comment. 😀
The kansi places at Shopping are overrated and extremely overpriced. I know of a place that serves kansi at P80 which is comparable in size and taste, or even better, than both Sharyn’s and Conee’s. The place is “Corner Eatery” at Libertad Extension and aside from cheaper kansi they sell the best pork trotter KBL in the city at P40. Tender pig’s feet in a slightly sour but comforting broth mixed with young jackfruit and beans is best paired with either fried chicken necks or lumpia.
I love the Cansi from Sharyn’s. I just tasted it last month when I was there. Although the serving and the price seemed a bit expensive as compared years ago. It was still a comfort food every time I go home there. There are many good places to eat in Shopping like Ting-Tings, City Lunch and Rafaello’s.
I love the cansi places sa Shopping. Sharyn’s and Conee’s… our Sunday lunch staples.