Anywhere you go, you can turn your head a mere fraction and all sorts of restaurants
are dotted along the streets - evidence of the Filipino's favorite past time.
A good number of native Filipinos, particularly during fiestas and casual festivities,
eat with their hands - said to be the most enjoyable way to eat.

Pulutan is the Filipino version of appetizers/tapas/amouse bouche/pica-pica or whatever else you might want to call it, and can be eaten during a drunken reverie or boys' night out.

Turo-Turo (literally means "pointing pointing") restaurants have an array of fresh seafood or meat of which you "point" to what you want and the chef will cook it for you. Kamayan Restaurants are where, traditionally, you eat with your hands. And a salu-salo is a Filipino get-to-gether, definitely with an abundance of food and festive spirit all around.

Main Course Dishes

adobo - chicken and pork marinated in garlic, soy sauce vinegar, then fried: a favorite

arroz a la valenciana - sticky rice dish colored red-orange because of the atsuwete, with meat, veggies, chilis, tomatoes, coconut and sausages.

bagoong - paste made from small fermented shrimp in brine, and used as seasoning in lots of dishes; Do as the Filipinos do and stand anywhere along the sidewalk eating green mangoes and a little bagoong.

batchoy - rich noodle soup with pork or beef parts, noodles ang veggies.

bulalo - beef shanks and bone marrow in a tasty soup with potatoes, corn and vegetables.

champorado - boiled sticky rice with chocolate and milk as an option (eaten for breakfast or snack).

eskabetseng isda - fried fish in a sauce of garlic, onions, vinegar, sugar, and ginger.

inasal na manok - barbecued chicken marinated in soy sauce, vinegar and garlic.

kare-kare - rich casserole made from boiled ox tail and pork of beef parts, veggies and ground peanuts or peanut butter, serve with bagoong as sauce.

kinilaw - tanguingue (mackerel), tuna, oyster, shrimp or por marinated in vinegar, coconut milk, onions and tomatoes.

lechon - young suckling pig roasted on a spit over charcoal, served with a delicious spicy-sweet liver sauce.

lugaw - though it is thought to be reserved only for the sick, this homely dish of hot, sticky rice soup with boiled cuts of meat is a great way to pass a cold day or anytime you feel a need to warm up.

paella - a meal in itself with java rice and a variety of shellfish, sausages and different types of meat, in tomatoes, onions, chilis. saffron, garlic and other seasonings.

palabok - noodle dish with a thick sauce of meat and vegetables, with shrimps, meat shavings, and sitsaron or deep fried pork skin, chicken eggs and calamansi or native lemon.

paksiw na isda - a very healty diet of fish cooked in water, vinegar, ginger and chili.

pinakbet - veggie casserole made from petchay (chinese cabage), squash, sitaw (string beans), ampalaya (bitter gourd), and bagoong (shrimp paste).

sinigang - a tamarind soup of giant shrimps, fish or pork with fresh veggies in a stew of tomatoes, kamias, radishes and onions.

sinugba - grilled seafood

sisig - pork entrails cooked in a sizzling plate with soy sauce, and other spicies, with chicharon on top and calamansi (local lemon) to taste.

tinapang bangus - the bangus (milkfish) smoked over a bed of sugarcane.

The Philippines answer to your sweet tooth

buko pie - a delicious cream custard pie with coconut strips; a national favorite.

coconut jam - coconut milk cooked in brown sugar.

ginataang bilu-bilu - slices of bananas, kamote (sweet potatoes), jackfruit, ube (purple jam), galapong (rice paste balls), and cooked in coconut milk.

halo- halo - literally means mix-mix, this is considered by most people the Philippine national desert; in a tall glass, combine cooked red and white beans, slice bananas, sweet corn, nata de coco (coconut juice made into gelatinous cubes) sago (gelatinous balls) pinipig (pounded crispy rice) and jackfruit; on top put shaved ice, sugar, evaporated milk, a chunk of sweet purple jam, a slice of leche flan (sweet custard cream) and ice cream.

kakanin - a host sweet sticky rice cakes, differing in color, texture, toppings (latik or coconut meat combined with mollases and spread over the top or rice cakes, the dried flakes of which sprinkled on top), way of cooking, and a hobnob of other ingredients mixed in. Some examples are listed below;

bibingka - sticky rice with sugar and coconut milk.

bitsu-bitsu -bite size pieces of deep-fried micture of flour, eggs, butter, milk, sugar and salt, which are then rooled in sugar after frying.

budbod - shredded coconut meat cooked on the wok with sugar until it turns golden brown.

butsi - flattened balls of sweet sticky rice fried with sweet bean paste inside and sesame seeds outside.

espasol - little rolls of toasted pinipig with coconut milk, sugar and salt.

kalamay - sweetened pinipig paste cooked in sugar and coconut milk with different flavors like anise, cornm etc. and packed in coconut shells and sealed with red tape.

kutsinta - powderized uncooked rice with water, brown sugar, lye are steamed, and shredded coconut is put on top.

palitaw - tongue- shaped galapong cooked in bolining water, then spread with shredded coconut and roasted seeds on top.

pichi-pichi - powderized cassava, sugar and coconut milk steamed or cooked slowly on the saute pan or wok with shredded coconut meat on top.

puto - sticky rice cake; starts out as poderized uncooked rice with water, sugar and baking powder which is steamed.

sapin-sapin - kalamay with coconut milk and different parts mixed with different colors; originally white, violet and brown but some ass other colors like red and yellow to make it colorful.

suman - steamed sticky rice usually eaten with swet coco jam or plain sugar.

makapuno - sweet gelatinous mutant coconut made into soft candies.

pan de sal - poor man's bread, these are sold in all bakeries big or small; this usually has no egg mixture, and has small crumbs on its surface.

pastillas - sweet creamy soft candies.

panutsa - a flat concoction of hardered molasses.

peanut brittle - peanuts in a flat round-shaped panutsa.

sorbetes - the Philippine version of ice cream; sorbetero or ice cream man pushes a metal cart in and around streets.

taho - bean curd snack with molasses and sago (gelatin shaped like small balls) eaten hot or cold..

For the Adventures

balut - half-hatched duck's eggs boiled in salt water; another version is also the penoy which is also boiled duck's egg but is for those who can't stand to see an inch of feather or skin of the hatchling.

chicharon bituka - crispy fried pig's intestines; and chicharong bulaklak ; a not so "Fear Factor" version is plain chicharon which is crispy fried pig's skin; all these are eaten with chili and vinegar dip or just by itself.

dinuguan - blood stew with chilis and tomatoes; a concoction of pig's blood, sweetmeats, and other inards boiled in a pot with green peppers, onions, and garlic.

Local Alcoholic Drinks