Ube in The Philippines There are many multicolored food stuff’s in The Philippines. In fact, the nation seems to have no regard for the dangers of artificial colorings and additives whatsoever. However, there is one natural color that keeps popping up everywhere. Including in food. And, that’s the color purple. Most of this comes from Ube. What [...]
The day workers night time street food Local street food stalls are certainly good to try out when traveling. There are usually two types: 1) The one locals regularly go to 2) The one setup for the tourist trade. This one often brings in locals looking for a night out too. But, there is a hidden third [...]
Banana Honey I like honey. It tastes good, and is packed with goodness. But as I travel it’s rare that I would actually buy a jar of honey. It’s not so easy to carry around, and it’s not the sort of thing you can eat a lot of, quickly. The only time I’ve bought it [...]
Mangosteen From the outside the Mangosteen fruit looks like a slightly mutated purple tomato. But, like many good fruits inside lies a very special treat. Cut open the thick purple husk to reveal a cluster of the mangosteens milky white fleshy pods. Sweet with a slightly bitter tangy taste the flesh surrounds inedible seeds. The inner purple husk is [...]
Rambutan Fruit Rambutan is one of the most popular fruits in South East Asia, including The Philippines. It’s not hard to see why either. Outside the Rambutan fruit looks like a golf ball sized red & green porcupine. The spiky bits are not at all hard nor prickly. They are soft and allow you to easily reach [...]
Lanzones Fruit from The Philippines The Lanzones fruit from The Philippines is seasonal, and usually only found in the southern islands. It grows and is sold in bunches that resemble grapes, but the Lanzones fruit is about twice the size. The yellowish skin is easy to peel, revealing a near translucent, segmented flesh underneath. The Lanzones [...]
Chicharrón from the Philippines It’s a universal snack food that drives some people crazy. It will probably be outlawed in some country soon for being too tempting and unhealthy. But then some of the best foods are just that. Chicharrón is deep fried pig skin. There’s very little else involved here. It comes in various [...]
Pomelo fruit from The Philippines From the outside the Pomelo fruit looks like a Melon of some kind. The skin is surprisingly soft, and relatively easy to peel. Inside The Philippines version of the Pomelo looks like a giant pink grapefruit. Only it’s not bitter at all. The taste is certainly a part of the citrus family, but [...]
Quail Eggs from The Philippines From Balut to duck & chicken The Philippines, it seems, is quite partial to eggs. Walk down any food stall, shopping center, or night market and you will see various types of egg being cooked. Quail eggs are usually gently steamed in large containers. The speckled shells are much thinner than chicken eggs so [...]
The food is well lit up, and there are usually plenty of people tending to it. The surrounding area may also have music playing or a TV blaring away. This is a local bbq stand at night in The Philippines. And, it’s really good. Some locals would often tell me not to eat here. These [...]
By quite a long shot – Manok is my favorite food from the Philippines. I can smell the bbq chicken stalls from streets away. You can’t miss the stalls as they are usually jammed with rotating skewers of whole chickens. All coated in light seasoning, and stuffed with garlic and lemon grass. It’s truly mouth watering to the carnivore. [...]
It might seem a little strange to include a fruit salad and call it great food. But, in every country there is a selection of fruit, and each fruit salad is a little different. The Philippines has a fairly wide variety of fruits available, yet the fruit salad has a fairly set selection. Watermelon, mango, [...]
There are many different kinds of Mangoes available in the Philippines and all over the world. On the streets they are usually found chopped into little slices and sold in clear plastic bags. They may not be what you expect though. Filipino’s really like a contrast of bitter, salty and sweet flavors. The slices for sale on the [...]
The Santol fruit is about the size of a grapefruit, but looks like a round pear. Once inside there are 4 -6 stones (hard seeds) that are covered by a soft white flesh. The fruit needs to be peeled. The harder flesh outside of the inner flesh is quite bitter. And, Filipinos like to eat it with [...]
Sizzling Pork Steak from the Philippines One of the things many travelers will notice about meat in the Philippines is that it usually come’s chopped up. One of the reasons for that is Filipino’s generally prefer small portions, little pieces and tender meat. Hence in local eateries it’s not so easy to get a knife. [...]
Sizzling Prawns from the Philippines Famous for it’s seafood there’s no escaping the delights of fresh prawns in the Philippines. They come in different sizes. Large, largest and mini lobster sized. In fact the largest Prawns I’ve ever seen have been from the Philippines. And, they are good. Though sometimes made into adobo, they are [...]
I will be the first person to admit, I am not a huge fan of rice. It does little for me. The Philippines staple food is rice, and it’s everywhere. Not only that but it’s hard to get anything else but rice, aside from fast food eateries. The thing I found about rice in the [...]
More famous due it’s stong odour than its taste the Durian fruit is a controversial fruit in the Philippines. It’s banned on public transport due to the powerful sinus sapping odor that perminates even its thick sharp spiky war like outer skin. Some Filipinos are said to be addicted to its taste, others repulsed as the [...]
Beef Adobo from the Philippines Adobo of any kind in the Philippines is usually very good, beef being my favorite. Adobo is basically the sauce that comes with the little strips of meat, which can be beef, pork, squid … the list goes on. Adobo sauce itself is a mix of garlic, soy sauce, vinegar [...]
Marang Fruit from the Philippines Of all the fruit in the Philippines, this is my favorite. Its a relation of the Jack fruit and comes in a large green spiny skin slightly smaller than the size of a football. Inside there are dozens whitish yellow flesh covered seeds. You can eat the flesh (but not [...]
Banana Cue in the Philippines There are many different types of banana in the Philippines. Some are used for eating raw, others to be cooked. Banana Cue is covered in sugar and cooked over a BBQ or deep fried. It tastes sweet and like a banana should. But for me it’s quite dry and hard [...]
Following along with local places to eat: the photograph above is from a university canteen in The Philippines. Any good budget traveller will tell you this is where you go to get good, super cheap food. Usually run by a staff of freindly mothers, the food often has a very homely feel to it. Very [...]
I’ve eaten chocolate cake from Germany, the UK, the USA and various other places around the world that say they make the best. I’ve picked coco pods in Africa and roasted the beans over a hot stove before grounding them into a natural powder. In other words: I like chocolate. I’m not a huge fan [...]
Tempura and Egg from the Philippines All around the Philippines you will find little carts with large aluminum containers.The long thin strips in the photograph are Tempura. This is basically a mix of white fish in mild spice and flour deep fried. The Filipino version of fish finger. It doesn’t taste very fishy, and is [...]
Beef Tapa from the Philippines Tapa to me is a Spanish small serving. In the Philippines to a tourist a beef tapa is something similar. To a local it’s a full serving. It’s similar to the Filippino version of beef steak I covered earlier in the this series. But, it’s seasoning is not as strong, [...]
Balut from The Philippines Balut is perhaps the most infamous food of the Philippines (never said it was all going to be great food). A somewhat cooked premature duck egg. There are various types of Balut available along any busy night time street in the Philippines. Large Duck eggs are the norm, though Chicken eggs [...]
The Philippines Jollibee burger It’s the king of fast food in the Philippines. It’s a social gathering point. And don’t let anyone hear you say anything bad about the place. Make no doubt about it, Jollibee is apart of filippino cultural pride. Nearly every town has one. And every city has dozens of them on [...]
Sisig, from the Philippines Sisig was one of the first Filipino dishes I was … erm … subjected too. Mainly because some local’s thought that describing it as Pig’s face would put me off. Unfortunately for them I’ve eaten cow face before so it wasn’t a big thing. Unfortunately for me, Sisig wasn’t quite as [...]
Calamansi from the Philippines This is not really a mainstay food. But, it’s found on nearly every plate! From the outside Calamansi looks like a little lime, but once opened it looks like an orange. In the Philippines it’s about a third the size of a golf ball and used extensively through out the country [...]
Squid from the Philippines Squid is in plentiful supply all around the Philippine Islands. Mainly it comes in it’s adobo form which consists of small squid chopped up in light adobo sauce mixed with the ink. It’s tastier than it looks. But by far my favorite way of having squid in the Philippines is on [...]
Tocino from the Philippines Tocino is usually made from pork, though it can also be made from other meats. Its a bright reddish color from being marinated in Anise wine, annatto, water, salt, sugar. Though I’ve seen vinegar being used on many an occasion. The taste is quite sweet, and a little sticky. One of [...]
Lumpiang Shanghai from the Philippines Another Chinese / Asian influenced dish with a Filipino twist. Lumpiang Shanghai is a variation of a spring roll; thin filo style pastry wrapped around pork or beef with some carrot, or green bean. To be honest the most common place I found Lumpiang Shanghai was in Chow King (fast [...]
Guso seaweed from the Philippines Guso is a seaweed that’s been soaked in vinegar and mixed with ginger, red bell pepper and tomato with some onion, its served cold. It tastes mainly of the dressing but the crunchy texture is really nice, similar to cucumber. Guso is found in most night food markets, not really [...]
Siomai from the Philippines Of all street food in the Philippines Siomai is as close to my favorite as it gets. It is basically a small ball of pork or beef covered in a light filo style pastry and steamed. Then on the street served up in little trays with a choice of chili sauce, [...]
I love food. Seriously, it’s one of my biggest expenses when traveling besides from accommodation. I travel long and hard in most locations, keeping up a good intake of quality food helps keep my energy level up, and prevents me from getting sick. This was particularly true in Africa. Due to my budget I generally [...]
Lechon from the Philippines Perhaps one of the most famous foods from the Philippines is Lechon. It’s basically spit roasted pig. You’ll find many a selection of Mall eateries serving it up in various qualities. Some can be quite fatty. In night food markets it can be found, but so easily as it’s quite expensive. [...]
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