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Filipino Food I Wish I Had When I First Landed in Manila
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items You just booked a flight to the Philippines and your food plan is ‘figure it out when I get there.’ That was me three years ago, standing outside Ninoy Aquino airport starving and overwhelmed. Turns out Filipino cuisine is one of the most underapprec...
Sections
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Street Food That Ruined Me for Regular Snacks
Rice Meals That Actually Fill You Up for Hours
Sauces and Condiments You'll Smuggle Home
Sweet Stuff That Caught Me Completely Off Guard
Drinks That Made Me Forget About Coffee for a While
Pantry Staples That Changed How I Cook at Home
Street Food That Ruined Me for Regular Snacks
My first night in Makati, a vendor handed me something off a stick and my entire concept of street food changed. These are the bites you grab while walking, and they hit harder than any sit-down appetizer.
Try this grilled chicken intestine from a street cart before you judge it. I was skeptical for about two seconds, then ordered three more sticks. Perfect for anyone who says they're adventurous but hasn't actually proven it yet.
Available tomorrow Friday 0586195249 #pork bbq ni
Grab a bag of this orange batter mix and make kwek kwek at home if you can't get to Manila soon. Deep fried quail eggs coated in bright orange batter. My friend who 'doesn't eat weird food' ate eleven of them.
Produk Puregold Official Store
Keep a bag of these crunchy garlic corn nuts in your carry-on for the flight. They're aggressively garlicky and completely addictive. For anyone who thinks American bar snacks are flavorful, this will recalibrate your taste buds.
Boy Bawang Cornick Garlic Flavor Pack of 3 x 90g Filipino
Snag these from any street vendor with the orange and brown sauces. Flat fishballs skewered and dipped in sweet or spicy vinegar. I ate these every single evening in Quezon City and never got tired of them.
Fishball Street Food Philippines Cart
Toss your regular pork rinds in the trash after trying chicharron from Bulacan province. The crunch is different, almost glass-like, and dipping it in spiced vinegar is non-negotiable. Stock up because one bag disappears fast.
Chicharon Bulaklak Recipe
Pair this caramelized saba banana on a stick with an afternoon walk through any Filipino market. The sugar coating gets crispy and smoky from the hot oil. Wish someone had told me about this before I wasted my first three days eating hotel breakfast.
Our best selling Banana cue! Come by for merienda 🇵🇭
Rice Meals That Actually Fill You Up for Hours
Back home I never thought much about rice. Then I sat down at a carinderia in Pasig and realized rice is not a side dish here, it's the foundation of everything. These combos kept me full through 14-hour travel days.
Get the 2-piece with gravy and rice the moment you land. Yes, it's fast food. No, I don't care. The crunch-to-juice ratio on this fried chicken made me question every piece of fried chicken I've eaten in America.
Menu | Chickenjoy
Use the unlimited rice option and don't be shy about it. Grilled chicken marinated in calamansi and annatto oil, eaten with your hands over garlic rice. For anyone who thinks they know grilled chicken, sit down.
Paa Large Buddy Size
Grab a whole rotisserie chicken from any Andok's branch when you need dinner for two on a budget. The liver sauce that comes with it is what separates this from every grocery store rotisserie you've ever had. Under five dollars for the whole bird.
Andok’s Litson Manok Restaurant and Store
Bring your appetite to this tiny UP Diliman stall at 7 AM. Cured beef tapa, garlic fried rice, and a fried egg. I went four mornings in a row and the server started laughing when she saw me coming.
RODIC'S DINER
Swap your regular beef stew recipe for this tomato and liver paste based braise. It's richer and more complex than anything I've made from an American cookbook. Perfect for cold weather dinners when you're missing Manila.
Goldilocks Pinoydeli Beef Caldereta Daging Semur Manis
Ditch any plan you had for lunch and find a neighborhood carinderia serving pork sinigang. Sour tamarind broth with pork ribs and vegetables over white rice. The sourness wakes up your whole mouth in a way lemon soup never could.
Karinderya ni Baka sa Pulilan: Sinigang, Kaldereta
Sauces and Condiments You'll Smuggle Home
Nobody warned me that Filipino condiments would take over my fridge. I came home with a suitcase that smelled like vinegar and fish sauce, and I regret nothing.
Use this on literally everything. Eggs, grilled meat, fried fish, rice. The spiced version has chili and garlic already in it. For anyone whose hot sauce collection has gotten boring, this is the reset button.
DATU PUTI SPICED VINEGAR COPY CAT
Keep a bottle of this liver-based sarsa next to your ketchup. It goes on lechon, fried chicken, pork chops, basically any protein. My roommate who had no idea what it was started putting it on his burgers.
Mang Tomas - All Purpose Sauce (菲律賓豬肝醬)
Switch from your usual Thai fish sauce to this Filipino version and taste the difference. It's funkier and saltier in a way that makes fried rice come alive. Took me embarrassingly long to realize not all fish sauce tastes the same.
Rufina Patis Fish Sauce - 25 oz.
Swap this in for regular ketchup on your next batch of fries and watch people get confused, then converted. It's sweeter and tangier with a red-orange color that looks almost normal. For anyone raising kids who are picky eaters, this might be your se...
Why Is Banana Ketchup Banned in the US? Explaining
Pair a spoonful of this fermented shrimp paste with green mango slices for a snack that will divide your household. Half will be disgusted, half will eat the entire jar. I'm firmly in the jar-finishing camp.
Kamayan Sauteed Shrimp Paste, Regular, 8.8 Ounce
Toss this into sparkling water for a drink that beats any lemonade you've ever made. Calamansi is like if lime and tangerine had a baby. Stock up before summer because once you start making calamansi drinks, regular citrus feels flat.
Shop calamansi concentrate for Sale on Shopee Philippines
Sweet Stuff That Caught Me Completely Off Guard
Filipino desserts don't follow Western rules. Purple yam ice cream, shaved ice with beans, coconut everything. My sweet tooth had no idea what was coming and honestly it never recovered.
Bring this to any potluck and watch it disappear before the brownies. Purple yam sponge cake rolled with ube cream filling. For anyone tired of showing up with the same dessert every time, this is your new move.
Ube 'N Cream Roll
Get the classic version with shaved ice, sweet beans, leche flan, ube ice cream, and evaporated milk all mixed together. It sounds chaotic but every spoonful is different. Wish I'd tried this on day one instead of day five.
The Original Razon's Halo Halo & Palabok - PG Building
Snag a box of these crumbly powdered milk cookies for the plane ride home. They melt on your tongue and come in flavors like pinipig (toasted rice). Perfect for the friend who collects weird snacks from every country.
Goldilocks Polvoron Copycat
Try making this at home with the Mama Sita's mix if you can't wait for a trip. It's denser and eggier than Mexican flan, almost like a custard brick in the best way. My coworkers thought I'd ordered it from a fancy bakery.
The Leche Flan That Helped 3 Generations of Women Find
Toss young coconut strips with pandan-flavored gelatin and cream for a cold dessert that works at any barbecue. The coconut texture against the soft jelly is something I think about more often than I should admit.
Resep buko sago pandan rumahan enak dan mudah
Grab a tub and keep it next to your regular vanilla. The purple yam flavor is earthy and sweet without being artificial. For anyone who thinks they've tried every ice cream flavor, this one will prove you wrong.
Magnolia Macapuno Ube Ice Cream Same-Day Delivery
Drinks That Made Me Forget About Coffee for a While
I landed in Manila as a strict black coffee person. Within 48 hours I was drinking bright green melon juice from a plastic bag with a straw. The beverage situation in the Philippines is no joke.
Toss a few of these foil juice packs in your bag for midday hydration. Dalandan is a native citrus that tastes like orange juice's cooler, more interesting cousin. For anyone who grew up on Capri Sun, this is the Filipino equivalent and it's better.
Zest-O Dalandan 1.5L
Grab a bottle from any sari-sari store when the heat gets unbearable. It's lightly sweet, apple-flavored green tea that costs less than a dollar. I drank roughly 400 of these across two weeks and have zero regrets.
C2 Green Tea Apple Flavor 500ml per Bottle
Get this brown sugar, tapioca pearl, and grass jelly drink from any vendor with a glass dispenser. It's chewy and sweet and refreshing all at once. My partner took one sip and immediately asked where we could find more.
Sago't Gulaman Recipe (Refreshing Filipino Sago Drink)
Swap your regular morning brew for kapeng barako beans and prepare for a wake-up call. It's bold, smoky, and has twice the personality of most specialty coffee I've bought in Brooklyn. Order beans online if you can't get to Batangas province.
Batangas Brew Kapeng Barako 100% Coffee
Keep this powdered mix in your pantry for summer afternoons. The cucumber version is a Philippines-only flavor and it's weirdly perfect. For anyone who thinks powdered iced tea peaked in the 90s, this will change your mind.
NESTEA Lemon Cucumber Powdered Juice Iced Tea 19g
Drink this straight from a young coconut at any market or beach. Not the packaged kind, the real thing where they hack it open with a machete in front of you. Nothing I've bought in a Whole Foods has ever come close.
Fresh Buko (Coconut) Juice
Pantry Staples That Changed How I Cook at Home
After my first trip I started hunting for Filipino ingredients at Asian grocery stores near me. Slowly my pantry shifted, and now half my weeknight dinners have a Filipino backbone without me even planning it.
Use this packet when you want chicken adobo on a Tuesday night but don't have time to measure out soy sauce and vinegar ratios. It's not cheating, it's efficient. For anyone intimidated by Filipino recipes, this is your entry point.
MAMA SITA`S Savory Sauce Mix f. Adobo Chicken 50g
Swap this into any curry or soup recipe that calls for coconut milk. Filipino coconut cream is thicker and richer. I started using it in pasta sauces too and honestly it works disturbingly well.
Cream of Coconut, 15 oz Can - Shop Goya
Ditch your regular soy sauce for a week and try this one. It's slightly sweeter and pairs perfectly with vinegar for a quick dipping sauce. Took me one bottle to understand why Filipino adobo tastes different from Japanese teriyaki.
Silver Swan Soy Sauce 385ml 385 ML di Jo Mart 89
Sprinkle this on grilled fish, into marinades, or over popcorn for a citrus hit that lime can't replicate. It's tart and floral in a way that makes everything taste brighter. For anyone whose spice rack hasn't changed in years, start here.
Calamansi Powder Extract DRIED CALAMANSI FRUIT
Toss this into a pot with pork ribs, tomatoes, and whatever vegetables you have. Thirty minutes later you have a sour soup that will make your kitchen smell incredible. Wish I'd known about this packet years before I actually went to the Philippines.
Mama Sita's Sinigang Sa Sampalok Mix Tamarind
Try this milder, slightly sweet vinegar as a marinade base or salad dressing ingredient. It's less harsh than white vinegar and adds a subtle coconut undertone. My Filipino coworker said it's the one thing she always has in her kitchen, and now I und...
Sukang Pinakurat Spiced Natural Coconut Vinegar 8.5 oz
Restaurants and Chains Worth Seeking Out
Some of these have locations in the US and Middle East now. Others you'll need to visit Manila for. Either way, walking into any of these hungry and walking out stuffed is one of the best dining experiences I've had anywhere.
Get the sweet-style spaghetti with hot dog slices and the Yumburger together. Yes it sounds weird. My American brain resisted for exactly one bite before fully surrendering. Find a US location or just fly to Manila, honestly both are worth it.
Jolly Spaghetti & Palabok - Menu
Bring your whole travel group because you'll want to order the whole fried chicken and multiple sides. Max's has been around since 1945 and the recipe hasn't changed because it doesn't need to. For anyone who argues about the best fried chicken chain...
Menu - Max's Restaurant | Cuisine of the Philippines
Sit by the window for the Manila Bay view and order the barbecue chicken with Java rice. This place has been feeding Manila since the 1930s and it feels like eating history. Go for dinner, not lunch, so you catch the sunset.
The Aristocrat (Roxas Boulevard) - What's On Manila
Grab a table early because the wait gets long. Their sizzling sinigang and watermelon sinigang are things I still think about months later. For anyone who wants Filipino food with a modern twist but not in a pretentious way, this is it.
Manam Comfort Filipino (@ManamPH)
Wear a shirt you don't mind getting sauce on because you're eating with your hands here. Bacolod-style chicken inasal with a side of batchoy soup is one of the most satisfying meals I've had at any price point. Skip the fork, trust me.
Inasal Chicken Bacolod - BF Homes
Use this fast food chain as your afternoon pit stop. The halo-halo is solid for a chain restaurant and the asado siopao (steamed pork bun) is warm and savory. For anyone who needs a cheap reliable snack between sightseeing, this is your spot.
Chowking