Filipino food encompasses a vast array of flavours which are influenced by the country’s various regions and history (notably Spanish and Chinese). Don’t leave the Philippines without getting a taste of these local eats.
Adobo
The Philippines’ most famous dish is made with chicken or pork stewed with oil, soy sauce, vinegar, black pepper and garlic.
Afritada
This tomato-based chicken or pork stew is cooked with potatoes, carrots, green peas and bell peppers.
Bagnet
A speciality of Narvacan in Ilocos Sur, these addictive, crispy pieces of pork belly are first boiled till tender, then deep-fried twice. Also known as “sitsaron” or “chicaron”, they can be eaten on their own or dipped in vinegar or fish paste with garlic.
Balut
A famous Filipino delicacy, this boiled semi-developed duck embryo is eaten straight from the shell.
Beef kaldereta
This tomato-based and liver paste beef stew is cooked with carrots, bell peppers, potatoes and onions.
Bibingka
This classic Filipino dessert of baked coconut rice cake, traditionally eaten during the Christmas season, is made with rice flour, glutinous rice flour, coconut milk, margarine or butter, eggs and sugar.
Binatog
This popular street food is made with boiled white corn kernels topped with grated coconut, butter and sugar.
Bistek tagalog
Pan-fried thin beef slices marinated with soy sauce and calamansi, and topped with caramelised onions
Buko pie
A speciality of Los Baños, Laguna, this Filipino-style coconut pie is made with fresh, tender young coconut meat combined with a creamy filling and enclosed in a flaky pie crust.
Bulalo
A must-eat for beef lovers, this hearty stew is made with beef shanks, bone marrow, cabbage, corn, carrot, potato and other vegetables.
Champorado
Traditionally served for breakfast, this sweet porridge is made from glutinous rice and cocoa powder or chocolate, and drizzled with evaporated milk. It is often eaten with salted dried fish called “tuyo”.
Chicharon bulaklak
Deep-fried pig mesentery served with vinegar on the side
Chicken inasal
This grilled chicken dish from Bacolod City in Western Visayas gets its distinct flavour and colour from a marinade made with calamansi, orange, lime, pepper, vinegar and annatto.
Crispy pata
Deep-fried pig trotters or knuckles served with soy-vinegar sauce
Dinuguan
This bold-flavoured pork stew is made with pork (and traditionally also with pork offal) simmered in pig’s blood, garlic, onions, chilli and vinegar, and served with puto or rice cakes.
Filipino tamales
This Mexican-inspired dish is made with ground rice, coconut milk, chicken, ham or pork, nuts and eggs, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed.
Ginataang gulay
Pork, shrimp and vegetable stew cooked in coconut milk
Halo-halo
A colourful cold dessert of shaved ice layered with red beans, coconut gel, purple yam, flan, candied fruits and a scoop of ice cream, drizzled with evaporated milk.
Humba
Pork stewed with banana blossoms, fermented/salted black beans, soy sauce, brown sugar, black pepper, bay leaves, vinegar, pineapple juiceook.
Ilocos empanada
Deep-fried pastry with orange-hued rice flour dough filled with sweet or savoury fillings
Inihaw
Grilled seafood or meat served with rice and soy sauce, lime and chilli
Isaw
Barbecued pig or chicken intestines
Kare-kare
Thick stew made with oxtail, vegetables and a peanut sauce
Kinilaw
This Filipino-style ceviche features raw fish or shrimp slices marinated in vinegar, lime, onions and chilli.
Lechon
Whole roasted pig
Mechado
This hearty, tomato-based stew has Spanish influences and is made with beef chuck or brisket, pork fat, tomato sauce, onions, carrots and potatoes.
Pako salad
Salad of fiddlehad ferns, tomatoes, onions and salted egg/hard boiled egg
Palabok
Thin glass noodles coated in thick shrimp sauce, topped with hard-boiled egg, fried pork rind, shrimp and squid
Pancit guisado
Rice noodles with shredded chicken, shrimp and vegetables
Pancit palabok
Noodles with thick shrimp sauce topped with minced pork, crushed chicharon/pork rinds, fried garlic, tinapa/smoked fish flakes, green onions and sliced egg
Sans rival
Layered cake made with buttercream, meringue, eggs and chopped cashews
Sinigang
An all-time favourite dish, this sour and savoury soup is cooked with pork, shrimp or fish, vegetables and tamarind.
Sisig
This Kapampangan dish is made with pig’s head, cheeks or ears chopped and boiled, and tossed with cooked chicken liver, diced onions, chili peppers and calamansi juice, served on a sizzling pan, often topped with a raw egg.
Tapsilog
Cured beef or tapa, garlic fried rice and fried egg
Turon
Fried banana and jackfruit rolls
