How to Be a Regular in a Place You’ve Never Been Before
Some places you remember for the view.
But the ones that stay with you? They’re often tied to what you ate.
In the Philippines, food is always part of the story. It’s how locals connect. It’s how travelers slow down. It’s the sound of laughter over rice, the smell of garlic in the air, and the feeling of being exactly where you’re supposed to be.
So if you’re heading to the islands of the Philippines, come curious, and come hungry.
It’s your invitation to taste the islands in the way they’re meant to be experienced.
Fully, joyfully, and always with your hands a little messy.
SIARGAO
Siargao tastes like salt and smoke, like early mornings and long, slow lunches. The best meals are passed around, eaten barefoot, with sand still between your toes.
- Pan de Surf – You’ll find it in the local bakeries. A chewy, golden loaf shaped like a surfboard, fresh from the oven. Tear it apart while it’s still warm. Butter melts right in. Pair it with thick, bittersweet tsokolate (hot chocolate made from local cacao), and suddenly your morning starts softer than usual.
- Grilled Pusit or Tuna Belly – Charcoal-grilled right in front of you, slightly charred on the edges, still tender inside. Dipped into sukang tuba (coconut vinegar) with chopped onions and chili. Add garlic rice and you’ll wonder how you’ve lived this long without it.
- Siargao-Style Kinilaw – Imagine slices of fresh-caught tanigue (Spanish mackerel) soaked in palm vinegar, calamansi juice, and ginger. It’s clean, cold, and sharp, with just enough heat from red chili. One best shared at a wooden table while the sun starts to set.
- Mango Smoothie Bowls – After a morning surf or a long motorbike ride, nothing hits like this. A bowl of blended mango, banana, and coconut cream topped with crunchy granola, cacao nibs, and island fruits. Light, refreshing, quietly perfect.
In Siargao, no one rushes. Meals are slow, generous, and made to fill you—in every sense.
BORACAY
Boracay feeds with flair. You eat here with your whole body, your hands, your laughter, your joy. The island’s energy shows up in the food: Bright, bold, and hard to forget.
- Chori Burger – Street food royalty. A local chorizo patty, grilled over open flame, slapped into a soft bun and drowned in sweet, sticky barbecue sauce. The juice runs down your arm before the second bite. It’s smoky, spicy, a little sweet, and completely chaotic in the best way.
- Seafood Platters – Piled high with buttered shrimp, garlic crabs, clams, and squid, sizzling on a hot plate. Served with unli-rice and a wedge of calamansi. Order it beachside. Let the wind tangle your hair. Use your hands. This is not a cutlery moment.
- D’Talipapa Experience – Here’s how it goes: You walk through the wet market, choose your seafood: Fresh oysters, scallops, a whole red snapper. Then take it to the nearby stalls where they cook it just the way you want. Steamed with ginger, grilled with garlic, fried crispy. You eat on a plastic table, and it’ll still be one of the best meals of your life.
- Halo-Halo by the Beach – Crushed ice, creamy leche flan, ube halaya, coconut jelly, sweet beans, and purple yam ice cream layered in a tall glass and drowned in evaporated milk. A cold, colorful reward after hours under the sun. You’ll want it all.
Boracay’s food has rhythm. It plays loud, then quiets down just when you need it to.
EL NIDO
El Nido always invites. The food here mirrors the land: Untouched, graceful, grounded. You’ll find meals that aren’t trying to impress you, and just feed you well with care and heart.
- Grilled Lobster and Crabs – Caught at dawn. Grilled by noon. Often served in quiet eateries near the pier or hidden spots in Corong-Corong. There’s no fancy plating, just the sweet meat of the sea, butter, garlic, and the smell of charcoal. That’s all it needs.
- Chicken Inasal – Marinated in calamansi, lemongrass, and garlic, then grilled over live coals until the skin blisters. Served with sinamak and warm, garlicky rice. Eat it with your hands. Let the juices drip. Take your time.
- Grilled Saba Bananas – Sliced lengthwise, grilled slowly until caramelized, then topped with coconut sugar or drizzled with latik (coconut caramel). Slightly sticky, softly sweet, smoky on the outside. It tastes like afternoon childhood.
- Gising-Gising – Green beans or water spinach chopped fine and simmered in spicy coconut milk. Creamy, fiery, addicting. A dish that makes you pause, sweat, smile, then go back for seconds.
The Best Places Aren’t on Google
You’ll stumble across them. A small carinderia with two tables. A tita in a house-turned-kitchen who waves you in. Food that doesn’t need a name or signboard. You’ll feel it’s right and you’ll be right.
Here, food is how you’re welcomed. It’s how someone says “you’re part of this now.”
So when you eat, eat slowly. Ask questions. Listen. Tip kindly. Choose places that support the community. Your presence as a traveler carries weight. Let it be generous. Let it be thoughtful.
Every meal you find here is made to connect you.
So come sit. Come stay. Come taste.
Because the best way to know the islands?
It is with food on your hands and salt on your skin.
📍Happiness is ready when you are. Your table’s already set.
