"But there's no good food there!" friends told me as I prepared for a food-focused trip to Manila more than two years ago.

Milky Way Cafe's pancit luglug, rice noodles with a sauce squeezed from fatty shrimp heads. David Hagerman

In fact, as I was to discover, what the Philippines has is Southeast Asia's most misunderstood cuisine. While Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia are foodie destinations, the Philippines is often stereotyped as the home of balut (unhatched duck embryos, a popular snack) and fast-food chain Jollibee. On my trip, though, guided by recommendations from a Filipino expat friend and his local contacts, I ate spectacularly well.

And those Manila contacts quickly became friends, because Filipinos love nothing more than to introduce outsiders to their overlooked cuisine. I've returned to the city many times, just for the food.

The cuisine varies widely region to region, showing Chinese, Malay, Spanish and American influences. Over the centuries, Filipinos have combined flavors introduced by foreign traders, colonizers and occupiers with local ingredients and cooking techniques to create something unique and exciting.

Milky Way Cafe's salmon sinigang, a hearty soup with a tamarind tang. David Hagerman

Poorly prepared, uninteresting food does exist in Manila -- just as it does everywhere in Southeast Asia. But if you know what specialties to look for and where to find them, a weekend of dining in Manila can be every bit as satisfying as in any of the region's other major cities. Here's an insider's guide:


Most visitors to Manila stay in the central business district of Makati, a thicket of shopping malls, apartment towers, office buildings and big-name hotels. The city's famous traffic jams peak on Friday evenings, so set your sights close and head to Milky Way Caf&eacute;, an unpretentious restaurant on Arnaiz Avenue (formerly Pasay Road) that serves excellent versions of Filipino classics.

The original Milky Way was a 1950s dairy bar in the old San Miguel district. Its current incarnation opened in 2002 with a chief cook who's been with the operation since 1964. The look is slightly retro: vintage posters, black and cream floor tiles and cane chairs.

Abe's refreshing fern-tip salad David Hagerman

Check the menu's "all-time favorites" section for home-style dishes such as crispy deep-fried hito (catfish), served whole with a refreshing salad of shredded mustard leaves and tomatoes dressed with vinegar and bagoong (shrimp paste), and crispy deep-fried pata (pork leg).

Sinigang is a beloved soup, soured with acidic fruits and leaves that vary by cook and region. Milky Way's salmon version is packed with chunks of moist fish, banana blossom, tomato, daikon radish, long bean and water spinach; the souring agent is tamarind.

Pancit luglug, thick round rice noodles doused with a rich sauce made with the juices squeezed from fatty shrimp heads (and tinted bright orange with annatto seed) presumably derives its name from the cooking method. "Pancit" are noodles and "luglug" is the Tagalog term for immersing anything in water. Milky Way's pancit luglug are sprinkled with sliced scallion greens and crumbled chicharron (pork crackling -- and a Spanish word), making every bite a delectable combination of mildly fishy prawn and savory pork flavors, the crunch of the chicharron contrasting nicely with the slippery noodles.

Trip Planner

If you plan to be moving about Manila most of the day, renting a car and driver is more convenient than hailing a string of taxis, and not much more expensive. Filcar Transport Services, based in downtown Makati, charges from $60 for a 10-hour day. Book ahead: 63-2-894-1754; Web: www.filcartransport.com.

Salcedo Community Market

Jaime Velasquez Park, Bel-Air Baranguay, Makati. Saturday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Prices for prepared foods range from 25 cents for a piaya to $8 for 250 grams of Luzon-style lechon. No phone.


G/F Serendra Complex, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Daily, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to midnight. Generous lunch for two about $40. Reservations recommended. 63-2-856-0526

Milky Way Caf&eacute;

2/F 900 Arnaiz Rd. (formerly Pasay Road), Makati. Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (available Sundays for private parties). Meal for two, about $20. 63-2-843-7124

Claire dela Fuente Grill and Seafood, Seafood Paluto Restaurants

Seaside Macapagal Avenue, Pasay. Daily, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. More than enough food for two, with beer, about $25 (including the cost of seafood purchased at outside stalls). 63-2-497-2311 or 497-2440


G/F 900 Arnaiz Rd. (formerly Pasay Road), Makati. Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Saturday, 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. (available Sundays for private parties). Dinner for two, including a couple of glasses of sangria, about $65. 63-2-810-2763 or 810-8735

Adriatico Caf&eacute;

1790 M. Adriatico St. (at Remedios Circle), Malate. Daily, 7 a.m. to 6 a.m. -- that's right, it's closed for all of one hour a day. Tsokolate and puto for two, about $11. 63-2-525-2509

—Robyn Eckhardt

Try to leave room for dessert. Milky Way's halo halo, a parfait glass filled with scoops of violet ice cream (the flavor is ube, or sweet yam), slabs of flan made from leche (full-cream milk), preserved fruits, pinipig (crispy rice), and condensed milk, is as delicious as it is pretty.


Each of the 81 provinces of the Philippines, spread across three island groups (Luzon in the north, Visayas in the center and Mindanao in the south), boasts its own specialties. Salcedo Community Market, a collection of over 140 vendors selling fresh fruits, pantry staples and prepared dishes, is a great place to begin to comprehend the variety.

The market, which attracts expats, clued-in tourists and Manilans alike -- from impeccably coiffed socialites and basket-toting housewives to flip-flop-wearing college students -- is held every Saturday in a tree-shaded Makati parking lot, the aisles arranged around a covered communal eating area.

The best state in which to arrive is ravenous. Start with piaya, a round griddled flatbread oozing smoky dark muscovado sugar. It's native to Negros, the historic center of the country's sugar industry, and an island renowned for its pastries and confections. The packaged versions of this anytime snack sold in grocery stores (Filipinos often soften them in the microwave) can't compare with the fresh.

Empanada, filled pastries introduced by the Spanish, take various forms around the country. At Salcedo, a vendor hailing from the province of Ilocos Sur, best known for the colonial town of Vigan (a Unesco World Heritage site), makes his with rice-flour pastry and a filling of grated green papaya, bean sprouts, Ilocos longanisa (longanisa is pork sausage; the Ilocos variety is especially garlicky), and an egg. There's always a line for these luscious deep-fried turnovers, big enough to share and eaten with a splash of vinegar. Crowds also gather for the ukoy, crispy fritters of sweet potato and tiny shrimp, no bigger than a thumbnail, that can be eaten shell-on.

Christian Filipinos have a passion for pork, and at Salcedo you can sample two versions of lechon, or spit-roasted pig. Tagalog or Luzon-style is minimally seasoned and served with a sweet-sour sauce made with mashed grilled pig's liver and lots of black pepper. Cebu-style is stuffed with ginger and onions and eaten with just vinegar or no sauce at all (people from that central province insist the flavorful stuffing eliminates the need for sauce). Both versions boast the bronzed, crispy skin prized by lechon lovers.

Bicol, a region at the southeastern tip of Luzon, means sili and gata (chilies and coconut cream) to Filipinos. At her Salcedo stall, Cely Kalaw dishes up Bicol express, a fiery dish of chopped pork stewed in coconut cream with ginger, garlic, onions, and chilies, and an opulent alimango sa gata, crab cooked in coconut cream with chilies, green beans, water spinach and pumpkin. Laing (also known as pinangat) is shredded taro leaves slowly cooked to a velvety consistency with -- yes -- chilies and coconut cream.

From Salcedo Community Market: Cebu-style lechon, or spit-roasted pig. David Hagerman

All this may leave you sated, but take home some edible pasalubong (souvenirs). Possibilities include the endless varieties of kakanin, sweet cakes made from glutinous rice and rice flour, and bud-bud kabog, a sweet Negros delicacy made from millet and wrapped in a banana leaf. The milk of the carabao (water buffalo) is the basis of two more: creamy truffles called pastillas and a fresh mozzarella-like cheese made on a farm in Nueva Ecija, a landlocked northern province that's a major producer of both milk and rice.


Spain ruled here for nearly 400 years, and its influence is clear in both dishes of Spanish origin and in native creations with Spanish names. Because they were introduced "from above" by colonial rulers, Spanish foods were incorporated into the local cuisine as special-occasion dishes. Cirkulo, a smart Makati restaurant with white-clothed tables and crimson walls displaying works by Filipino artists, makes an appropriately posh setting in which to give them a try.

Chef J Gamboa, trained at the Culinary Institute of America, opened Cirkulo with his sister Malu seven years ago, and the restaurant manages to feel both upscale and relaxed (it's also extremely popular, so do make reservations). Standouts among the entrees include bacalao &agrave; la Vizcaina, a fillet of moist salt cod seared and garnished with crispy fried garlic; meaty, wine-braised lamb ribs; and paella negra, black from squid ink and packed with prawns, calamari and chunks of sea bass.

Cirkulo's bacalao à la Vizcaina, salt cod garnished with crispy fried garlic. David Hagerman

Cirkulo's long tapas menu includes items both classically Spanish (baby eels thin as spaghettini swimming in chili-spiked olive oil) and Philippine-inspired. Cabeza de cerdo, Spanish for "hog's head," is actually sisig, minced pork cheeks, jowls, and other parts browned to a crisp and served on a hot platter. It's a notoriously rich dish, a pulutan (traditionally, a food drunk with alcohol), but Mr. Gamboa's version is a bit lighter than most.

Tomorrow you can sleep late, so wash everything down with a pitcher or two of Cirkulo's sangria.


Well-known Manila restaurateur Larry Cruz, who died this year, in 2006 opened Abe, a dining spot dedicated to his diplomat-painter-gourmand father.

The menu is dominated by dishes from Pampanga, native province for both father and son. Just north of Manila, it's known for the locals' love of good eating, a quality attributed variously to long-ago Chinese ancestry, the unusually close association of wealthy Pampango landowners with their Spanish colonizers, and a general historical sophistication relative to their neighbors. Pampanga's women are said to be unbeatable cooks (and its men are said to be spoiled rotten, perhaps no coincidence).

Salcedo Community Market's piaya - sugar filled and hot of the griddle. David Hagerman

Abe occupies a bright, airy and sometimes loud space in the Serendra shopping center at Fort Bonifacio, a former army base being redeveloped into a "new city" of residential and office towers, schools, embassies, markets, parks, restaurants and shopping complexes. The Fort, as Manilans calls it, occupies 25 square kilometers about 15 to 20 minutes from Makati -- in good traffic, that is. That being a rarity on weekdays and Saturdays, Sunday is an ideal day to lunch at Abe. Book ahead because it's a favorite for after-church family gatherings; the restaurant is almost always packed.

It's said that the best Capampangan food is found in home kitchens, but Abe gives the province's home cooks a run for their money. Ask your server to direct you to Capampangan specialties (make an exception for grilled sardines, if they're available) such as bringhe, a Malay-influenced dish of glutinous rice cooked in a large wok with coconut milk and turmeric until one side is browned. Abe serves it with tender roast chicken.

When the delicate fern tips called paku are available, Abe combines them with tomatoes for a refreshing salad minimally dressed with coconut vinegar and lime juice. Abe's wonderful tilapia (a firm, white-fleshed freshwater fish) is butterflied before being deep-fried, resulting in a high ratio of crispy skin to moist flesh. The adventurous should eat it as Capampangans do, with fresh mustard leaves and balo-balo, though this sourish condiment of fish fermented with rice can be an acquired taste.

At Adriatico Café, a rich afternoon snack: the sweet bread called ensaimada, served with a wedge of Edam cheese, taken with a cup of tsokolate, made with native cacao David Hagerman

Aligue ng talangka, an artery-clogging but swoon-worthy side dish made primarily with the fat of small paddy crabs, embodies the Pampango love of excess, while gule Magalang, a clean-tasting stew of winter squash and its vine leaves and squash blossoms, celebrates their province's agricultural bounty. Pampango cooks are known for their way with sweets, so finish with the sans rival, an opulent cake consisting of airy layers of pistachio-studded meringue, iced with buttercream frosting and sprinkled with more nuts.

If you're so taken with Philippine food that you want to try to recreate it at home, across the street from Serendra is Fully Booked, a bookstore with one of Manila's best cookbook selections.


Filipinos don't take tea; they take an afternoon snack called merienda, another Spanish word. From Abe head to the district of Malate, about 30 minutes away, for an appetite-building stroll along Manila Bay followed by a visit to the lovely stone Malate Church, built by the Augustinians in the 16th century, destroyed in 1773, and rebuilt on the same spot.

Just up the street sits another piece of Manila history and an ideal merienda spot: Adriatico Caf&eacute;, center of the city's Bohemian cafe society when it opened more than 25 years ago. Its range of light meals and snacks include puto, steamed rice cakes, and ensaimada, a sweet bread served with a wedge of aged Edam cheese that's perhaps too insanely rich to be called "light." The cafe also serves unrivaled tsokolate (drinking chocolate made with native cacao) and tsokolate-e ("e" is for espeso, Spanish for "thick"). The Spanish brought cacao to the Philippines from Mexico in the 1600s, and in the intervening centuries tsokolate has become as much a part of the national drinking vernacular as San Miguel beer.


At Manila's dampa, seafood stalls and restaurants sit cheek by jowl.

As citizens of a nation comprising over 7,000 islands, Filipinos love seafood. Sample the bounty at one of Manila's dampa, where restaurants sit by seafood stalls so you can build a meal from the catch of the day and have it cooked to your specifications. To have your fish prepared Filipino-style (rather than Chinese-style), head to Claire dela Fuente, located in a dampa about 20 minutes by car from Makati City.

Check what's on offer at the market stalls before entering the restaurant, where you'll be assigned a server to assist with your purchases (but not to haggle -- that's up to you) and, if you ask, to propose preparations. As you're shopping, watch for lato, a variety of seaweed that resembles miniature clusters of grapes. Mixed with sliced tomatoes and red onions and dressed with coconut vinegar and the juice of calamansi -- a hybrid citrus with a lime-orange taste -- it makes a bracing, briny prelude to a seafood meal.

Large fish like snapper and tilapia can be grilled on the barbecue just outside Claire dela Fuente's door, while crabs and prawns might be cooked with coconut milk or simply steamed. If squid strike your fancy, ask for them to be prepared adobo style (stewed with vinegar). They'll be cooked with tomatoes and mild green chilies and arrive at your table mounded in a pool of sauce blackened with their own ink, lightly tart, slightly salty and perfectly tender.

—Robyn Eckhardt is a Kuala Lumpur-based writer.