Manila Restaurants

Manila offers a wide variety of cuisine; French and Spanish restaurants are found alongside traditional Chinese dim sum and noodle houses.  Indian, African and Mediterranean eateries are also widely available. Some eateries may look like holes-in-the-wall, but they can be unexpected treasures. Generally, a quick look at the customers will tell you if the place is worth trying.

Local cuisine

Even though Philippine cuisine at first sight does not seem as exotic as other East Asian cuisines, there are plenty of tasty native dishes. Local food includes bagoong, a salty tasting fish or shrimp paste, which is also found in Thailand and Indonesia, and tuyo, dried fish which is fried and smelly. Philippine noodle dishes are similar to Chinese noodle dishes. There are also unique dishes like balut, boiled duck embryos.

Adobo, possibly the best known Filipino dish, is a product of Spanish influence. In Spanish cuisine, adobo refers to a pickling sauce made with olive oil, vinegar, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, oregano, paprika and salt. Filipinos selected their favourite flavours - vinegar, garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns and soy sauce, and used it for a stewing sauce for chicken and pork, giving the end result the Spanish name.

Three kinds of meat are commonly available: beef, pork and chicken, while many recipes use the intestines or other internal organs.

Where to eat

Ongpin Street in Chinatown is where Chinese Filipinos go for a taste of true mainland delicacies. Eat your way through the restaurant rows of Malate and Roxas Boulevard as you smell the sea breezes and watch a magnificent sunset. Farther along Roxas Boulevard, towards the Cavite coastline, take your pick of fresh seafood cooked to order at the many restaurants lining the road. In the basements of most shopping malls are food centres, full of stalls selling mostly Filipino dishes and localised fast food.