If you want to try exotic foods, you will definitely have a chance to try it in the Philippines, A must for any foreign traveler to try the street foods available. Manila was classed as one of the greatest street food cities in Asia by CNN. Not only is it cheap, ranging from 20-60 pesos (0.50-1.00 dollars), it is also found in almost every corner where ever you look, alot of them selling street foods outside the church, bus stops, jeepney stops, school and office premises. Street foods is as a good source of income for many Filipino families.
Some of the popular street foods in the Philippines are chicken intestines (isaw), kwek kwek or tokneneng (a Filipino version of tempura), pork barbeque, crispy calamares, fish balls/meatballs the famous balut and a lot more. Of all the street foods in the Philippines “balut” is the most famous and every foreigner planning to visit the Philippines should try to eat this kind of street food and believe me it so different and delicious, well it took me a few goes it was more mentally and the thought of eating balut.
When it comes to cleanliness, of course like any other country, we have to be careful on choosing where we should eat. However, nowadays, a lot of clean and safe street food stands are available already in the Philippines.
Here is a list of what is available.
Adidas.
Grilled chicken feet.
Balut.
Boiled fertilized chicken or duck eggs.
Banana cue.
Skewered saba bananas sprinkled with sugar and deep fried.
Betamax.
Dried chicken blood that are shaped into cubes and then grilled.
Buchi.
Mashed sweet potatoes coated with batter, deep fried and sprinkled with sugar.
Calamares.
Fried breaded squids usually dipped in vinegar.
Chicken skin.
Deep-fried chicken skin breaded with flour, usually dipped in vinegar.
Corn on the cob.
Boiled or roasted corn, either the cheaper starchy local white corn or the more expensive sweet yellow corn.
“Dirty” ice cream.
Light ice cream in flavors like ube, keso (cheese), and chocolate served from a colorful cart. Also known as sorbetes.
Fishballs and squidballs.
Balls formed from flaked fish or squid mixed with flour, deep fried and served with sweet-sour, spicy vinegar, or sweet thick brown sauce.
Fruits in season.
Depend on the locality as well as the season, but favorites include green mango on a skewer served with bagoong, chunks of pineapple, and watermelon slices.
Isaw.
Skewered chicken intestines that are grilled and served with vinegar.
Kikiam.
Chinese in origin, a mixture of ground pork and vegetables rolled in thin bean curd wrapper (tapwe) that is deep fried and served with sweet-sour sauce.
Kwek-kwek.
Boiled chicken eggs dipped in a flour-and-egg batter then fried.
Maruya.
Sliced saba bananas arranged in a fan shape, held together with a flour-and-egg batter, deep-fried, and sprinkled with sugar.
Nilagang mani.
Boiled peanuts in the shell.
Pwet ng manok.
Fried chicken ass.
Samalamig.
Prepared beverages that contain sago (tapioca pearls) and gulaman (gelatin), and are usually flavored with syrup from a wide variety of fruit extracts.
Taho.
Soy bean custard with a caramel syrup and sago (tapioca pearls).
Tukneneng.
Boiled quail eggs dipped in a flour-and-egg batter then fried.
Turon.
Sliced saba bananas (plantains) and sometimes nangka wrapped in lumpia wrapper, sugared and fried.
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