# 7 Filipino Dishes You've Probably Never Heard Of (and Where to Find Them in Manila) > We've rounded up 7 lesser-known Filipino dishes beyond adobo and lechon, plus the Manila addresses where they're made. Find out what to try if you're an adventurous foodie. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/7-filippinskykh-strav/ - Language: en - Published: 2023-07-15 - Categories: Culture, Leisure, Restaurants, Tours, Philippines, Food & Drinks --- Interest in Filipino cuisine has surged over the past few years. If the conversation used to stop at the infamous balut (a duck embryo), no thanks to shows like "Fear Factor", it has since moved on, with diners now talking up staples such as adobo, sisig, pancit, lumpia and lechon. But with more than 7,000 islands split across 82 provinces and 22 regions, there's still plenty more to discover. Here are seven dishes from across the Philippines that you may never have heard of, along with where to find their elevated versions on your next trip to Manila. ## Linagpang na isda/na manok For the Hiligaynon, or Ilonggo, people of the Western Visayas region, there's no such thing as leftovers. In one particular dish, leftover fried, baked or grilled fish or chicken is simmered into a soup with onions, tomatoes and ginger, a cooking process called linagpang (na manok means chicken in Tagalog; na isda means fish). In the province of Iloilo, the dish is just as common in restaurants as it is in homes. Where to try it in Manila: Gallery by Chele At Gallery by Chele, chef Chele Gonzalez gives the dish a fresh spin, charring tuna belly over the grill to create a fragrant, clarified broth, then combining it with abalone from the Visayan Islands, enoki mustard stems, house-made patis and herbs. ## Kamaru ![Kamaru, a Filipino dish made from mole crickets](/storage/image/prev/Filipino-1-Kamaru-1024x581.jpg) Kamaru are mole crickets that burrow into damp rice fields and are notoriously hard to catch. According to the late restaurateur Larry J. Cruz, it's only when a rice farmer works the field that the kamaru slip between his toes, and that's when he catches them. In the province of Pampanga, in the Philippines' Central Luzon region, they're a popular delicacy, often cooked adobo-style (marinated in vinegar, crushed garlic and soy sauce) or fried and served with tomatoes. Bonus: they're an excellent source of protein and vitamin B. Where to try it in Manila: Abe Restaurant At Cruz's Abe Restaurant, they're prepared adobo-saute style with vinegar, crushed garlic and tomatoes. Don't worry, the wings and legs have been removed. ## Pitaw ![Pitaw, tiny rice-field birds served as a delicacy](/storage/image/prev/Filipino-2-Pitaw-1024x606.jpg) Tiny rice-field birds found on sugarcane plantations, pitaw are a delicacy in Bacolod, a city in the province of Negros Occidental. They're often fried, but the birds are so small that you can eat them bones and all. This delicacy, similar to young quail, can be bought pre-packaged at local shops to take home as a souvenir. Where to try it in Manila: Grace Park Margarita Fores, named Asia's Best Female Chef in 2016 and a native of Bacolod, prepares the popular delicacy adobo-style, then fries it until crisp at her Manila restaurant, Grace Park. The birds are served atop brown rice drizzled with oil. ## Igado ![Igado, a Filipino pork and liver dish](/storage/image/prev/Filipino-3-Igado-1024x683.jpg) Pork belly and liver cooked in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, onions, bay leaves, bell peppers and green peas make up igado, a dish popular in the Philippines' Ilocos region (it's also found in Bicol, in the province of Albay). Its name comes from the Spanish word higado, meaning liver, and it's often described as a cousin of adobo and menudo (pork stewed in tomato). Where to try it in Manila: Top Meal Food Haus Chef and owner Wilson Quindo Tan sautes cubes of pork limpo (belly) and strips of pork liver with garlic, onions, soy sauce and oyster sauce, then finishes it with onion rings. ## Buntaa ![Buntaa, crab stuffed with fresh coconut and cooked in coconut milk](/storage/image/prev/Filipino-4-Buntaa-1024x683.jpg) Crab stuffed with fresh coconut and its own fat, then cooked in coconut milk, does that sound appetizing or not? Buntaa is a popular dish in the city of Butuan in Agusan del Norte, Mindanao. Its name comes from the word Binuntaan, meaning "to pull out", which is exactly what's done with the meat of female crabs. Where to try it in Manila: Toyo Eatery At Toyo Eatery, No. 43 on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list for 2019, chef Jordy Navarra reworks buntaa around its flavor profile. He created a crab-and-ginger flan to "mimic the egg-like texture you'd get from crab roe", then made a sauce from the roe that's served with the crab meat. Coconut vinegar lends the acidity. Navarra calls it "reusing thematic ingredients", crab, coconut and ginger, in different forms. ## Pyanggang ![Pyanggang, a blackened coconut curry usually served with chicken](/storage/image/prev/Filipino-5-Pyanggang-1024x683.jpg) Pyanggang, a blackened coconut curry usually served with chicken, is a festive dish that hails from the Tausug tribe of Sulu province in the Southern Philippines. The black, curry-like sauce is made by burning coconut over coals, then grinding it and mixing it with spices. At Tausug weddings, it's not unusual to see a whole chicken cooked this way and served over yellow rice as the centerpiece dish. Where to try it in Manila: Talisay, The Garden Cafe Chef Tatung Sarthou, whom you may have recently seen in the Netflix series "Street Food" about the Philippines, uses shrimp to create this dish at his new restaurant, Talisay, The Garden Cafe, set to open at the end of September. Beyond showcasing Sulu's rich seafood, the sweetness of the poached shrimp complements the deep, smoky flavor of the burnt coconut sauce. It's served with a salad of grilled eggplant, tomatoes, shallots, green mango and palapa (roasted coconut with spices). ## Tiyula itum ![Tiyula itum, a black beef stew from the Tausug people](/storage/image/prev/Filipino-6-Tiyula-itum-1024x982.jpg) Literally translated as "black stew", tiyula itum is a braised beef dish that comes from the Tausug people of the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines. The dish is considered "food for royalty" and is served on special occasions such as weddings and Hari Raya (the feast marking the end of the fasting period). As with pyanggang, its black color comes from the use of charred coconut meat. Chunks of beef, sometimes goat, are marinated in a blend of spices and powdered burnt coconut meat, then sauteed with garlic, onions, turmeric, ginger and lengkuas (a type of rhizome). Where to try it in Manila: Lampara On Eid al-Adha, the annual Muslim holiday known as the "feast of sacrifice", chef RJ Ramos released his version of the dish as a tribute to the flavors of Mindanao. Their take on tiyula itum incorporates elements of pyanggang in terms of flavor profile. Homemade chicken stock is used to make a fish fumet, along with lemongrass. The burnt coconut is then sauteed with minced garlic, ginger, lemongrass, burnt chilies, galangal and onions, after which the reduced fish fumet is added. Lampara swaps the beef for shrimp and mussels, since the Tausug are "people of the sea".