Eating in Manila

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Manila has most of the usual American fastfood chains such as McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Pizza Hut, Subway, Dairy Queen, Shakey's Pizza, Taco Bell, Dunkin Donuts, TGIF, Italianni's, Outback, and KFC. Jollibee, the Filipino version of McDonald's is very common in Manila. There are also other pure Filipino restaurants across the city such as Kamayan (Filipino food), Mannang (Filipino food), Mann Hann (Chinese food), Dencio's (Filipino food), Gerry's Grill (Filipino food), Nanay Q (Filipino food), Goldilocks (bakeshop), Red Ribbon (bakeshop), Greenwich (pizza and pasta), Go Nuts Donuts, Tokyo Tokyo (Japanese Food) and Chow King (Chinese Food). Coffeeshops such as Starbucks and Seattle's Best have also recently become quite common in malls and commercial centers. KrispyKreme Doughnuts has recently opened in 7 sites in Metro Manila. Meals could be as low as US$2 to 3 in most fast food joints. A typical burger meal with fries and a drink would fall under this range.

Being the only former Spanish colony in Asia, Manila has the best Spanish food in the Far East.

Street food peddled by ambulant vendors is quite common and can usually be found in places with high amount of pedestrian traffic. Note however that street food in Manila and elsewhere in the Philippines may not be as clean as what you would find in Bangkok or hawker centers in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. There is very little (if any) regulation and hygienic practices of these establishments vary from place to place. The variety of street food available is tremendous however and may reward the truly adventurous traveler. Some notable examples are the following:

• Chicharon - Deep fried pork rinds, usually eaten while having a beer.

• Balut - boiled duck embryo, generally safe to eat as the whole duck egg is intact and well cooked. The sight of the fully formed duckling complete with wings, ribbed feet and beak may not be too easily swallowed by the squeamish however.

• Isaw, Helmet, Adidas and Betamax - grilled chicken (or pork)intestines, head, feet, and blood respectively

• Banana Cue - bananas fried in hot oil coated with caramelized brown sugar and served on a barbecue stick. There is also kamote cue which is sweet potato served the same way.

• Barbecue - the term barbecue in the Philippines usually means bite size pieces of pork marinated,skewered and charcoal grilled. Chicken barbecue (bbq for short) is also common.

• Kwek Kwek and tokneneng - boiled eggs (duck, chicken or quail) covered in an orangey batter and deep fried in hot oil. Usually dipped in vinegar with onions, chili peppers and garlic.

• Silog - Short for sinangag (Garlic fried rice) and itlog (fried egg), silog is one of the most common and popular breakfast dishes in Manila. Typical silogs are identified by their accompanying viand, ie tapsilog (Filipino tapa, which is fried cured beef strips), longsilog (longganisa), bangsilog (bangus, or milkfish), tocilog (tocino, which is sweet cured pork), hotsilog (hotdog, and cornsilog (corned beef).

• Sizzling sisig - A dish made from parts of pig’s head and liver, usually seasoned with kalamansi and chili peppers.

For a taste of street food without the accompanying risk, try out the following establishments:

• Balut Eggspress - serves balut, kwek kwek and one day old chicks, which are quite literally day old chicks marinated and fried in hot oil then eaten whole including the bones. They have a stall in the MRT Ayala Station.

• Nanay Q - serving special pork and chicken BBQ, liempo, grilled fish and shrimps. They also serve special Pinoy dishes such as Beef Caldereta, Menudo, Pinapaitan, Gambas and Sinigang. Sisig is also their specialty. They have branches at Robinsons Pioneer and Edsa Central. You may visit www.nanayq.com for more info.

Most sit-down and casual dining restaurants in Manila would fall under the mid-range category. You could generally eat well for under US$10 per person. At some establishments, this price will even allow you to partake of a buffet and eat to your heart's content.

• Terry's Selection, Lower Ground Level, Podium Mall, 18 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong, tel: +63 2 6385725 or 26. Specialties: Tapas.

• www.nanayq.com