Cuisine and Street Food Guide in Cebu
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...Cebu, the country’s oldest City, with century-old churches, long white sandy beaches, world class diving, unspoiled countryside, and a rich culinary history, Cebu City has something for everyone and food is central to the Cebuano experience and your trip wouldn’t be complete without tasting the best lechon and trying out the local cuisines and street food that Cebuanos are profoundly proud of
Adobo
Philippine adobo is a popular Ilocano dish and cooking process in Filipino cuisine that involves meat, seafood, or vegetables marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and black peppercorns, which is browned in oil, and simmered in the marinade
Beef Bulalo
This is a slow-cooked soup made with beef shanks and marrow bones and whole corn, the soup is boiled until the collagen and fat has melted into a silky clear broth
Goat or Beef Caldereta (Kalderetang Kambing)
Goat meat is widely available all over Cebu, although it’s a more expensive cut of meat, it is nearly always reserved and on the menu at special occasions, which include birthdays, graduations, weddings and family gatherings
Goat Caldereta is a hearty stew made with bone-in goat meat, potatoes, carrots, seasoning and braised in a tomato sauce and often with chopped fresh pineapple or canned pineapple
Cebu Lechon
Although not a typical everyday meal, sold by the kilo at roadside eateries, restaurants, or direct from small home based business, Cebu hands-down as the best and most delicious Lechon, this is because Cebu Lechon is best known for its crunchy golden red skin, tender juicy and flavorsome meat, served with hanging rice, Lechon is considered one of Cebu’s best known dish and has become a huge hit with family gatherings, fiestas and parties, a planed visit to Cebu would not be complete without having a taste of the finger-licking suckling pig
Let’s set the record straight, where is the best Lechon in Cebu?
If your not familiar Lechon is roasted whole suckling pig cooked over natural wood fire, traditionally inserted with a bamboo pole manually turning or commercially on a automated driven rotisserie chain.
Lechon is available all over Cebu, just speak to most Cebuano they will claim to have tasted the best Lechon and most likely recommend a business or local vendor you must order from.
Lechon is definitely a labour of love, it’s typically seasoned in the belly with heads of garlic, spring onion, salt, peppercorns and bay leaves, the spicer version as added native chillis, similar to African birdseye chilli.
The skin is basted with a brined soya sauce which gives the distinctive, almost mahogany in colour, the hours of basting does create the best cracking you’ll have ever tasted. There are some funky ingredients we’ve saw people use to enhance the flavour, one is Sprite soda drink.
So where is the best Lechon…
Chain restaurant have tasty Lechon not to mention the many independent vendors around Cebu City which have great Lechon also. Talisay Brgy. (Neighbourhood) vendors and local businesses in Cebu are renowned for great Lechon, equally famous is Carcar.
You can’t overlook the Cebu provinces and Brgy. (Villages/neighbourhoods) leading or bordering mountains, because they equally have some of the best Lechon around, commonly refereed to as native Lechon, because the pig meat is local and the herbs and spices are grown locally, often cooked on a bamboo pole. We’ve eaten our fair share of Lechon and in our opinion the best Lechon available is in Talisay City and in the Cebu provinces, usually from a family business or rural backyard kitchen
Nearly always some of the best Lechon you’re likely to eat is reserved for family gatherings and especially weddings.
So for us in Cebu it’s not even a big brand business it’s your very local business or Papa’s backyard rustic rural kitchen that definitely produces the best tasting and freshest Lechon
Crispy Pata
This is a famous Filipino pork dish that uses the whole pig’s leg, seasoned, marinated for 24 hours and then deep-fried in hot oil
Pinoy Boodle Fight
Boodle fight is a popular Filipino way of eating food on a banana leaf using your hands
It was traditionally the military’s way of eating, but it has become popular during family gatherings and out-of-town trips
A typical Pinoy Boodle has grilled seafood, pork or chicken and fried dishes that you can pair with vegetables and other side dishes and unlimited healpings of steamed white rice
Cebu Native Chicken
When it comes to taste, those who have tasted it would say that it is by far one of the most flavorful chicken ever, and more often a simple soup dish in Cebu, occasionally roasted or fried, some of the best tasting native chicken is found in rural areas or leading to mountainous regions of Cebu or roadside eateries while transiting north or south of Cebu City
Pork Sisig
Most Filipinos are already familiar with the wonders of the pork sisig, undoubtedly one of the most recognizable fastfoods in Cebu
Made from parts of pig head and liver, usually seasoned with calamansi and chili peppers, and served with a yolky egg, this is a true comfort food staple in Cebu, and a must try for The Cebu Tourist
Grilled Bangus (Milkfish)
A Cebuano family favourite whole fish, simply stuffed with tomatoes, red onion and green chillies, then grilled on hot charcoals, served with soya and vinegar dip and lashings of steamed white rice, street vendors sell a wide variety of grilled fish, and equally as tasty
Chicharon
Cebu is home to a number of delicacies that have tickled the taste buds of Cebuanos for generations, and the reputedly famous Carcar City crispy pork skin Chicharon is more often the spicy version, although both versions are available all over Cebu
Lechon Manok (Rotisserie Chicken)
Juicy whole chicken marinated then oven roasted, but more commonly cooked on a chain rotisserie under charcoal, sweet or spicy with soya dip, a classic Cebuanos weekend takeaway, a common site all over Cebu
Bantayan island Seafood
Bantayan island has an abundant of fresh and very cheap seafood, in fact Filipinos from all over Cebu never seem to miss the opportunity to bring back home fresh seafood in ice coolers after a weekend visit, baked clams and buttered crabs are a Bantayan islands specialty and the local restaurants at M.J. Square serve some of the freshest and yummiest seafood anywhere in Cebu
Lumpia
Filipino spring rolls filled with either pork, shrimp or vegetables, served with a spicy vinegar dipping sauce, lumpia are incredibly tasty, and classic workers’ street food
Hanging Rice in Cebu
The Cebu native hanging rice or Puso (“poo-SO”) is rice wrapped and boiled in a triangular casing made of woven coconut leaves, a street food classic, it is called hanging rice, as the packets are hung in bunches using the long ends of the leaves
Liempo in Cebu
Liempo is a Spanish term for pork belly, which is derived from the belly of pigs, and a Cebu staple, the pork is tender and juicy
Cebu Ginabot
A mainstay in the Cebu food scene, for decades, tasty, salty and superbly crispy, this crunchy road specialty is an exotic dish made of deep-fried swine intestines, and paired with a flavorful and spicy sauce of vinegar, onions and chili , Ginabot is often enjoyed with a few pieces of puso (hanging rice)
Tempura and Fishball
Tempura and Fishball, two of the most renowned street food in Cebu, sumptuous and hearty fried seafood delights skewered on a stick, these Japanese-inspired scrumptious street food have become a pretty common snack food for workers and students all over Cebu, soaked in a spicy vinegar to your preference
Cebu Balut
Despite its not-so attractive look, the balut a Cebu staple, has been the object of culinary fascination across the world for many years now, a combination of warm yolk, meaty bird and savory soup, the Balut can certainly give the adventurous street food eater a divine culinary experience, popular in every Brgy (village), and outside public markets all over Cebu
Cebu Pork Siomai and Japanese inspired Pork Siomai
No visit to Cebu is complete without the inclusion of the well known comfort street food the Siomai, Inspired from the traditional Chinese steamed dumpling Shumai, this sumptuous Dim Sum staple has made its way to every Brgy (village or community) in Cebu, and quite often sold from mobile pedal tricycle vendors, the Brgy (village or community) of Tisa, near to Brgy of Labangon, Cebu City South Bus Terminal on N. Bacalso Avenue, SM Seaside City and Downtown Cebu City, Tisa is well known all over Cebu City for Pork Siomai, customers will more often convey to Tisa to purchase Siomai from neighboring Brgy, either for the home, quick street food snack with hanging rice or for wholesale, interestingly in the Brgy of Tisa, there is a festival every year starting on 20th September to 29th September, (10 days), celebrating and honoring the Siomai, among other community gathering and activities, including an assortment of street food vendors, store vendors, music and performances, this is very characteristic of Cebuano culture and local community spirit
Cebu Green Mango with Bagoong (shrimp paste)
Looking for an awesome appetize, and a Cebuano staple, nothing gets your appetite going than a blend of salty and sour flavors than a green mango, dipped in bagoong, a flavorsome experience that will totally awaken your taste buds
Cebu Fresh Mango
Cebu is famous for its mangoes, super sweet, delicious and juicy, the taste will definitely leave you wanting more, Mangoes are abundant in Cebu, the Cebu mango is the most recognizable fruit in the country and are in high demand for export worldwide
Pinoy Halo-Halo
Halo-Halo or ‘mix-mix’ in English, this icy treat is known for its flavorful taste
Ice-shaved dessert mixed with condensed milk and monggo beans, some variations of the dessert make use of sago, nata de coco, pinipig, sweetened banana, macapuno (coconut), and leche flan (caramel custard), in some places, they even add cheese, cornflakes, polvorón or chili into the sweet mixture and recipes for Halo-halo vary widely, depending on your preferences or local taste, just ask any Cebuano they crave and adore Halo-Halo
Cebu Fresh Coconut “Buko Juice”
Fresh Coconut is cheap in Cebu City and cheaper again in the Coconut farming regions of the Cebu Provinces, and are available everywhere, you’ll more often notice roadside vendors selling them out of cooler boxes or “Buko Juice”, again you will often notice vans on the road loaded with fresh Coconut, which are delivering to the local markets for sale from the Coconut farming regions, street vendors also offer fresh ice cold Coconut milk made with Coconut water and Coconut flesh with added condensed milk, or in Cebu “Coconut Milk”, although not the Coconut milk type you may be familiar with, it’s a refreshing alternative, if you are in a Coconut growing Province or towards a mountainous region, grab the opportunity and try one from the tree, you really can’t compare to fresh Coconut juice and flesh direct from the tree, although there are Coconut trees all over Cebu City, islands, beaches and urban areas, but the trees usually belong to the lot owner
