Spent a long and nice weekend in the island of Siargao or what was originally “Isla de las Palmas”. ‘Tried different food varieties and I think the average meal price is around PhP 300 – 350 which is quite expensive. This maybe reasonable as the island doesn’t grow their own food. We weren’t able to scout for other food establishments outside Gen. Luna – where most hotels are situated, so the post below is within the touristy area.
Lunch at Apsaras Tribe Hotel where we stayed: Sky Restaurant. They have special menu for Chinese New Year on 2nd week of February by the way. We tried their steamed fish Lapu-lapu in sesame oil. Herbs were generously scattered that makes this dish so fragrant. The fish is medium in size and tasted good at first but the saltiness of soy sauce is too much after consuming half of it.
Breakfast: Apsaras – Our breakfast is part of our hotel accommodation and I must say that these ones are good. The serving plate is big enough that makes it a heavy meal. You can also request how your eggs are cooked. And since food is a bit expensive in this area, might as well consider a package with breakfast inclusion.
The Food Truck Tacos – before going to Siargao, I did my homework on different restaurants or food that we ‘must’ try – meaning where there are lots of good reviews. So when we saw the Food Truck, we tried their sampler tacos. Almost all samplers from other restaurants include best-sellers so this is what I thought when I ordered. Not sure if it’s just a hype or I didn’t order the right one.
The taco is soft but I can still taste the fresh flour and it’s so visible to the naked eye- it’s a no for me. I don’t remember which one tasted best among the four – there’ s chicken intestine (1st taco), then the fish fillet (2nd), pure veggies and can’t remember the last one. No hot sauce was offered and the calamansi didn’t go well with the tacos – I preferred lemon or lime.
Dinner: Wellington Grilling Station – This is one of the best grilled meat I had as the marinade was so flavourful. This is a “karinderya-style” or “small eatery”turu-turo” and their grilled menu is only available in the afternoon until the evening. If I’m to rate this, it would be 10/5. I think nobody has reviewed this yet but it’s good – the meat is cooked to perfection, soft, tasty and affordable. We ended up ordering 2 plates of Chicken Barbeque, Chicken Intestine (isaw ng manok) and Pork BBQ. Other options are chicken leg and wings, pork intestine (isaw ng baboy), squid and not sure of the others as we had our dinner a bit late.
Day 2 Lunch at Happiness. We dined here at around 11-ish and they still serves breakfast. I think they offer lunch menu at 12pm so on our 2nd day, we had two breakfast.
Super Banana is a combination of Chia seeds, peanut butter, tahini and ofcourse banana fruit. Ice was well blended and the sweetness is not too much. We liked this one. By the way, that’s a toasted banana garnish.
The Green Power Bowl is an energy booster made from Puree of mango, banana, pineapple, ginger, coconut milk topped with moringa, chia seeds, goji berries, banana, toasted coconut flakes and home-made-granola served in a wooden bowl. It’s a bit pricey for the serving size but I must say that this was surprisingly good. On my last scoop, that’s when I realiazed that the sourness of pineapple is overpowering.
Better Together Sourdough – It doesn’t matter if you eat this together or separately coz it plays with your taste buds. As the name suggests, it tasted better together. Both sourdough has their unique taste but the one with tomato overload is better for me. Maybe the spread complements the sourness of the tomatoes, I don’t know. It magically enhances the fruit. Yes, tomatoes are fruits. Although this one is delicious, the price is not affordable.
Snack at Atabai Snack Bar is a snack bar at the roadside. They can only accommodate like 8 persons at a time – 4 seats at the front and another four on the side. We ordered the Nachos, Snow Special Burger with Fries, Winter Special Burger, Chocolate Milkshake and Caramel Macchiato. Their prices are reasonable for how it tasted and the service sizes.
The Nachos is not that tasty but for the price of PhP120, it can be considered an okay appetizer for a medium-sized plate.
Their burgers are bigger in person so don’t be fooled by my small photos. These were tasty burgers and the patties are thick with generous veggies. Although I’m still wondering how they come up with the burger names.
The glasses used on our drinks are bigger and as per the photos below, both drinks were overflowing. The caramel Macchiato is sweeter than the chocolate milkshake so I preferred the latter. Both drinks were good for the price.
Dinner at Kanin Baboy on Day 2. Hubby and I tried our luck going to Cev (Ceviche and Kilawin) and since it’s crowded and fully-booked, we roamed around and ended up at Kanin Baboy. We ordered the spicy (for me) and non-spicy platter for hubby. When our orders arrived, the servings looked familiar and yes, it’s the same with what we had when we’re in Bali Indonesia. I’m sorry but this one is incomparable from what we had. Aside from the serving size and price, this one lacks the aroma and spices. This is just like you took a plate on a Filipino Buffet Restaurant and stuffed it with all pork dishes. Even the sambal sauce didn’t add anything on the pork dish. You can check my Bali Food here – .Warung Babi Guling Dolbi (https://myeatsperience.com/2023/11/22/bali-indonesia-food-experience/)
Day 3 lunch at Thai Foon. Their Papaya Salad is very fresh with good crunch from the nuts. Papaya was shredded to perfection and so with other vegetables in it. The only down side for me is the sourness of the vinegar which was too much maybe because it’s almost like a soupy dressing as shown on the photo below.
Their fried spring rolls are nothing special and the common thing that should make it stand out is the dipping vinegar sauce paired with it. This lacks garlic and the sweet and sour taste. I’m also surprised that they didn’t cut their spring rolls which adds feast to the eyes when you’re able to see the filling.
The Chicken Cashew is soy-based flavor and as per hubby, it tasted more like our Adobo. The good thing here is they didn’t skimp on bell peppers, cashew nuts and the other greens.
Thai Foon’s Mango Sticky Rice is the best order we had, well for me. Let’s explain in detail: First the presentation. The white, blue and yellow color combination looked appetising. Agree? The blue rice color is from the blue ternate flower that is edible. The rice and coconut milk were unsweetened. I’m not sure which one has a hint of saltiness but it balanced the sweetness of ripe mango. We could have ordered another plate but we’re so full.
Their Coconut Juice is just so-so. For the price, I think I’m not just paying for the juice but also the coconut meat but wasn’t able to because of how it was presented. Too bad I didn’t ask them to open it. I also expected that coconuts are cheaper here because they have plantation everywhere.
Dinner at Cev (Ceviche and Kilawin) – We initially visited this on our 2nd night in the island but it’s full house so we’re advised to reserved a slot the next day. Almost all customers are non-Filipino and I got excited because they all seemed chilled, relaxed and enjoying the food. Fast forward, we came a bit earlier for our reserved 8:00pm slot but were immediately seated. On to our food orders:
I’m a bit bias on my review here because I compared it to the taste I’m familiar with while growing up. Fish Ball for 5 pieces – as a Filipino I still preferred the local taste of home-made fish ball made from Galunggong. I actually can’t remember how this tasted but I think sauce made it better and there’s no fishy after taste.
The Ceviche or Peruvian version of our Kilawin is consist of sweet potato (kamote), squash and bits of corn to lessen the spicyness of the dish. There’s crunchy onion on top. In short, I think our kilawin version or the one I tried in Davao is better (https://myeatsperience.com/2023/03/11/luz-inihaw-kinilaw-place/). Less ingredients but more flavor.
Their Kilawin version has so much ingredients paired with garlic rice. Aside from the fresh fish meat, there’s mushed grilled eggplant, fresh and toasted onions, onion chives, mango, white and green sauces. The taste was foreign to me not like the regular kilawin I had so it’s a bit difficult to appreciate it but I give thumbs up on how they present their dishes. So far, their garlic rice was the star of my orders – no kidding. Ofcourse I finished all our orders because it’s pricey.
My food experience in Siargao is both a hit and a miss – mostly expensive but this is expected as Siargao Island is a tourist destination so prices are targeted to foreigners. There are other food establishments in Gen. Luna which we weren’t able to try so if I’ll be returning to the island in the future, I will surely have a different list. Food reviews are really subjective, but it’s still helpful when trying food on a new place for the first time. Again, these are based from my experience so one may agree or disagree.
By the way, prices of the dishes above are from February 2024 so it may differ when you visit Siargao.
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