PH Street Foods

Philippines, like other countries in Asia do have varieties of street foods. Most are very affordable and readily available at all streets and corners. The most popular and the longest running street food is the "Fishball". This are balls made with fish meat, most often from pollock fish, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce. Fishball vendors can be seen with their sidecars roving in the streets and town corners.

Kikiam, in my opinion, comes after with fishball based on its popularity. Kikiam is madeof ground pork and vegetables wrapped in bean curd sheets, deep-fried and served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce; those in the street are seafood-based, usually made of fish meat and cuttlefish. Kikiams and fishballs can be cooked at the same time. That is why, fishaball vendors also included kikiams on their roving sidecar store.


Here is the list of the foods most commonly sold at the streets or simply street foods in the Philippines..

• Adidas - chicken feet, marinated and grilled or cooked adobo style
• Arroz caldo - rice porridge or congee cooked with chicken and kasubha; see alsoLugaw
• Atay - grilled chicken liver
• Baga - pig's or cow's lungs grilled or deep-fried and served with barbeque condiments
• Balat ng manok - see Chicken skin and Chicharon manok
• Balun-balunan - grilled chicken gizzard
• Balut - hard-boiled duck egg with fetus
• Banana cue - deep-fried saba (banana) covered with caramelized brown sugar
• Barbeque - marinated pork or chicken pieces grilled on skewers
• Batchoy - miki noodle soup garnished with pork innards (liver, kidney and heart), chicharon (pork skin cracklings), chicken breast, vegetables and topped with a raw egg; origin traced to La Paz, Iloilo
• Betamax - curdled chicken or pork blood, cubed and grilled
• Bibingka - glutinous rice flour pancakes grilled with charcoal above and below in a special clay pot
• Biko (also Bico) - glutinous rice cake with grated coconut topping
• Binatog - boiled white corn kernels, sugar, grated coconut and milk
• Bopis - minced pig's heart and lungs sauteed with garlic and onion and seasoned with laurel, oregano, bell pepper and vinegar
• Calamares - deep-fried squid in batter
• Calamay (also Kalamay) - glutinous rice cakes; varieties all over the country
• Camote cue - deep-fried camote (sweet potato) covered with caramelized brown sugar
• Carioca (also Karyoka, Karioka) - deep-fried glutinous rice flour cakes served on skewers
• Cheese sticks - deep-fried cheese wrapped in lumpia (spring roll) wrapper
• Chicharon baboy - pork skin cracklings, made from pork rind boiled and seasoned, sun-dried and deep-fried
• Chicharon bituka - pork or chicken intestine boiled, seasoned and deep-fried
• Chicharon bulaklak - pork omentum boiled, seasoned and deep-fried
• Chicharon manok - chicken skin cracklings
• Chicken balls - balls made with chicken meat, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce
• Chicken skin - chicken skin battered and deep fried
• Cutchinta - see Kutsinta
• Day-old chicks - literally day-old chicks deep-fried to a crisp, served with sauce or vinegar
• Empanada (Batac) - pork longganiza, egg and grated green papaya in a rice flour shell, deep-fried and served with vinegar
• Fishballs - balls made with fish meat, most often from pollock, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce
• Goto - rice porridge or congee cooked with beef tripe
• Halo-halo - translated as "a mix of many things" or "an assortment," it is a dessert topped with shaved ice that may contain sweetened saba (banana), camote, macapuno(young coconut), kaong, nata de coco, pinipig (rice crispies), gulaman (agar), sago(tapioca balls), brown and white beans, garbanzos, ube (purple yam), and leche flan(creme brulee), with milk and sugar; Pampanga has three popular versions in Guagua, Arayat and Angeles which may include pastillas, crushed white beans and corn
• Isaw - collective term for different types of grilled chicken and pork innards; varieties include isaw manok, isaw baboy, atay, goto, botsi, balun-balunan, andtenga ng baboy
• Isaw baboy - grilled or deep-fried pork intestines on a skewer, served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce
• Isaw manok (aslo IUD) - grilled or deep-fried chicken intestines on a skewer, served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce; also referred to as IUD because it resembles an intra-uterine device
• Iskrambol (also Scrambol) - frostees; shaved ice, diced gulaman, sago and condensed milk
• Kakanin - collective term for snacks made with kanin (rice), particularly malagkit(glutinous) rice; varieties include puto, kutsinta, calamay, sapin-sapin, suman,palitaw, biko or sinukmani, and espasol among many others
• Kalamay - see Kalamay
• Kamote cue - see Camote cue
• Kikiam - the special ones are made of ground pork and vegetables wrapped in bean curd sheets, deep-fried and served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce; those in the street are seafood-based, usually made of fish meat and cuttlefish
• Kudil - deep-fried pork skin
• Kutsinta - steamed bahaw (boiled rice) with lye and brown sugar; has a gelatinous consistency
• Kwek kwek - see Quek quek
• Lomi - noodle soup made with thick fresh egg noodles or lomi
• Longganiza - pork sausage grilled or fried on a skewer
• Lugaw - rice porridge or congee; varieties include arroz caldo (with chicken and kasubha) and goto (with beef tripe)
• Lumpia - spring rolls; varieties include lumpiang basa; lumpiang hubad - fresh spring rolls wothout the wrapper; lumpiang prito; lumpiang sariwa - fresh srping rolls; lumpiang shanghai; lumpiang ubod; and turon
• Mais - boiled sweet corn seasoned with salt, butter or margarine
• Mais con yelo - sweet corn, milk and sugar topped with shaved ice
• Mami - noodle soup
• Manggang hilaw - green mango served with bagoong (shrimp paste)
• Mani - peanuts either boiled, roasted or deep-fried and seasoned with garlic and salt
• Maruya - banana fritters
• Nilupak - mashed kamoteng kahoy (cassava) or kamote (sweet potato) with brown sugar and served with butter or margarine
• Palitaw - glutinous rice flour pancakes topped with grated young coconut, sugar and roasted sesame seeds
• Panara - deep-fried crab and grated green papaya empanda sold in Pampanga during Christmas season
• Pancit - noodles; varieties are batchoy (Iloilo) - see Batchoy; batil patung(Tuguegarao) - local noodles topped with hot dogs, chicharon, ground meat, fried egg, and vegetables; pancit bihon; pancit canton - a kind of pancit guisado flavored with ginger and soy sauce; pancit guisado, pancit habhab (Lucban) - sautéed mikinoodles served on and eaten straight from banana leaf sans utensils; pancit lomi - seeLomi; pansit luglog (Pampanga and Tagalog Region) - it has a distinct orange shrimp-achuete sauce and is topped with chicharon, tinapa, wansoy and shrimp; pancit malabon (Malabon) - made with thick rice noodles tossed in shrimp-achuete oil topped with shelled oysters, squid rings, suaje or hipong puti and wansoy; pancit molo (Iloilo) - clear chicken broth with wonton, garlic and crushed chorizo; pancit palabok; pancit puti (Manila); and pancit sotanghon among many others
• Pandesal (also Pan de sal) - breakfast roll; rounded bread
• Pares - translated as "pair," means the pairing of rice with beef; beef pares is characterized by very tender meat, usually with a lot of litid (ligaments)
• Penoy - hard-boiled duck egg without fetus
• Pusit - squid grilled on skewer
• Puto - steamed rice cake
• Puto bumbong - purple glutinous rice snack cooked in a special steamer
• Quikiam - see Kikiam
• Quek quek (also Toknanay) - hard boiled chicken eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried; also used for quail eggs but some say the correct term for the quail egg version is tokneneng; the balut version is sometimes referred to as hepalog
• Sapin-sapin - layered glutinous rice and coconut milk cake usually topped with grated coconut and latik (residue from coconut oil extraction); different flavor per layer such as ube (purple yam), macapuno (young coconut), kutsinta and langka (jackfruit)
• Scrambol - see Iskrambol
• Sinukmani - see Biko
• Siomai - steamed pork dumplings
• Siopao - steamed pork buns
• Sisig - roasted pig's head, chicken liver, onions and chili, chopped and flavored with calamansi served on a hot metal plate
• Sorbetes (also Dirty ice cream) - street ice cream made with local fruits and ingredients; common flavors include ube (purple yam), mango, avocado, queso (cheese), chocolate, langka (jackfruit), buko or macapuno (coconut); strawberry is common in Baguio City
• Squid balls - balls made with squid or cuttlefish meat, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce
• Suman - glutinous rice snack steamed in banana or coconut leaves; varieties includebinagol (Leyte) made with glutinous rice, gabi (taro), coconut milk and chocolate;budbod sa kabog (Tanjay, Negros Oriental) which uses millet instead of glutinous rice; Taho - bean curd snack topped with arnibal (liquefied raw sugar similar to molasses) and sago (tapioca balls)
• Tenga ng baboy (also Walkman) - marinated pig's ears grilled on skewers; see alsoKudil
• Tokneneng - hard boiled quail eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried; also calledkwek kwek by others
• Toknonong - see Hepalog
• Tupig (also Itemtem) - glutinous rice, grated mature coconut, coconut milk and molasses rolled in banana leaves and grilled; varieties in Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte (Batac) and Isabela
• Turon - saba (banana) with with sugar and sometimes langka (jackfruit) wrapped inlumpia (spring roll) wrapper and deep-fried
• Walkman - see Tenga ng Baboy

Halo - halo and Recipe

Halo-Halo is a famous Filipino dessert and refreshment as well. Halo halo is quite a best selling Filipino food/dessert/refreshment during the summer season. Halo halo recipe is a mixture of sweetened preserved fruits, evaporated milk and crushed ice top with either ice cream, leche flan or ube.

Halo Halo is usually served in tall, clear  glasses (but nowadays, plastic cups are being used) that show its colorful preserved fruit contents or mixtures.




Halo-halo Recipe Ingredients:

- Sweetened red beans
- Sweetened garbanzos
- Sweetened saba banana
- Sweetened kamote
- Sweetened jackfruit
- Sweetened kaong
- Cooked sago
- Pinipig
- Macapuno
- Shaved/Crushed ice
- Ice cream
- Ube haleya
- Leche flan
- Milk- White sugar


How To Make Halo-halo:
- Half-fill a tall glass with your choice of sweets. Fill with shaved/crushed ice. Top with ice cream, ube haleya or leche flan. Serve with milk and sugar.

Popular Street Food

One of the many well known Filipino food delicacy that can be found here only in the Philippines is called "balut

A balut is a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. It is commonly sold as streetfood in the Philippines.

Balut is usually served warm and fresh. Some of the pubs in Philippines serves the balut with beers.

The Pinoys usually tap the tip of the Balut to make a small crack on the top and drink up the juices inside the egg shell. After that the Balut shell will be cracked open and a pinch of salt will be springled on the Balut. Then, get ready to ‘wallup’ the whole thing into your mouth. I’m sure it’d taste good with beer.


Balut are most often eaten with a pinch of salt, some prefer chili and vinegar to complement their egg. The eggs are savored for their balance of textures and flavors; the broth surrounding the embryo is sipped from the egg before the shell is peeled and the yolk and young chick inside can be eaten. All of the contents of the egg are consumed, although the whites may remain uneaten, due to its toughness depending on the age of the fertilized egg.

Eating food along the street is dangerous

Now that many pollutants are everywhere, eating street food is dangerous. Even in many progressive countries, street vendors are selling newly-cooked food that lure the palate or taste buds of bystanders. I didn't have any grudge with the vendors but authorities should issue health warnings and certificate to ensure people of the safeness of the food they are selling. Even we're selling food at home, we must ensure the safety of the ingredients we are using.Food Poisoning can cause fatal effects or even death to people who are at risk when eating street food. Street vendors serve their food hot but are we sure it's safe?