Originally Posted by
afterglow
Gotcha.
A Filipino meal is truly a multi-course affair best enjoyed with family and friends. I'll try to give a few suggestions for each course:
Hors d'oeuvres
Chicharon - deep fried pork rinds served with a vinegar dipping sauce
Talangka - deep fried baby crab (eaten whole) with a vinegar dipping sauce
Sisig - pork face that is both crunchy and chewy
Sour & Salad
Sinigang - soup soured by tamarind, kamias or some other fruit, with pork, shrimp or fish. Not unlike Thai Tom Yum.
Bulalo - beef marrow soup
Pako Salad - fiddlehead fern salad with a vinaigrette dressing
Meats
Lechon - roast suckling pig. Try to get the Cebu version (flavored with lemongrass) or if in Metro Manila, look for Elar's. Served with a liver sauce (tastes better than it sounds).
Kare-kare - ox tail in a peanut sauce; served with bagoong (shrimp paste)
Crispy Pata - deep fried pork hocks (my personal favorite) served with a soy-vinegar dipping sauce
Adobo - pork or chicken stewed in soy and vinegar. For an extra treat, get it twice-cooked (fried then stewed)
Seafood
Inihaw na Isda - simply means charcoal-roasted fish. Get whatever is fresh be it tuna, jack, marlin, parrotfish, catfish, etc.
Sugpo sa aligue - prawns stewed in crab fat/tomalley
Vegetables
Laing - taro leaves stewed with coconut milk and chilis
Bicol Express - various vegetables stewed with coconut milk and chili
Adobong Kangkong - a kind of spinach cooked adobo style
Dessert
Halo-halo - literally "mix-mix"; a tall glass of various sweet beans and coconut, topped with ice-cream and purple yam
Leche Flan - milk and caramel custard
You should eat all of the above with garlic fried rice and San Miguel Beer.....
If I might add my 2 cents into this thread:
HORS'D'OEUVRES:
Inihaw na Pusit -- Grilled Squid. Sometimes with a vinegar dipping sauce, sometimes with a sweet soy glaze.
Adobong Mani -- Garlic-roasted peanuts.
SOUP(S):
Mami (either Beef of Chicken) -- It's like Pho but with egg noodles and green onions and chicharron for a topping.
Munggo (Beans) -- Either Kidney Beans or a smaller variety. Cooking is different too with the Kidney Bean version having pork and Chorizo sausages in a tomato-based thick broth.
The other version has pork along with shrimp and spinach. This is sometimes eaten with a dollop of Bagoong (the fermented fish paste).
Pinapaiitan -- Basically Goat bile soup. You might want to check out Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations episode when he went to the Philippines.
Arroz Caldo -- Chicken with rice and ginger. This is more a porridge-like consistency but I'll label it as soup for now.
MEAT:
Lechon Kawali -- Deep Fried pork. Usually with a vinegar or liver dipping sauce. One of my favorites!!!
Kaldereta -- Usually Beef and Goat. Spicy stewed meat with potatoes, bell peppers, peas, and chilis. Also used during "Pulutan" when drinking beer.
Pata Asado -- Braised Ham Hocks in a sweet and savory sauce.
Pork Binagoongan -- Pork stewed with bagoong.
Tocino/Tapa -- Cured Pork or Beef. Best eaten as part of a breakfast (i.e Tosilog = Tocino, Sinangag [fried rice], itlog [egg], Tapsilog = Tapa [fried sliced beef], Sinangag, itlog).
Longganisa -- Native Pork garlic sausage. Good for breakfast and warding off Vampires.
SEAFOOD:
Danggit -- Fried dried salty fish. Usually eaten for breakfast along with fried rice and egg.
Kinilaw -- Local version of Ceviche but with a bit more kick because of the local chilis. Can be made from fish or meat.
Ukoy -- Small fried papaya patties with shrimp. Good for afternoon snacks (aka Merienda).
VEGETABLES:
Pinakbet -- Stewed vegetables (Okra, Pumpkin, Long Beans, Eggplan, Bitter Melon) with pork and bagoong. Sometimes they even put Coconut milk making it Ginataan.
Adobong Sitaw -- Long Beans cooked adobo style.
Lumpia Ubod -- Non-fried Lumpia filled with mostly vegetables. This is served with a peanut dipping sauce.
DESSERTS:
Brazo de Mercedes -- Literal translation "Mercedes' Forearm". A log of egg whites with a creamy custard center. This one is excellent.
Sans Rival -- Nuts and Butter basically but it's oh-so-good.
Sapin-Sapin -- I've been eating this all my life and I still don't know how to describe it except to say it's the consistency of yam and eaten with toasted coconuts.
Ube -- Purple Yam. Usually eaten in Halo-Halo.
Any Goldilocks or Red Ribbon bakery should be able to satisfy any sweet tooth.
Happy Eating!!! ^