Eating street food is one of the many pleasures of living in Asian cities such as Manila in the Philippines. After all, Manila street food is often cheap, readily available on nearly every street corner and can be surprisingly delicious. Visitors to Manila should note that typical and popular Manila street food fare would include:

  • Balut: A boiled duck embryo that is not for the finicky eater!
  • Pork or Chicken Barbecue: Basically pieces of marinated pork or chicken meat on a barbecue stick that is grilled over an open charcoal barbecue. Other pork or chicken meat related items that may find their way onto a barbecue stick would include adidas (feet), betamax (blood), isaw (intestines) and helmet (head).
  • Kwek Kwek and Tokneneng:Boiled chicken, duck or quail eggs that are covered in an orange batter, deep fried in hot oil and then eaten with vinegar.
  • Banana or Kamote (Sweet Potato) Cue: Either bananas or sweet potatoes that are coated with caramelized brown sugar, deep fried in hot oil and then served on a barbecue stick.
  • Fishballs and Squidballs: Also deep fried and served on a stick. With Manila street food vendors, a variety of sauces will be on offer by the frying pan for customers to dip the fish or squidballs into.
  • Taho: Popular with Filipino kids, taho is a warm soybean curd mixed with chewy tapioca balls and a sweet sugary syrup.

The best places in Manila to enjoy street food would be by universities and at the University of the Philippines' Diliman campus in particular. Specifically, there are street food vendors in one part of the UP Diliman campus who sell various unknown and best not asked about parts (e.g. intestines) of animals barbecued on a stick and served with vinegar. Just ask any student on the campus and they can probably give you directions as to the location of these particular street food vendors and other ones that are popular with local students.

However, I should note that a Vietnamese friend of mine who traveled to Manila for business once noted to me that street food vendors selling coffee, tea and other beverages like shakes are (unlike in Vietnam) noticeably absent from the street food scene in Manila.

This is probably just as well as its important for tourists to remember that unlike in other Asian cities such as Singapore or Bangkok, street food in Manila is largely an unregulated affair and the level of quality and hygiene can vary considerably. In other words, avoid eating anything that is not cooked right in front of you or may have been left sitting out - especially in the sun. Moreover, any type of iced beverage is probably best avoided.

On-the-hand and if the person cooking and serving the street food looks clean and healthy and there is a line of locals at his or her stall, chances are that street food will be safe to eat.

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