Popular Street Food in Philippines

1. Kwek Kwek and Tokneneng


Kwek kwek are boiled quail eggs or commonly known as “itlog ng pugo”. It is covered with its famous orange-colored batter and then deep fried until crispy. There is another version of this, which is called the Tokneneng. They have the same ingredients and process of cooking, but instead of using quail eggs, they use hard-boiled chicken eggs. Kwek kwek and Tokneneng are best paired with vinegar, cucumber, onions, and spices.

2. Fish balls, Kikiam, Squid balls and Chicken balls


These are very common in the streets and it can be easily found everywhere. They are usually on push carts, where you are can just grab a skewer and poke them directly on the pan where you can choose whether you like it toasted or not. It comes with three different sauces: sweet, spicy and vinegar.

3. Betamax and Isaw ng baboy o manok


Betamax is a grilled chicken or pig blood and yes it does sound really disgusting but wait until you try it. Maybe you are wondering how can you grill a liquid? Well first, the blood is turned into somewhat gelatinous when cooled. It is cut into box-like shapes same with an old school Betamax tapes. These boxes are seasoned and cooked, and then skewered and grilled. Long process but totally worth it. While Isaw is a chicken or pork intestine that are meticulously cleaned before seasoned and cooked. After that, it is coiled into skewers and grilled over a hot fire until smokey. Betamax and Isaw are both best paired with vinegar and other spices.

4. Balut


Balut is another disgusting looking street food that is very famous not only for the locals but also for the tourists. It is usually eaten by the tourist as a challenge and ended up in loving it. Balut is a hard-boiled 3-week old duck egg. To eat this, crack a small hole at the top of the shell, sip the chicken soup, peel the rest of the egg, and then put some salt and vinegar to season the chick and yolk before eating it.

5. Manggang hilaw at Singkamas


Manggang hilaw commonly known as Indian mangoes (green mangoes) and Singkamas (turnips) are normally seen in the streets, cut into half and then poked into skewers. It is both paired with bagoong (shrimp paste) or salt.