When trying out Filipino dishes in Manila restaurants, the most popular choices allow you to experience the best samples of Philippine food. These dishes are typically available in single and group orders. Aside from the large orders good for groups of at least three people, restaurants mostly offer affordable combination or daily specials called combo meals to cater to single-person servings. These specials typically include the Filipino staple food rice or pansit, soup, one or more entrée choice/s and dessert.
Sinigang
Sinigang is a tamarind-based soup characterized by its sour flavor. Alternative versions of it may use guava, calamansi, raw mango, powdered soup base, bouillon cubes or other sour-inducing ingredients instead of tamarind. This distinctive Filipino soup also uses a particular meat for its main ingredient, which could be fish, pork, shrimp, chicken or beef. The meat is stewed with secondary ingredients such as tomato, onion, okra, taro corm, daikon, water spinach, yardlong beans and eggplant. Most sinigang dishes also include green finger pepper to enhance taste with a little spice.
Adobo
Adobo is a quintessential dish in Philippine cuisine that usually features chicken or pork marinated in vinegar and garlic, then slowly browned in oil and simmered with soy sauce, vinegar, black pepper, bay leaf and the actual marinade used for the meat. This tasty Philippine stew has a sweet and sour aroma and a dark brown look coming from the mix of soy sauce and vinegar. Some variations of adobo dishes use seafood like fish or squid instead of the more popular chicken or pork. Others also add hard-boiled eggs to the final dish before serving.
Pansit
Pansit refers to different kinds of Filipino noodle dishes, but the most popular ones are pansit bihon, pansit canton and pansit palabok. It is a standard fare available in local restaurants and all of these are served with a slice of calamansi or lime for an added sour flavor. Pansit bihon is distinct of its thin rice noodles mixed with sliced meat and chopped vegetables. Pansit canton uses stir-fried, medium-thick noodles with similar ingredients and cooking process as a pansit bihon. Pansit palabok uses thicker noodles smothered with thick, golden shrimp sauce and topped with shrimp, crushed ground pork rind, freshly minced green onion and hard-boiled eggs.
Halo-halo
Derived from the Filipino word “halo,” which means mix, halo-halo is a popular Filipino dessert placed in a clear bowl or glass and eaten with a spoon. This Filipino concoction features a blend of colorful tropical fruits and boiled sweet preserves topped with shaved ice and evaporated milk. The mixture often includes sweet-preserved beans, macapuno (coconut meat), jackfruit, banana, pinipig (pounded dried rice), garbanzos, kaong (sugar palm fruit), ube (sweet yam), tapioca, nata de coco and sweet potato. A typical halo-halo serving also adds a small piece of leche flan or a scoop of ice cream on top of the ice.