Quick Reference to Manila's Street Food

Bago natin suungin ang masalimuot na mundo ng street dining, here's a quick reference to Manila's Street Food:

Grilled and Fried

• Adidas - chicken feet, marinated and grilled or cooked adobo style



• 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



• Barbeque - marinated pork or chicken pieces grilled on skewers



• Betamax - curdled chicken or pork blood, cubed and grilled



• Botsi - chicken esophagus, deep-fried or grilled



• Bulaklak/Bulukluk (flower) -small intestine of pig fried to a crisp. Looks like a flower.



• Calamares - deep-fried squid in batter



• 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



• Empanada (Batac/Vigan) - 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



• Helmet - grilled chicken head



• Isaw - collective term for different types of grilled chicken and pork innards; varieties include isaw manok, isaw baboy, atay, goto, botsi, balun-balunan, and tenga ng baboy



• Isaw baboy - grilled or deep-fried pork intestines on a skewer, served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce



• Isaw manok (also 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



• IUD - see Isaw manok



• 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



• Kurbata - tie, in english (either just chicken's neck, or neck and thigh as in neck-tie



• Langoniza - pork sausage grilled or fried on a skewer



• 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



• PAL - Philippine Air Lines means chicken wings



• Panara - deep-fried crab and grated green papaya empanda sold in Pampanga during Christmas season



• Proven - hard portion of chicken entrails that is either marinated and grilled, battered and fried or cooked adobo style



• Pusit - squid grilled on skewer



• Quikiam - see Kikiam



• Squid balls - balls made with squid or cuttlefish meat, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce



• Tenga ng baboy (also Walkman) - marinated pig’s ears grilled on skewers; see also Kudil



• Walkman - see Tenga ng Baboy

Steamed, Boiled or Raw

• Mais - boiled sweet corn seasoned with salt, butter or margarine



• Manggang hilaw - green mango served with bagoong (shrimp paste)



• Mani - peanuts either boiled, roasted or deep-fried and seasoned with garlic and salt



• Siomai - steamed pork dumplings



• Siopao - steamed pork buns

Egg Family

• Abnoy - unhatched incubated duck egg or bugok which is mixed with flour and water and cooked like pancakes



• Balut - hard-boiled duck egg with fetus



• Day-old chicks - literally day-old chicks deep-fried to a crisp, served with sauce or vinegar



• Hepalog (also Toknonong) - hard-boiled duck eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried



• Kwek kwek - see Quek quek



• Penoy - hard-boiled duck egg without fetus (as in Balut)



• 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



• Toknanay - see Quek quek



• Tokneneng - hard boiled quail eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried; also called kwek kwek by others



• Toknonong - see Hepalog

Sweets and Pastries

• Banana cue - deep-fried saba (banana) covered with caramelized brown sugar



• 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



• 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



• Cutchinta - see Kutsinta



• 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 Calamay



• Kamote cue - see Camote cue



• 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



• Iskrambol (also Scrambol) - frostees; shaved ice, diced gulaman, sago and condensed milk



• Kutsinta - steamed bahaw (boiled rice) with lye and brown sugar; has a gelatinous consistency



• Mais con yelo - sweet corn, milk and sugar topped with shaved ice



• 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



• Pandesal (also Pan de sal) - breakfast roll; rounded bread



• Puto - steamed rice cake



• Puto bumbong - purple glutinous rice snack cooked in a special steamer



• 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



• 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



• Suman - glutinous rice snack steamed in banana or coconut leaves; varieties include binagol (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)



• 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 in lumpia (spring roll) wrapper and deep-fried

Noodles

• 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



• Lomi - noodle soup made with thick fresh egg noodles or lomi



• Mami - noodle soup



• 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 miki noodles served on and eaten straight from banana leaf sans utensils; Pancit lomi - see Lomi; 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

Rice Porridge

• Arroz caldo - rice porridge or congee cooked with chicken and kasubha; see also Lugaw



• Goto - rice porridge or congee cooked with beef tripe



• Lugaw - rice porridge or congee; varieties include arroz caldo (with chicken and kasubha) and goto (with beef tripe)

Viands/Ulam

• Bopis - minced pig’s heart and lungs sauteed with garlic and onion and seasoned with laurel, oregano, bell pepper and vinegar



• Papaitan - Pork meat stewed in bile. Bitter tasting, as you would expect



• 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)



• Sisig - roasted pig’s head, chicken liver, onions and chili, chopped and flavored with calamansi served on a hot metal plate

Source: Dictionary of Filipino Street Food