Night Markets

Sidewalk cafes

Getting something to eat at night is easy and fun in most cities in the Philippines. Many of the shops have closed and mobile eateries set up on the sidewalks out front.

I like the grilled fish from the stands on the sidewalks in Cebu. Legaspi has a row of mini kitchens that serve a fantastic soup with some sliced egg tossed on top. Delicious!

Zamboanga has a bunch of excellent diners kind of bunched up together under one roof.

Some of them advertise “No Pork Here” so as not to offend Muslim tradition. There are a number of halal eateries around that are pretty good too.

Manila people tend to migrate to the big malls like Robinsons where they can hang out in the air conditioning.

On the upper levels there are food courts but they lack the character of sidewalk markets and their food is kind of uninteresting.

The fruit vendors stay open late in Cagayan de Oro and there are several buko juice carts where the men chop coconuts into shape and stick a straw in the top for ease in drinking. They cut the meat free with a flexible blade made from caribou horn.

In every town there will be stands that specialize in lechon manok with racks of chicken turned over a bed of coals.

Another common sight is lechon baboy or pig roasted over the coals. Sometimes you see up to 5 pigs going at one time right alongside the road. People driving by can just pull over, get their order and take off.

Dumaguete vendors set up hundreds of plastic chairs and folding tables along the waterfront and put on a pretty good feed. It is relaxing to eat a late meal looking out over the ocean with a nice breeze coming in.

The traffic on the road lightens up at night but there is still quite a bit of activity with the pier being so close.

There’s some thing about the evening that is so comfortable. The weather has cooled down a bit and the Filipinos, being a very social people are out and about with their friends.

I was in Cebu last week, getting a visa extension, and enjoyed some of the grilled fish from the sidewalk vendors that set up at nights along Osmena Blvd.

…gotta love the philippines