The Philippines isn’t well known for its cuisine offerings, but after visiting Coron and Boracay on a previous trip to this beautiful island nation, we were pleasantly surprised by some of the great food we were able to eat.
The good places in Siargao were a bit harder to find, and the old adage of finding the place with the most people in it to eat at, didn’t always work (except in the case of Kermit), as there’s often places which look quiet as, serving up the tastiest of treats. We tried a few of these and others. Here’s our recommendations for where to eat and drink in Siargao.
Miguel’s Taqueria
Tucked away at the end of town closest to the Dapa-General Luna Road (where you come into GL from the airport), you’ll find Miquel’s. It’s a funky restaurant set on a corner site, with just a few tables outside, and a small bar to order at. I went with the fish tacos and Mike went with a burrito. We did make the mistake of ordering ‘two taco’s’, not realising each serving comes with two by default. This meant we had way too much food, although, pretty sure most of it got eaten. I have to admit I had zero taste buds as I was recovering from a cold, but Mike thought it was a pretty good feed and worth checking out.
Corner Café
Corner Café, is the coolest little waffle bar in the world. Just look at it. We rocked up on Morning number one, looking for fuel to take on the day. Two iced coffees, a bacon & egg waffle and a chocolate waffle were ordered. The waffles were freshly cooked and mine in particular was delicious, (the chocolate one), crammed with chocolate and banana goodness. Sit, enjoy and watch the world go by from this spot.
On the second night (and after wondering where everyone was on the first night), we rocked up to Kermit for dinner. Turns out all the tourists in General Luna were here. If you’re arriving around 6pm, you’re going to be in for a wait as the place gets really busy. Don’t let this put you off though (unless you’re truly starving), as the bar’s serving 2-for-1 during Happy Hour and there’s a reason for the wait.
When we got seated about 45 minutes later, I went with a custom pizza (you can choose your toppings), while Mike opted for the Kinilaw a.k.a. Kiniloy, which is basically a ceviche. Great place, food was definitely worth the wait and I can see why everyone queues.
Having spotted this place the day before, I figured we should hit it up for breakfast, the perfect time for crepes. After walking in bright and early (pre-day trip), we were told that we were the first customers ever, the bustle the day before had merely been training for the team. Nice! We ordered two crepes, two coffees and sat upstairs to eat and enjoy (the cutest).
This place is the second busiest dinner spot in General Luna, with live music, good food and cold drinks drawing in the crowds. Being located right on the beach, probably doesn’t hurt either! While part of a resort, they welcome outside diners for lunch and dinner (not breakfast, as we found out first hand). The restaurant cooks up Spanish-style food, with a range of tapas available from the menu.
We were planning on trying Shaka Bowl (near to Cloud 9) for breakfast on our last morning in Siargao as we’d heard good things – but having arrived to a sign letting us know they were moving on that day, we headed back to Greenhouse Café, the perfect little spot for our last meal in Siargao.
I had fresh fruit with granola, while Mike ordered bacon, eggs with hollandaise, each served up with a cold brew coffee – the best we’d had since we had arrived. The café has a shop on site, selling surfwear and the Greenhouse Resort itself looks pretty beautiful too! We’d go back for delights like this, for sure.
That’s the Siargao food wrap up. Just a note on finding some of the places mentioned above – google maps and just wandering is the best way to find these spots. Most places in Siargao don’t have a website, and well, there’s only about two streets that actually have names. If you want to know more about General Luna and what we got up to (when we weren’t eating), check out Part One of our Siargao guide here.