foods

10 Food to Try When Visiting Batanes

I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t love food. Personally, I always try the local food available in the community even though I’m not familiar with the taste and name of the food. Its part of the travel experience and a part of discovery.
Today I share with you some of the foods (and a wine) I remember eating while in Batanes. Most of these foods are available at Hiro’s Café where we usually hang out when its eating time.

1. Uvud Balls.

Its like meat balls but made from banana heart with ground meat. The soup is a little bit salty.

2. Flying Fish Silog

As the name suggests, its flyng fish daing with sunny-side up egg and rice. Perfect breakfast meal before a day’s tour. Add coffee please!

3. Seaweed Soup (or what Bless calls Lumot Soup)

It’s a soup made from seaweed which they say is very common to each Ivatans’ diet. A must-try when in Batanes.

 

Seaweed balls being sold at the community market in Basco.

4. Escargot with beef strips.

Snails cooked in coconut milk with beef strips and sesame seeds on the top. I love this particular food (and it sounds sosy too)!

5. Lumpiang Dibang

I think the Ivatans love their dibang or flying fish and so you find dibang in almost every menu they make. You can have it fried, sinigang, smoked and here made into lumpia which really taste good.

6. Giant Squid Calamares and Uve Chips

This I believe is their version of “fish and chips” but instead of using chips, they made use of the giant squid. They cut it into smaller strip and fry it with flour, add some uve (a kind of rootcrop) and viola! Oh, this one is a best seller.

7. Sizzling Giant Squid

Another kind of cooking on their giant squid. I love the spicyness of this one, not that strong but you can taste the pepper and onions. Can be a perfect pulutan too!

8. Sinigang na Mayasang

Boiled fish with kangkong leaves and green sili. Great for the cold weather.

9. Coconut Crab.

A Must-Try when in Batanes. We tasted this in Sabtang Island overlooking the sea. They said that when the crab is on season, they don’t use coconut milk anymore because the crab secretes its own coconut-milky-like flavor when cooked. Yummylicious!

10. Miniovaheng or Sugarcane Wine.

Bonus: “Kinilaw na Baka“ So far, this is the best pulutan I ever tasted not to mention the bonding I had with the Mahatao locals.

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