Learn the Philippines before you go

10 phrases to learn

In Filipino (Tagalog). Capital letters show the stressed part. Tap the heart to practise a phrase later.

At the table

• Wait until the host invites everyone to start, often with 'Kain tayo!' ('Let's eat!'). Filipinos also invite anyone who walks in during a meal to join, even if it is only politeness.
• Eat with a spoon in the right hand and a fork in the left, using the fork to push food onto the spoon. Knives are rarely used at the table.
• Take rice first, then small portions from the shared dishes with the serving spoon, and go back for more later rather than piling up your plate.
• At a kamayan or 'boodle fight' feast, food is spread on banana leaves and eaten by hand: wash your hands first and push the food into your mouth with your thumb.
• Offer food to elders first and let them start eating before you.
• Many Filipinos in Mindanao and the Sulu islands are Muslim and do not eat pork, so check before bringing pork dishes to a shared meal.

Local tips

Dishes to try

• Chicken or pork adobo: Often called the unofficial national dish. Chicken or pork is simmered in vinegar, soy sauce, lots of garlic, bay leaves and black peppercorns until tender, then sometimes browned in the pan. The vinegar helped the dish keep well in the tropical heat, and it tastes even better the next day.
• Sinigang: A sour soup, most often made with tamarind, with pork, prawns or fish and vegetables such as water spinach, radish, long beans, okra and tomato. The sourness is refreshing in the heat, and it is eaten with rice, often with a little fish sauce on the side.
• Lechon: A whole pig roasted slowly over charcoal, turned by hand for hours until the skin is glassy and crisp. Lechon is the centrepiece of fiestas, weddings and Christmas. It is often served with lechon sauce, traditionally made from the roasted pig's liver, and many cooks stuff the pig with lemongrass, tamarind leaves and other herbs.
• Kare-kare: Oxtail and beef stewed until soft in a thick, golden sauce of ground roasted peanuts and toasted rice, coloured with annatto seeds, with aubergine, long beans and pak choi. The sauce is mild, so it is always served with bagoong, a salty shrimp paste, on the side.
• Sisig: Chopped pork from the pig's head and ears, boiled, grilled and then fried with onions, chilli and calamansi, served sizzling on a hot iron plate, often with an egg cracked on top. It is loved as a dish with rice or as a snack with a cold drink.
• Chicken inasal (Inasal na manok): Chicken marinated in calamansi, coconut vinegar, black pepper and annatto, then grilled over hot coals and basted with the marinade, which gives it a golden orange colour. It is eaten with rice, a spoonful of chicken oil and a dip of soy sauce, calamansi and chilli vinegar.
• Pinakbet: A vegetable stew of the Ilocano people: bitter melon, aubergine, okra, long beans and tomato, cooked gently with fermented fish sauce, sometimes with a little pork. The vegetables steam in their own juices and keep their shape.
• Bicol express: Pork stewed in coconut milk with shrimp paste, garlic, ginger and plenty of chillies, until the sauce is thick and creamy. Bicol, the region of Mayon Volcano, is famous for cooking with coconut milk and chilli.

Cities to see

• Vigan: Calle Crisologo and its old houses, Horse-drawn calesa rides, Vigan longganisa sausage and empanadas.
• Banaue: Rice terraces, Ifugao culture and wood carving, Mountain walks to Batad.
• Baguio: Cool mountain climate, Pine trees and flower gardens, Strawberries and the Panagbenga flower festival.
• Quezon City: The largest city by population, The University of the Philippines, TV studios and big shopping malls.
• Manila (capital): Intramuros, the old walled city, Sunsets over Manila Bay, Rizal Park and the Binondo Chinatown.
• Legazpi: Views of Mayon Volcano, Spicy Bicolano food cooked in coconut milk, The gateway to Bicol.

Landmarks and the city map are on the Philippines trip