Ilocos Norte | Street Food Trip Up North (Empanada, Longganisa, Pakbet, Etc.)

Ilocos special empanada - with egg, longganisa, and veggies

Recently, Filipino (street) foods made it to spotlight when one foreign travel blogger wrote about her not-so-good food adventures here in our country. Some of her accounts may have truth in it but I'm one with fellow Filipinos in saying that she should have made the necessary researches needed to do some quality food trips here. Anyway, this isn't about her but my street food trip up north, in the province of Ilocos Norte, the land of pakbet, empanada and Ilocos longganisa.

As the title suggests, this is all about our street food trips in Ilocos Norte. Like some other foodies however, I also have some qualms with street foods too, especially here in the Metro. But if it's in the province (especially in the rural areas), I usually give it a try. Most of the local eateries in the province serve home-made dishes and some of them are clean and hygienic, we just have to look and check them out.

In Ilocos Norte, we found this eatery (Empanadahan ti Amianan, if I remembered it right) two blocks away from the (Laoag) city plaza. It has several stalls in it that offer mostly authentic Ilocano dishes like empanada, longganisa and Ilocos miki. Here's what we've tried from Empanadahan ti Amianan:

preparing Ilocos empanada (Manang's hands seems clean, right?)

Ilocos' famous empanada - deep fried, so yes, it's saturated with oil but that's what makes this dish tasty and flavorful...hehe. Plus it's not expensive, another reason why it's the local tourists' favorite, I guess. ;)

Ilocos empanada

I first tried this miki from Goldilocks when they offer it in their stores. I don't like it that much but out of curiosity, I also tried it when I went to Ilocos Norte last November. Same verdict though, I still don't like this dish that much, it's bland and it has lots of oil...hehe. I don't like dishes with so much oil especially when it has broth or is soupy.

Ilocos miki

On our last day in Ilocos Norte, we ordered the usual Pinoy breakfast - fried rice, fried egg and logganisa, more commonly known as longsilog. This breakfast is offered almost in every local eateries in the province so I wonder why the very disappointed foreign travel blogger didn't find one during her food trips there. Did she really look for one? We can only guess...hehe... ;)

Pinoy breakfast up-north: longsilog - fried rice, Ilocos longganisa and fried egg

Empanadaan ti Amianan (not sure of the name, though)- street food eateries two blocks away from Laoag plaza

We also tried the following on our very first day in Laoag, from an eatery near the bus station: gisadong utong (sauteed beans), much like the mung bean soup of the Tagalogs, except that their beans are much bigger, not the same mung bean variety we usually use here in the Metro. It tasted almost the same, by the way.

gisadong utong

thinly-slilced porky! (hehe...dunno what's this dish, actually)

authentic Ilocos pakbet 

~ oo00oo ~

Food prices for this food trip range from as low as 35 pesos to as high as 80 pesos (for longsilog) per order. Cheap but definitely filling! And I didn't get any stomachache nor felt any discomforts, whatsoever. Tough stomach eh...hehe.

That's it for our Ilocos street food trip. 'Til next post...

~ oo00oo ~

Laoag City, Ilocos Norte

Date of Visit: November 16-17, 2013