Negros Oriental Diaries Dumaguete City Food Guide, Dumaguete, Philippines

The best way to immerse oneself in a particular region’s culture is to eat like a local. And that’s exactly what we did during our recent trip to Dumaguete City. Its food scene offers a good mix of traditional and modern cuisine, catering to the myriad tourists that flock the city. Being a waterfront settlement, expect seafood to be abundant, readily available and affordable at Dumaguete. 

First off, begin your day with a filling breakfast in one of the painitans at the Dumaguete Public Market. We chose Sison’s Painitan at the farthest end of a row of stalls. Painitan is a place where workers and just about anybody else can have something “mainit” or warm to fill their bellies and energize their bodies in anticipation of a long day of work.

Food here is very basic — a shot of thick native chocolate drink, a cup of brewed coffee with condensed milk, a scoop of puto (sticky rice cooked in coconut milk and a little salt), a piece or two of kabog (similar to suman or steamed cassava roll wrapped in banana leaf) and maybe bread with either margarine or peanut butter. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).