Just recently, CNN named Manila as one of the greatest street food cities in Asia, wherein it stated in its article that Manila is “a city filled with street food options”. The Philippines entirely is a haven for street foods. Why? Not only it is cheap, but it is also found in almost every corner and of course, delicious!

Street foods as well are good source of income for many Filipino families. You’ll see a lot of them selling street foods outside the church, school and office premises. Street foods are also great alternatives for students and workers who would want to have an inexpensive meal.

Here’s a top ten list of Filipino street foods. A price will be placed for some foods and is based on Davao prices.

Fishballs

Although there are already fish ball stalls found inside the malls, nothing beats the fish balls sold on the streets. For five pesos only, you already have 7 fish balls in a cup topped with either a sweet or a spicy sauce.

Proben

One of the deliciously tasting street foods in the Philippines is the Chicken Proben. Proben is essentially the proventriculus part of the chicken, which is dipped in cornstarch and then deep-fried. The price for this street food is from 4 pesos to 5 pesos only. With that amount, you get a stick with 4 probens. You can have it dipped with either vinergar sauce or sweet sauce or just have it plain.

Kwek Kwek

These street foods are hard boiled eggs with an orange colored batter coating and cooked deep fry. Another version of it is Tukaneneng, to which they use quail eggs instead of chicken eggs. These foods are served with cucumber and some spices, of which you can choose to top it with vinegar and salt.

Taho

It is a soybean snack with sweet syrup and tapioca pearls. Taho is one of the favourite breakfast and snacks of children and adults.

Banana Cues

Also known as Maruya, these foods are the Saba variety of bananas that are coated with caramelized sugar, deep fried and speared to bamboo sticks. It used to be only two pesos but now the price ranges from five to ten pesos.

Chicharon

These are cracklings made from different parts of chicken and pig. They are seasoned and deep fried. Just the smell of these cracklings would make you want to buy it. Chicharon street foods include Chicken Skin (made from the skin of the chicken), Chicharong baboy (from pork rind), Chicharong Bituka (from chicken and pork intestines) and Chicharong bulaklak (from Pork Omentum).

Barbeque

These are marinated chicken and pork parts, speared in bamboo sticks and grilled. Barbeque varieties include Betamax (dried chicken or pork blood), Adidas (chicken feet), Helmet (chicken head), and Isaw (chicken intestines).

Puto at Kutsinta

Puto and Kutsinta are native rice cakes. The Puto is a small puffy cake, while Kutsinta is sticky. They are paired with grated coconut.

Buko Juice

There is not a single array of street foods that doesn’t include a stall of Buko Juice. For five pesos, you already have the refreshing buko juice mixed with evaporated and condensed milk.

Balut

One of Filipino’s favourite street foods is Balut. This street food is thought to be an aphrodisiac. Balut is a hard boiled duck eggs with developed embryo inside. Once you opened the egg, you may top it with vinegar or just pure salt then sip its amniotic fluid first before the other parts.