Palaweño flavors
A Taste of Palawan
Must-try Palawan dishes — with allergen notes and where to eat each one
Local Dishes
Tamilok (Woodworm)
Palawan's notorious delicacy — not a worm but a shell-less shipworm bored from mangrove wood, eaten raw and kinilaw-style, cured in coconut vinegar with onion, ginger, and chilli. Briny and oyster-like. The ultimate Palawan dare.
Crocodile Sisig
Palawan's playful twist on the Filipino classic — lean farmed crocodile meat, tasting between chicken and pork, minced and sizzled with onion, chilli, calamansi, and egg on a hot plate. A novel, leaner pulutan for curious visitors.
Chao Long Noodles
A taste of Vietnam in Palawan — thin rice noodles in a sweet-savoury beef or pork broth, brought by Vietnamese refugees who settled in Puerto Princesa, served with herbs and a warm, crusty 'French bread' baguette for dipping.
Danggit Lamayo
Palawan's signature breakfast fish — rabbitfish butterflied and marinated in vinegar, garlic, and pepper, then only briefly sun-dried so it stays half-moist (lamayo). Pan-fried crisp and served with garlic rice, egg, and spiced vinegar.
Lato (Seaweed Salad)
Fresh sea grapes — tiny jewel-green seaweed clusters that pop like caviar with a clean, briny snap. Harvested from Palawan's clear shallows and tossed raw with tomato, onion, and coconut vinegar, sometimes with bagoong on the side.
Inihaw na Pusit (Grilled Squid)
Whole fresh squid, often stuffed with tomato and onion, grilled over charcoal until just tender and lightly charred, brushed with a soy-calamansi glaze. A staple of every Palawan seafood grill, eaten with rice and spiced vinegar.
Tuway (Mangrove Clam Soup)
Small mangrove clams gathered from Palawan's tidal flats, simmered into a clean, faintly sweet broth with ginger, lemongrass, and leafy greens. A humble, restorative soup much loved by locals and rarely seen on tourist menus.
El Nido Grilled Lobster
Palawan — especially El Nido and Coron — is one of the cheapest places on earth to eat lobster fresh off the boat. Spiny lobster split, brushed with garlic butter, and grilled over coals, served by weight against a backdrop of limestone cliffs.
Specialties & Pasalubong
Baker's Hill Hopia
The flaky, palm-sized Filipino pastry made famous on the island by Baker's Hill, a beloved Puerto Princesa bakery-and-garden complex. Fillings run from classic mung bean to creamy ube, baked fresh and boxed up as the city's defining pasalubong.
Cashew Nuts & Bandi
Palawan is the Philippines' cashew (kasoy) capital. The nuts come roasted and salted, and — most addictively — as bandi, a brittle of whole cashews bound in caramelised brown sugar or honey. The island's top edible souvenir alongside hopia.
Island Drinks
Palawan Wild Honey
Raw honey gathered from wild giant-bee colonies deep in Palawan's old-growth forests by Indigenous Batak and Tagbanua honey-hunters. Dark, floral, and unprocessed, it's stirred into warm water, calamansi, or tea as a daily tonic.
Lambanog (Coconut Liquor)
The Philippines' fierce coconut spirit — distilled from tuba (fermented coconut sap) into a clear, potent liquor of roughly 40–45% ABV, smooth but deceptively strong. Often infused with mango or cinnamon. A bold end to a seafood feast.
Find the best restaurants in Palawan
Browse our directory of Palawan — from Puerto Princesa's exotic grills and Vietnamese chao long houses to El Nido's beachfront seafood shacks.