an introduction to christmas eating in the philippines

Lechon during Noche Buena.

Christmas in the Philippines means lots of eating opportunities.

A majority Catholic country with a long history as a Spanish colony, most people in the Philippines celebrate Christmas with a lot of church-going, eating, and more eating.

From about December 16 to 24, churches - both Catholics and Protestants - hold nightly mass or service, locally known as "simbang gabi" in Tagalog. But, in practicality, they usually occur before the crack of dawn so it is called "simbang madaling araw" (or pre-dawn worship).

For food lovers, simbang gabi is exciting because of what happens after the mass or service. Because they tend to be well-attended, many food vendors usually set up their stalls outside the churches. There, you can find delicious goodies. Watch out for:

sazy rock's top 10 best restaurant dishes (to date) around the world

If you haven't figured it out yet, I really like to eat - and not necessarily healthy foods - when I travel. Eating while traveling makes me happy. In this first of my top 10 series, I will be sharing my top 10 restaurant dishes so far. I've excluded the US because I live there. I also reserve to change my mind about what should be on the top 10 tomorrow -- only because there's so much tasty food out there. So, without further ado, here they are:

1.  Various dishes at Azurmendi near Bilbao, Spain
This restaurant just outside of Bilbao served delicious, local, seasonal and beautiful food. The lobster on lobster dish was absolutely simple yet so tasty. The truffled egg was not simple but, biting into the yolk just showed how a great chef can elevate a simple egg into something ridiculously good. Oh, and the foie gras ash was so rich and creamy I thought I died and went to heaven. Okay, I loved a lot of dishes at Azurmendi, which I reviewed here. In fact, I'll just say that, in the past five years (and probably more), Azurmendi served the best dishes I have ever eaten anywhere (including in the United States).

Five of around 19 dishes served at Azurmendi. Clockwise from top left: lobster with lobster cornet,
foie gras ash with a block of foie gras underneath, squid, mullet, and egg yolk infused with black truffles.

Gran Reserva Jamon from Joselito's.

2.  Jamon Iberico de Bellota at Joselito's in Madrid, Spain
Technically, Joselito's is not a restaurant but a store where you can get Jamon Iberico to take home or eat in the store. When I visited, they offered different kinds of Jamon Iberico de Bellota, which came from black footed Iberian pig fed on acorns while freely roaming the dehesa of the Extremadura region of Spain. The best kind I tasted was the Grand Reserva, which was aged for up to five years before being carved. The resulting ham was nice and fatty (I'd like to think that the fat was good for me because you know, it's acorn fed). When I ate it, the thinly hand sliced piece practically melted in my mouth.

travel zen on tuesday - moonrise in zambales, philippines

Interesting fact:

primer on filipino food when visiting the philippines (or that pinoy restaurant near you)

Pinoy (as inhabitants of the Philippine islands are lovingly called) food is an unsurprising mish mash of versions of Spanish, Chinese, Malay and whatever-the-natives-ate food. After all, the islands were colonized or visited by imperialists and traders for centuries. The dishes range from vegetarian to meat centric, and from light to heavy. So, if you go to the Philippines, or to a Filipino restaurant (also sometimes called "Filipino Chinese" or "Filipino Hawaiian" or whatever else Filipino it is named) in a town near you, check out the following savory dishes.

Oh yeah, I'm skipping dessert because there are too many to mention. I'm also skipping pansit (noodles) and lumpia (eggroll) because there are many types of each dish and those are worthy of their own individual posts. Finally, I'm skipping all the simply grilled or fried seafood, meat or vegetables (e.g., grilled fish, squid, shrimp, eggplant, chicken etc.) that Pinoys also love to eat because they're pretty much self explanatory.

Aligue from Abe.

Aligue (ah-lee-GEH) - you know when you open the shell of a crab, there's a gooey reddish pink stuff in the shell? That's aligue (or the cholesterol). The stuff is sweet and rich -- maybe too rich, so just have a small portion. Although it can be served by itself, you can also find it mixed in fried rice.