I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t love food. Personally, I always try the local food available in the community even though I’m not familiar with the taste and name of the food. Its part of the travel experience and a part of discovery.
Today I share with you some of the foods (and a wine) I remember eating while in Batanes. Most of these foods are available at Hiro’s Café where we usually hang out when its eating time.
1. Uvud Balls.
Its like meat balls but made from banana heart with ground meat. The soup is a little bit salty.
2. Flying Fish Silog
As the name suggests, its flyng fish daing with sunny-side up egg and rice. Perfect breakfast meal before a day’s tour. Add coffee please!
3. Seaweed Soup (or what Bless calls Lumot Soup)
It’s a soup made from seaweed which they say is very common to each Ivatans’ diet. A must-try when in Batanes.
Seaweed balls being sold at the community market in Basco.
4. Escargot with beef strips.
Snails cooked in coconut milk with beef strips and sesame seeds on the top. I love this particular food (and it sounds sosy too)!
5. Lumpiang Dibang
I think the Ivatans love their dibang or flying fish and so you find dibang in almost every menu they make. You can have it fried, sinigang, smoked and here made into lumpia which really taste good.
6. Giant Squid Calamares and Uve Chips
This I believe is their version of “fish and chips” but instead of using chips, they made use of the giant squid. They cut it into smaller strip and fry it with flour, add some uve (a kind of rootcrop) and viola! Oh, this one is a best seller.
7. Sizzling Giant Squid
Another kind of cooking on their giant squid. I love the spicyness of this one, not that strong but you can taste the pepper and onions. Can be a perfect pulutan too!
8. Sinigang na Mayasang
Boiled fish with kangkong leaves and green sili. Great for the cold weather.
9. Coconut Crab.
A Must-Try when in Batanes. We tasted this in Sabtang Island overlooking the sea. They said that when the crab is on season, they don’t use coconut milk anymore because the crab secretes its own coconut-milky-like flavor when cooked. Yummylicious!
10. Miniovaheng or Sugarcane Wine.
Bonus: “Kinilaw na Baka“ So far, this is the best pulutan I ever tasted not to mention the bonding I had with the Mahatao locals.
___ ___ ___
Visit Batanes is a 9-part series that paints the unfading beauty of Batanes, her citizens, churches, culture and cuisine. Posts are filled with photos that will surely convince readers to be thrilled in islands ata northernmost part of the Philippines. Come! Explore Batanes!
Visit Batanes Series: Colorful Churches / Sabong at Diura Fishing Village / Lola Ida and the House of Dakay / Surviving the Faluwa Ride / Quotes & Reflections at the Honesty Café / Chill Time with the Ivatans / Snapshots from Sabtang Island / 10 Must-Try Foods / Accommodations in Batanes
***This happened during the Batanes Bloggers’ Winter Tour last February 11-14, 2011. The trip was made possible by SEAIR. My heartfelt thanks goes to Tita Lydia of Batanes Seaside Lodge & Restaurant and Dir. Bless and the rest of DOT Region 2 staff.
Ang ugly pala ng flying fish!
Sayang hindi namin natikman yung ricewine. Pagbalik na lang. =)
maliit lang yan, yung malaki siguro mas okay na ang itsura.
yep yep, try it pagbalik!
Correction lang po sa blog….ate di po yan yung dibang o flying fish… tawag po dito nyan ay mayasang, at di po rice wine yung mineovaheng, sugarcane wine po un teh
kung sakaling babalik po kayo dito sa batanes itry nyo po yung VENES (pronunciation po ay vunus), yellow rice, kilawing balat ng baka yan po ang mga talagang pagkain ng mga ivatans 
suggestions lang po! Peace 
i tried that kilawing balat ng baka when i drank gin with the locals. thanks for the corrections jasmine, edited
Looks interesting to taste.
anu dyan? lahat?
Parang apat lang yata ang kilala ko sa mga to
so ayan, claire, meet the foods in batanes.
batanes foods, meet claire aka lakwatsera de primera
I’m craving to taste the coconut blended crab. Masarap ito pag may sili. Yong ma-anghang. Ala bicol express. Mag request nga kay misis nito…….drooling…….
yes sir, mas masarap daw kapag malaki na sila, maliliit kasi yung nakain namin. kapag malaki daw natural yung coconut milk na lumalabas sa crab. astig diba?!!
I’m a great foodie and this post made my mouth water! Pero parang ewww ata ng Lumot soup??
ok naman, medyo maalat lang. parang pinakuluan yung dagat. hehehe
nakakagutom post mo james
I may find some of the foods a little bizarre, but your photography makes them all look yummy! Have not been to Batanes but I will most certainly use this blog as my food guide. Thanks, James.
hope you get to batanes soon tita lili.
thanks po!
Tsk tsk I didn’t get to try uvud balls and the snails (and some of the other stuff you mentioned but those two are what I think I would have ordered if I knew about it). Oh well. Next time. (Yes, still hoping to go back to Batanes!). Do you find the food in Batanes expensive?
not that much… okay lang naman ang price considering na ang layo nya sa manila. and masarap naman
BURP… (excuse me) busog na po…
tsalap!
wow! parang ang sarap nung Seaweed balls!
Sana maka punta rin ako ng batanes…. tried eating flying fish in different occasions.. sarap!!!
high time to visit Batanes, what’s the secret of spending less going there?
the seaweed balls look very interesting.
watch out for seair promos, they give sale up to Php7,000 RT ticket to batanes
You got me at seaweeds, escargot and coconut crabs! Yum!
I’ve never been to Batanes yet, but I’ll definitely try all these when I do.
the coconut crab is already restricted to hunt. i hope you can go visit batanes someday sumi
I havent tried the flying fish… I wonder if theres any resto here in manila that offers Ivatan delicacies… so I wouldnt have to go far just to taste it… though I would like to go to Batanes in the future…
i guess there is none. why not go to batanes instead? talk about 2 birds in one stone. haha
waahh! all the food looks yuk for me except for the common lumpia. Maybe if they really taste good and a must try, I might do it with my eyes half-closed, LOL!
not a fan of weird-looking local foods?
you should try it!
Seaweed balls sounds and looks weird but i wanna try. lol
I would definitely try everything from 1-10, except maybe for #3.. Looks so gooey. :/
haha oo nga, gooey yang soup. but its taste good naman.
The escargot seems scary, if you love this particular food it must taste good, I wonder if I’d have the courage to eat this, hehehe! Btw, I love the UVUD (or ubod as we call it here) balls, one of my fave foods! =)
escargot is good, creamy and parang sosyal- French!
… nice article you have… der r some correction but all in all been enjoying reading it!
Dios mamajes for visiting our province Batanes…
ryan, what are those? will correct asap
Nakakagutom naman! I would definitely try’em all when I vist Batanes soon. =)
I would like to try Sizzling Giant Squid, Coconut Crabs, and the Rice Wine.
I loved to taste again the Uvud Balls! We have that food back there in my home province of Cagayan (Valley)…I hope I could visit Batanes islands for the first time on my next vacation with my friends all the way from Tuguegarao City…I truly enjoy the pictures, thanks to journeyingjames for these information, so informative!!!
i didnt know that there are uvud balls in cagayan too. thanks for the info sir
sir any tips and guides on how to get there in a very cheaper way as possible thanks! im plannin to visit batanes this year.
you can save a lot by booking a promo ticket. that’s it