Local Delicacies

Bagnet

Bagnet is recognized as the region’s delicacy symbol, deep fried pork belly dish that is similar to lechon kawali.

Dinoydoy

It’s a popular Ilocano squash and bitter melon dish consist mainly of native squash and bittergourd.

Miki

This noodle soup dish is one of the popular street food at Vigan City, Ilocos Sur up North Luzon. It is associated as street food because its one of the food attraction in Vigan Plaza, together with the famous empanada and barbecue. It is available in the morning as breakfast.

Pinakbet

Is an indigenous Ilocano dish from the northern regions of the Philippines pinakbet or pakbet has native ampalaya (bittermelon), eggplant, and okra are steamed with fish bagoong (fermented shrimp or fish paste) and tomatoes.

Pipian

Made of ground rice cooked with chicken, achuete (annatto), and epazote. Vigan folk would eat the starchy dish as a snack. Today, it is served as a meaty viand with steamed rice.

Poqui-Poqui

Poqui-Poqui is a vegetable dish made of eggplants sauteed in onions, garlic, and tomatoes, and finished off with beaten eggs. It originated from the Ilocos region where it’s commonly served for breakfast with steamed rice or as a side dish to grilled fish or fried meat for lunch.

Vigan Empanada

Vigan empanda is similar to a taco shell when fried to a crisp with vegetable like grated papaya or bean sprouts and meat filling inside. It is also added with raw egg in the center and will cook together with the empanada when fried. Among the other kinds of empanada, what I love in this kind is the crispy thin shell and when you munch it you will taste the grated papaya and the longganisa plus the soft cooked egg inside. Specially when you dip or pour it with some sukang Iloko, it is absolutely yummy! Cooking this empanada is a little bit tricky although the ingredients are very simple. Making the dough is a challenge if you will not do it properly. Most recipes I see only combines the rice flour with water, oil and coloring to make a dough. But this process will make the dough crumbly and you will be frustrated when filling it with the veggies and meat mixture because it will break the dough before you can fry it. This process is only good if you are using wheat flour but not with rice flour. The technique I learned just by observing is you have to make a roux by cooking the rice flour with water until it turns into a dough. That way it will be elastic enough to make a thin pastry for the Vigan empanada.

Vigan Longganisa

Vigan Longganisa is an Ilocano sausage delicacy with plenty of garlic and spices in the mixture. This longganisa is distinct from other native longganisa version because it is small and plump, it is not sweet unlike the popular longganisa we used to eat. The way to describe its taste is, it is spicy, salty, tangy and garlicky. So if you are used to the taste of sweet meat like a traditional longganisa, then you might think twice before cooking this sausage. To make this sausage more authentic, use sukang Iloko or native vinegar. But if there is none available, using cane vinegar or apple cider vinegar will suffice. To make your hearty breakfast, you can serve this with fried rice and fried egg.