Vigan restaurant and bar guide
There are many food stalls in Plaza Burgos
There are many good restaurants in Vigan which cater for the strong crowds of tourists which frequent this crumbling colonial pueblo. There is your usual array of Filipino dishes served up at Vigan restaurants as well as a few local delicacies which are left over from the area’s Spanish ancestry.
Popular snack stands line imposing Plaza Burgos and serve up a variety of tasty treats such as sinanglao soup which is made from beef offal, okoy prawn pancakes and a chicken rice soup known as arroz caldo. Another popular dish is flat miki noodles in a thick meaty broth which sometimes has egg added. A Luzon version of Iberian empanadas are also easy to find and come with a variety of fillings including speciality Vigan longganisa sausage.
Another local delicacy is known as tinubong which is a sticky sweet rice cake which is cooked and served in bamboo tubes. Diners must snap the bamboo to get at the sweet and sticky rice innards. Many Vigan restaurants, as well as stalls around the town, serve tasty fried corn known as cornick, which comes even plain or with special flavouring.
Sugar is grown in the farmland around Vigan and is normally found in the form of tagapulot (molasses) or balikutsa (rock sugar shaped into scrolls). Also made from local sugar is traditional basi rum, which is still a popular tipple in Vigan restaurants. There is no real nightlife in the town but a couple of Vigan bars surrounding Plaza Burgos, the best of which is Situ Bar with chilled San Miguel and happy hour promotions.
Recommended Vigan restaurants and bars
Tongson's Royal Bibingka
Vigan Royal Bibingka is a sticky rice cake which hails from the town and used to be baked in a clay circular pot lined with banana leaves and covered with glowing charcoal. And this is one of the best Vigan restaurants to sample it. (8 Florentino Street, Vigan City, tel: +63 (077) 722-2920)
Café Leona
This is without doubt the most popular of all restaurants in Vigan with a range of reasonably-priced pasta dishes and local specialities including pork entrail stew and other rustic delights. (Plaza Burgos, Tel: +63 (077) 722-2212, cafeleona@yahoo.com)
Café Uno
This great little Vigan restaurant serves up light meals including traditional egg and squash fried dishes and hearty pasta offerings. Opposite is the affiliated Uno Grill which specialises is succulent barbeque meats. (Bonifacio St. Corner Quirino Blvd., Vigan City, Tel: +63 (077) 722-2118)
