The Philippines Today

Oko-Oko Indulge in a luxurious way of eating rice. Oko’-Oko’ is a sea urchin-stuffed rice, a heritage food of the Sama ethnolinguistic group. This precious delight entails a process of mastery from harvesting the tehe’-tehe’ (sea urchin), skillfully scraping the sharp spines, cleaning the shell’s interior, pouring the grains, and individually sealing the top with … Read more

Chupa Kulo How do you cook your snails? Visit Santa Cruz island and taste Sama Banguingui’s coastal cuisine. The tip of the bangugon is sliced off and then simmered in a medley of squash, coconut milk, and spices. Simply suck the shell, then pull out the meat with your hands. Indulge in this delicious discovery … Read more

Paella Chavacana Taste the rich marine life of the Zamboanga Peninsula! Fused with Spanish colonial heritage, Alavar Seafood Restaurant crafted a specialty paella and branded it with its own. Their version starts by sautéing spices in annatto oil and adding a luxuriant array of fresh seafood. Cooked rice is poured and mixed, absorbing the flavors … Read more

Curacha con Sarsa de Alavar The red-orange crab is also known as the “spanner crab” in Sulu waters. The institutional Alavar Seafood Restaurant celebrates the harvest of the sea with its signature sweet-spicy-creamy sauce made of coconut milk and a medley of spices! To taste this is divine. You can’t say that you’ve been to … Read more