@alethocampo

Crab roe afficionados alert: 'My Mom’s Taba ng Talangka' is the absolute best I’ve ever tried. Premium stuff; it is pure, unadulterated, creamy and chunky aligue goodness cooked from an heirloom recipe and bottled beautifully by artist, potter, and Swiss-trained French cooking expert Aleth Ocampo. She cooks and packs it so well that it lasts for one year at room temperature. “I do this yearly to honour my late mother, the original Belen (I am Belen Jr.),” she says. Her mother would make and give this away as gifts, and when she died, her father assigned Aleth to continue the tradition. Because talangka is seasonal and this delicacy is tedious to make, she doesn’t sell it all year round. Fans like myself just wait for her announcements on her Instagram @alethocampo, such as the one she made recently. Hurry! P.S. She also makes sourdough and other baked goods.

See also: A Taste of Home: Selina Ocampo’s Must-Try Dishes 

@giannaslowcarb

Don’t let the “low-carb” label fool your taste buds, Gianna’s best desserts and bread are at par with their more sinful contemporaries—but are unbelievably sugar-free, low-carb, preservative-free, and keto-friendly too. They are supposed to be guilt-free, so if undeterred, I am capable of devouring my favourites in one sitting! The quattro chocolate cake (four layers of chocolate!), strawberry shortcake, and the mamon loaf. When I can’t decide, I order the mini sampler of their bestsellers (quattro chocolate cake, tiramisu cups, strawberry shortcake, moist chocolate cake with cream cheese) whenever available. I just found out Gianna’s has started selling keto ice cream too, so I can’t wait to try that.

See also: Kimberly Camara on the Success of Kora NYC, Her Doughnut Shop With a 10,000-Long Waitlist

@moroccanladyph

It can’t get any more authentic than the cooking of Moroccan-born Loubna Benfraiha, a.k.a. The Moroccan Lady, who has been perfecting her grandmother’s and mother’s heirloom recipes for decades. The former banker moved to Manila in 2001 and has been a fixture at the weekend markets at Legazpi, Salcedo and Mercato Centrale, where her tagines, wraps, dips, and breads are always sold out. Her food is now available on Food Panda. I like ordering the tabbouleh couscous salad, the fish fillet a la marocaine with her signature garlic sauce, zaalook (smoked aubergine tapenade with pita pockets), and the spicy ratatouille.

@bellybestph

While Belly Best is famed for their porchetta, their seafood party trays deserve the limelight, too, and will delight my fellow pescatarians or any seafood lover. The seafood is always fresh and tasty, and the servings are always generous. My favourites are the seafood boil with clams, shrimp, and boiled potatoes which comes with lemon butter sauce; seafood paella (crusty socarrat intact!); garlicky, lemony, juicy, spicy gambas; the baked salmon which is moist, silky, and gracefully flaky, never dry; and the cheesy BroCauli gratin. The expert and loving touch of chef Nats Imson (IG @natskingcole) is evident in every dish that he sends out. If you want the gourmet treatment for crowd-pleasing potluck fare, Belly Best is the belly-best!

See also: The Best Coffee-Producing Regions Around The World

@oiketoph

This is my one-stop online shop for whenever I want to eat (and serve) healthy but refuse to stop enjoying life. Oiketo’s party trays are perfect for the next dinner you’re hosting or your next potluck party. I am constantly amazed by owner Kath Buendia’s never-ending quest to create the most delicious low-carb, sugar- and gluten-free, keto-vegetarian or even keto-vegan versions of popular comfort food like sisig, kare-kare, adobo with cauli rice, lasagna, palabok, spaghetti, milk tea (ube, taro, matcha cheesecake), coffee drinks (dalgona, nutella, avocado) and desserts (Japanese Kumori cheesecake, brazo de mercedes, puto bumbong). Carnivores need not feel left out and can order (real meat but still keto) crispy pata, morcón, and lechon belly—although if you don’t tell them they’re eating vegetarian or vegan food, they may not even know the difference!

See also: Your Ultimate Guide to Plant Based Eating in the Philippines

@rickshastreetsidetandoor

“NamaStay at Home,” as one of their Instagram posts says, is right. It’s always a treat to get takeout from here as the food is consistently flavourful and fresh. Even if Indian-born owner Cyril Addison says, “We don’t claim to be authentic,” about their dishes made from his mom’s recipes, Ricksha is my takeout go-to when I’m craving Indian food. My husband Andrej and I were fortunate to have tasted his mom’s cooking at dinner parties at their house way before Cyril and his wife Pierre launched Rick Sha, and it’s just gotten better and better! I love their vegetable samosas, aloo chat, the dosas, palak paneer, Appa’s fish fry tikka, and, because I love Dishoom in London, their best-selling Dishoom inspired seafood moilee, Kerala coconut curry with shrimp, mahi-mahi and clams made from a Dishoom recipe with their own twist. 

See also: Where to eat Indian Food in Metro Manila

@delibychele

Our inability to travel during lockdown was alleviated somehow by eating our way around the world from home, and Deli by Chele, whose products feature flavours from around the world, was a favourite accomplice. More importantly, for the health and environment-conscious, their products are sustainable, sourced responsibly, and are made from local ingredients using artisanal techniques.

But being pescatarian, I was always envious watching Andrej devour his pastrami sandwich whenever we got takeout from Deli by Chele even as I dove into my luscious Chika cheesecake bibingka—until Chele’s Feisty Fin smoked salmon sandwich came along. Chele describes it as “sexy” and “feisty” and he is spot-on, and it tastes as food-porn-y as its description: “Sustainably sourced salmon loin cured for several days and carefully smoked. With dill cream cheese and pickled green chilis in between buttery, toasted sourdough bread.” And now, they just launched another signature sandwich I can sink my teeth into: the tiger prawn roll on toasted brioche buns. I can’t wait! 

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