I've been eating too much Western food since I've been in the Phillipines so it was time to get…read moreback to the local food. Gacayan Restaurant does a mix of Filipino and Western food. I dropped in multiple times for breakfast. It was busy every visit. There's a TV on mute playing random movies/sports. There's also fans all over the room on full blast to keep things cool. The menu is up on two walls. Wall #1 has 6 breakfast combo options, sandwiches, omelettes, salads, burgers, pasta and pancakes. Wall #2 has soup, desserts, pizza, appetizers, paella and main meals. Sashimi was an unexpected option... - Filipino breakfast (120 PHP) - your choice of meat (I opted for the fried fresh fish), garlic rice, two sunny side eggs, fruit (banana) and coffee/tea. Tea is your generic Lipton tea bag. Garlic rice was tasty and a very filling portion. The fish was nicely cooked; almost like a tuna steak. Not overdone. All the Filipino breakfasts I've had have been excellent. - Pumpkin in coconut milk (50 PHP) - came back for their pumpkin soup. It comes with rice and coffee/tea. I'm not sure why there's a pumpkin soup on the menu for 180 PHP; just ask for this one. Pumpkin pieces were tender yet still had a nice bite. Soup was creamy with the coconut milk. - Filipino breakfast with tocino pork (120 PHP) - you only get 3 small pieces of pork in a sweet sauce. Good but the fresh fried fish was better. Awesome little hole in the wall for cheap Filipino eats.

Over our four day/three night stay, we basically tried every Filipino dish on the menu. We were in…read moreel nido before Daluyon and the resort we were staying at did not have pinoy food (sadly), so we were so excited to have pinoy food at pawikan. Favorites: seafood kare-kare, pancit with lechon kawali, and seafood sinigang. If you go here, definitely get those dishes! And garlic rice. So good. What I really enjoyed too was how authentic the dishes are. They were all very flavorful and served in very generous portions. Lastly, the staff is excellent and provide great and attentive service. I'll miss the food when I am back stateside!

I was wondering along the beachfront when I spotted Happy Bar. Their chalkboard menu of seafood…read moreoptions peaked my interest so I decided to stop in for a bite. I dropped in on a scorching Monday afternoon (around 2:00pm). They have tons of seats right on the beach but only two functional umbrellas for shade. They sat me by the small hut which had some shade cover. The menu is small with only 8 main dishes. They also have all day happy hour drink specials. - Grilled fresh squid (250 PHP) - comes with rice, vegetable curry (potatoes, green beans, carrots and eggplant in coconut milk) and lemonade. Reasonable set meal. Squid was legit; you get the tentacles and rings. Grilled well but the rice was mushy and lemonade watered down. Decent food but the drinks are better value. Buy a beer and get a free rum and coke!

Food was great but we didn't get the boodlefight. Not sure if it was lost in translation or it was…read morejust too late for them to do it but it was sad we didn't get to experience that. Otherwise food was great size and good and service was great! It was clean too. Bathroom tho needs an upgrade.

We came here for a boodle fight! Boodle Fight Resto & Bar was conveniently located next to our…read morehotel, so decided to check it out for dinner. We started with a Mango Shake and ordered the All-Meat Boodle Fight for two and Pancit Canton. It took a bit for us to get our food and all in all, we thought the boodle fight was A-OK. The All-Meat Boodle Fight included chicken, pork belly, eggplant salad with rice. Though it seemed like it would be a lot since it was a boodle fight, we thought the portion was small. The grilled chicken was good, but the portion was not enough for two people, and the pork belly had way too many fatty pieces, so didn't eat much of the pork one. It was shame, too, since the pork had great flavor. Eggplant salad was very good and liked that it was included. And it was actually a relief that we ordered the Pancit Canton on the side to fill up on, which was a good dish with lots of calamansi flavor! Service was good and there is a full bar here with a sink in the dining area to wash your hands before and after you're done with your meal. But we weren't too impressed with our boodle fight, which is what the restaurant is known for. Glad to have had a boodle fight while in the Philippines, but it was far from the best.

Maa's Grill is a family-owned restaurant located in Central El Nido on the main drag. The…read morerestaurant is clean and refreshingly homey without that overdone, artificial Westernized appeal. Their menu offers the perfect range of dishes from fresh seafood to your typical meat and rice dishes. Prices are cheap and food is served with pretty fresh ingredients along with hearty portions. We had the Pork Sinigang which served 2 for 280 PHP. It did not come with rice which we ordered 2 for 60 PHP total (30 PHP each). With my ever constant Mango Shake, we had a delicious meal with an abundance of veggies, something that is hard to come by while on vacation. If you do not want Filipino food, they even have a Western 'fast food' menu. Not a bad option when it comes to Filipino food and Filipino food you should have while in the Philippines. Skip the Western options and support the Filipino businesses!

We ate here twice and were impressed by their grilled items like fish and shrimps. They also have a…read moresoup section where we had ginger fish soup which came with veggies. However the broth wasn't hot! Generous portions and good value. The place is usually packed with tourists around dinner time. Go early if you wanna a spot.

We had the best meal of our entire trip at Angel Wish! This place was recommended to us by the…read moreowner of our hotel. It is on the beach but is not a place that would necessarily catch your eye if you were walking by. I had the fried calamari and then squid ink pasta. Everything was divine! So fresh, so well cooked. The service was good and we sat at the window overlooking the water which was a great experience and perfect way to end the day after island hopping. Highly recommend this place if you are in El Nido!

Upon arrival in El Nido, and a short walk from our hotel, we found this front beach resto. The food…read morewas delicious. We had seafood chowder, fresh crab, and steamed lapulapu. For dessert, we had fresh buko ( coconut). Service was excellent to say the least. Just a refreshing lunch experience with a front view of the beach and mountains.

Great experience, many choices of Asian fusion. Great staff and super knowledgeable people who are…read morewilling to listen

I found out about Tambok's El Nido from the IG page of our boutique hotel since Yelp isn't widely…read moreused in the Philippines. It was a bit far from our hotel but they were kind enough to bring us there via the hotel car for free. It is located on the main road and a lot of people know about it so going there won't be difficult. Interiors showcase local decor and old pictures. It was airy and they had screens around to prevent mosquitoes and flies from coming in. The staff were friendly and prompt too. Since I missed Filipino food so much, we ordered my favorite: Sizzling Pork Sisig which didn't disappoint! Flavours and textures were spot on. We also ordered their grilled chicken -- it was really tasty and juicy, grilled really well and it was well seasoned. Enjoyed the inasal style veggies too, a perfect side to the meats that we had. Loved the different condiments they have on the side of each table -- different dipping sauces and thai pepper. We ordered two desserts: halo-halo and turon with dulce de leche. The halohalo was lovely and apt for the humid weather but the turon was a bit of a let down, it was too soggy and too oily, too bad coz it would've been great. Tambok's is definitely a place to dine in when in El Nido town, food is great and prices are affordable.

The restaurant is beautiful and clean. We removed our shoes to walk in on gleaming shiny wood…read morefloors. The decor is lovely and open to air. We sat "Indian style" (their term) with cushions on the floor and loved it. My favorites were the pork sinigang, seafood sisig, garlic rice and lechon kawali.

Ambience was pretty. The seafood sisig was just soggy cuttle fish. It's alright but when it was…read morelabeled seafood sisig, I genuinely thought it'd be a mix of seafood. Chicken tinola tasted homemade but a little salty. Their fresh lumpia is labeled as "spring roll" and that was delicious. It was lumpia ubad on the inside and wrapped in rice paper like Vietnamese spring rolls. It cost 300 pesos for a tricycle from our Bambu Suites hotel.