Siargao Food and Wine Festival, 26 to 31 August

For a small island, Siargao eats remarkably well. Part of that is the visitors: a surf town collects cooks from everywhere, and General Luna's restaurant strip has Spanish, Japanese, Australian and Filipino kitchens within a few minutes' walk of each other. The bigger part is what the island itself produces. Coconut, obviously. But also reef fish landed every morning at the pier, rice from the flats around Dapa, cacao and coffee from the hills, and a tradition of noodle dishes that goes back further than any of the surf camps.

Last August a group of chefs, restaurateurs and producers put on the island's first food festival to make that point. It went well enough that they are doing it again, bigger, from Wednesday 26 August to Monday 31 August.

The idea

The festival is built around a simple theme: everything grown, caught, crafted and cooked on the island. Local chefs cook alongside guests from Manila and abroad, fishers and farmers supply the tables directly, and the workshops are aimed at visitors who want to take something home other than a sunburn.

It is not a ticketed food hall. Events are spread across the island and hosted by the restaurants themselves, so an evening is a dinner at one place rather than a wristband and a queue. Some of the dinners are paid and need a booking; the street food, workshops and markets are mostly free.

Highlights

• Ani sang Siargao, Wednesday 26 August, at WILD. The opening night is a collaborative dinner from chefs Jarrod Moore, Morris Danzen, Hannah Sanchez and Andre Malarky, with performances from Espoir and cocktails by Manu. "Ani" means harvest, and the menu is built from what the island has in season this month. This one will sell out; book it.
• Miki Fiesta at Isla Panciteria. Three new signature miki noodle dishes, a free miki-making workshop, and then street food, music and cocktails into the evening. If you eat one thing all week, make it this. Miki is the island's own noodle and Isla Panciteria is the place that has kept it honest.
• Filipino-Spanish tapas at Bravo Beach Resort. An afternoon session on the sand, which is the right way to eat tapas.
• Chef collaborations across the strip, including David Del Rosario at CEV and Agnes Sanchez at Fin & Fin, with guest chefs Gringo and Marc Silvestre Carbó cooking through the week.
• Coffee, cacao and producer sessions, where the people who actually grow the stuff talk about it, usually with samples.

The printed food map has the full timetable with venues and prices. Pick one up at the airport when you land, or from the counter at the shop; we will have a stack.

Fitting it around the surf

This is the part we actually care about. Late August is when the habagat starts to deliver properly, and there is a good chance of a swell running during the festival. The two do not clash as badly as you might think.

The good sessions in August are early. First light to about nine, on the morning offshore, before the wind swings. That leaves the whole middle of the day for a workshop or a long lunch, and by the time the evening events start the tide has usually done what it is going to do. A day that runs dawn patrol, breakfast, nap, market, dinner is about as good as this island gets.

Two practical notes:

• Do not drink and ride. The festival venues are spread out and everyone is on a motorbike. If you are going to a dinner with wine pairings, take a tricycle back. They run late during events and the fare is a few pesos.
• Book dinners early, surf lessons too. The festival brings a crowd from Manila and Cebu on top of the usual August visitors, and the shop's morning lesson slots will go the day before. Message us on WhatsApp and we will hold you a board.

Why it matters

A surf island with a food culture is a surf island that people come back to outside the swell season. Everyone in General Luna understands that the Philippines Pro in November is going to change this place, and a festival built on local producers is one of the better answers to the question of what the island wants to be afterwards. Eat well, tip the fishers, and paddle out in the morning.

Tagged: eventsgeneral-luna

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