Melo Villareal
22 of the Best Native Delicacies in Marinduque
There are many reasons to visit Marinduque, a heart-shaped island province in the Philippines, found in the country’s Southwestern Tagalog Region or MIMAROPA. Marinduque is best known for its annual Moriones Festival during the Holy Week. It’s one of the oldest festivals in the Philippines, where locals don colorful masks and costumes to reenact the story of the Roman soldier Longinus.
Moriones Festival Marinduque
Aside from during the Moriones Festival, travelers can visit Marinduque year-round for its uncrowded white-sand beaches, gorgeous landscapes, scenic tours, historical landmarks, and cuisine. Marinduque’s unique cuisine and its native delicacies are one of the reasons why you should visit the province.
If you’re planning a trip to Marinduque, you can’t miss out on their native delicacies. To give readers some ideas on local Marinduque food to look out for, here’s a list of the best native delicacies visitors must try in Marinduque.
1. Miki
The province of Marinduque is known for producing some of the best Miki noodles in the Philippines. Miki noodles are made from egg flour and are similar in size to typical pancit noodles. Miki pancit in Marinduque is a must-try.
Locals in Marinduque point out Ka Charing, also known as Rosario Pareño, an 83-year-old mother of three who operates a small Miki noodle-making factory in her home. Her freshly-made Miki noodles are highly sought after by the cooks in Marinduque.
2. Manakla
Manakla is a unique and beloved delicacy from Marinduque, known for its distinct flavor and local charm. It is a type of crayfish, often found along the island’s coastal areas and mangrove forests. Locals typically prepare manakla by cooking it with coconut milk, garlic, ginger, and chili, creating a rich, creamy, and slightly spicy dish that highlights the province’s abundance of fresh seafood and coconuts.
Sometimes, it is simply boiled or grilled to preserve its natural sweetness and tender texture. Manakla dishes are a true taste of Marinduque’s coastal heritage—simple, flavorful, and deeply tied to the island’s way of life.
3. Arrowroot cookies (Uraro)
Arrowroot cookies, popularly known as uraro, are the number one pasalubong food in Marinduque, perfect for buying for your loved ones at home. It’s also the number one snack to buy when traveling or exploring the island province.
Arrowroot cookies, or as the Marinduqueños call them, arurut, are dry, powdery, bite-sized, flower-shaped cookies made from arrowroot flour. Travelers can buy these cookies in packages. Locals often point to Rejano’s Bakeries as having the best arrowroot cookies in Marinduque.
4. Kalamay-dampa
Kalamay-dampa is the popular Marinduque variety of the more well-known kalamay-hati. Kalamay is the general term for this typical recipe, found in both varieties: kalamay-dampa and kalamay-hati. Kalamay is made up of ground glutinous rice, coconut milk, and brown sugar. It’s popularly served in a coconut shell or in slices on banana leaves.
Kalamay-Hati is a viscous version of kalamay where the glutinous rice is unground. Kalamay-dampa is just like kalamay-hati, except ube is used in the recipe, giving it a rich purple color and ube flavor.
5. Ulang-ulang
Ulang-ulang is one of the top must-try native dishes in Marinduque. It’s a seafood dish made with crab meat from a native crab species in Marinduque called kagang.
The crab meat is cooked with shredded coconut, coconut milk, and other ingredients like onion, garlic, and kalamansi juice. It’s then served inside a crab shell wrapped in banana leaves. Opening this wrapped dish is like opening a delicious seafood present.
6. Tinudtod
During breaks from visiting Marinduque’s wonders, travelers can easily encounter street food stalls selling the unique Marinduque native delicacy, tinudtod. Tinudtod looks like slices of banana mashed together using a yellowish paste.
It’s made from slices of saba banana, a native variety of banana in the Philippines, mashed and dipped in a special mixture. It’s fried in hot oil until the tinudtod turns golden brown. It’s a very popular delicacy for meryenda or mid-afternoon snacks.
7. Adobo sa gata
Marinduqueños cherish adobo sa gata as a special variation of the Philippines’ unofficial national dish. Unlike traditional adobo, which involves marinating and simmering meat in a savory vinegar-based sauce, the Marinduque version uniquely uses rich coconut milk, creating a creamy, velvety texture.
They typically use native chickens, marinate them with classic adobo spices, and cook them until tender. To boost its flavor and visual appeal, green papaya slices are added, along with a touch of turmeric that gives the dish a bright yellow color.
8. Maruya
Like tinudtod, Maruya is an extremely popular meryenda dish or mid-afternoon snack in Marinduque and even in the Philippines. Travelers can find this delicious and filling snack at food stalls along streets, in neighborhoods, and in markets.
Maruya also uses saba banana, except it’s sliced vertically, for a flatter shape. The banana slices are dipped in the special batter, lined to form a bed, and deep-fried.
9. Kari-Kari
In most parts of Luzon, Kare-kare is a popular comfort food made up of oxtail stew with rich peanut butter sauce. This savory stew is very different from Marinduque’s version of kare-kare.
In Marinduque, kare-kare, or as they call it, Kari-Kari, is a cross between bopis and dinuguan. It’s like bopis with pork blood and a dried version of dinuguan.
Marinduque’s Kari-Kari is made up of the pig’s innards, like its heart, small intestines, kidneys, spleen, and blood. It’s also cooked with garlic, onion, and chili peppers.
If you want to sample Kari-Kari while in Marinduque, you should visit Casa de Don Emilio and Café Mamita, two highly recommended places to eat in Boac, Marinduque.
10. Saludsod
Saludsod is Marinduque’s native version of pancakes. It’s a popular local delicacy that visitors must try when in Marinduque, as they’ll never find this anywhere else in the Philippines. This local pancake is made with a special batter using native ingredients, including arrowroot powder, coconut milk, flour, and sugar.
The batter is then cooked in a hot pan like a typical pancake. But saludsod is sweeter in flavor and has a creamy/buttery texture.
11. Laing or Pinaso na Gabi
There are loads of laing recipes authentic to the different regions of the Philippines. In Marinduque, they have their own native laing recipe, which they also call pinaso na gabi. Marinduque’s delicious native laing recipe uses both gabi (also known as taro) leaves and roots. These ingredients are cooked with coconut milk.
To give the dish a richer flavor, shrimp paste (bagoong) is also mixed in. For an added highlight, dried fish or dilis is sprinkled on top.
12. Bibingkang Lalaki (Bibingkang Boac)
The island province has several native versions of bibingka, a staple rice cake delicacy found all over the Philippines, including Bibingkang Lalaki (male bibingka).
Bibingkang Lalaki is also referred to as Bibingkang Boac, named after the province’s capital. It’s a huge portion of bibingka; that’s the size of a pizza.
Locals will explain, amusedly, that this version of bibingka is called as such because it contains eggs. Bibingkang lalaki also uses coconut wine instead of yeast, which keeps its inside moist after cooking.
13. Bibingkang Pinahiran
Another native version found in Marinduque can be bought in the town of Sta. Cruz is located on the northeastern coast of the island.
Bibingkang Pinahiran uses typical bibingka ingredients like glutinous rice, coconut milk, and sugar. The thick layer of syrup on top makes it stand out from other versions of bibingka.
This is likely the origin of its name, with pinahiran translating to ‘coated’. One serving of this sweet bibingkang pinahiran is enough to make your stomach feel heavy.
14. Sinalab
SInalab is a native kakanin recipe in Marinduque that is acutely described as a “paper-thin pancake of overripe saba or latundan with flour and buko slices sandwiched between two banana leaves then dry-cooked on a pan.”
They really do look like tropical pancakes. The banana leaves containing the smashed saba are heated in a pan until they’re browned and wrinkled, indicating that the sinalab is cooked and ready to eat. It’s a tasty option for meryenda or a morning snack.
15. Sinaludsod
Sinaludsod, which shouldn’t be mistaken for saludsod, is another native version of pancake from Marinduque. Sinaludsod is best described as a rice flour pancake and is regularly sold at food stands along with other kakanins in the island province’s markets.
Other recipes of sinaludsod incorporate cassava, butter, and coconut meat. The batter is pan-fried as is, flattened, and served.
16. Tininta Suman
You can find the kakanin suman in many parts of the Philippines. Suman is usually made up of glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk and wrapped in banana leaves or palm leaf strips. These sticky native rice delicacies are often eaten with sugar or latik. In Marinduque, they have a unique version of suman called tininta suman.
It’s known for its vibrant purple hue because it’s made up of violet glutinous rice. Marinduqueños love to pair tininta suman with sampililok or coco jam.
17. Sampililok
Speaking of sampililok, it’s our next entry on this list! Sampililok is often called a coco jam, but it’s more accurately described as suman sauce because suman in Marinduque is always served with a dash of sampililok on the side.
Sampililok is simply a syrup version of panutsa, made by cooking coconut sugar in coconut milk or gata. Sampililok is largely consumed as a dipping sauce for suman or tininta suman in Marinduque.
18. Panganan
With the abundance of arrowroot in Marinduque, it’s only fitting that they have something like the panganan as a local delicacy. Panganan is a dry powdery snack made with arrowroot powder and rice flour, called minatamis na bao, made from dissolved sugarcane jaggery.
Visitors can buy panganan in travel-size packages for a delicious snack during their travels in Marinduque. It’s readily available in many of the province’s markets.
19. Niyubak
Niyubak is Marinduque’s version of the more common nilupak, a starchy traditional Filipino delicacy found throughout the Philippines. The only difference in Marinduque’s version of niyubak is that it typically uses brown sugar rather than white sugar.
Niyubak uses starchy ingredients like saba banana, cassava, taro corns, or ube and grounds them into a mushy consistency. The result is mixed with coconut milk and brown sugar. It can be molded into any shape and is an excellent food for meryenda or dessert.
20. Bibingkang Kanin
This is the third native Marinduque bibingka on this list. Bibingkang Kanin, just like bibingkang lalaki and bibingkang pinahiran, is a unique version of the popular kakanin, bibingka, originating in the island province of Marinduque.
As indicated by its namesake, bibingkang Kanin uses whole grains of glutinous rice rather than the typical rice flour used in other bibingka recipes. Bibingkang Kanin is often interchanged with bibingkang malagkit.
21. Tinigang na Sapsap
Tinigang na sapsap is a flavorful seafood dish commonly served in Marinduque. It’s a dried-up version of paksiw that uses small native sapsap fishes, commonly freshly caught just before cooking.
Tinigang na sapsap is cooked similarly to a pinangat dish, meaning the sapsap fish is stewed with souring agents like tomatoes, calamansi, or tamarind. This dish is delicious when paired with a cup of steaming rice.
22. Cassava cookies
And last but not least on this list are the deliciously sweet cassava cookies. Although cassava is not native to the Philippines, it’s become an abundant crop in countless parts of the country, including in the island province of Marinduque.
Marinduqueños love the taste of cassava so much that they developed a cassava cookie recipe.
Today, it’s a common pasalubong or souvenir gift found in Marinduque markets and pasalubong centers. Cassava cookies make for a great snack while exploring the island province.
Want more updates about other interesting local dishes on Marinduque Island? Follow #TeamOutofTown on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bloglovin, and Pinterest for more travel ideas.
Also read:
- The Best Beach Destinations In Marinduque
- Best Things To Do In Marinduque Island
- 11 Native Delicacies You Should Taste When in Isabela Province
