Ilocano cuisine is one of the most distinctive regional food traditions in the Philippines. Where Manila food tends towards sweetness, Ilocano cooking leans salty, sour, and intensely savoury — a tradition shaped by the need to preserve food in a coastal province that has always been short of arable land. The signature techniques are bagoong (fermented shrimp paste), sukang Ilocos (a sharp cane vinegar), and deep frying taken to extreme lengths in the form of bagnet.
Vigan is the best place to eat Ilocano food. The Vigan longganisa — a short, fat, garlicky pork sausage — is famous across the Philippines and eaten for breakfast with garlic rice and fried egg. Bagnet (deep-fried pork belly, cooked twice until the skin is shatteringly crisp) is the centrepiece of many lunches. Empanada Ilocana — a fried pastry stuffed with green papaya, Vigan longganisa, and egg — is the street food of choice around Plaza Burgos. Most of the heritage restaurants along Calle Crisologo and the adjacent streets serve these dishes reliably; the best eating is often at the informal stalls that set up around the plazas in the evening.