3 Best Restaurants in Philippines

Along the beach road, you can watch the famous Boracay sunset at any number of establishments, but this place adds a touch of sophistication that many neighbors lack. Chef Joshua Sacapaño Boutwood learned his craft working in many of Europe's top restaurants, and now he brings his talents home to Boracay, blending modern European and Asian styles to create a delicate and mouthwatering array of flavors. The minimalist all-white interior allows your mind to focus on the food, where the accent is placed on producing the finest cuisine using local and sustainable ingredients wherever possible. If you can't make your mind up, opt for the eight-course tasting menu.

Set back away from White Beach and its wall-to-wall string of glitzy but not always reliable European-influenced restaurants, the small and friendly Bay Leaf Café offers up a surprisingly rare find on Boracay: authentic Filipino food. With only a handful of tables in the light-colored, brightly lit café, the atmosphere is cozy and inviting. Several regional specialties appear on the menu, and the excellent house signature dish, adobo (marinated, then twice-cooked pork or chicken), is a classic.

The Aristocrat's enduring popularity since it first opened in 1936 has only increased—it's now a chain of restaurants with around 10 branches scattered across the city. But this original location in the central district of Malate is the best. Although the menu covers a range of dishes, the perennial favorite for most is the barbecue chicken, sold at almost giveaway prices. The less ravenous may opt for Asian- and European-tinged soups, or for one of the healthy salads. For early risers there is also a choice of American and Filipino breakfasts.