La Carinderia Siargao

La Carinderia is the kind of restaurant that only happens when two cultures genuinely meet. Italian chef Stefano Tomasiello and his Filipina wife Priscilla have built a place in General Luna where pasta and sisig share the same menu without either feeling out of place. The open-air, sandy-floored setting strips away any pretension; this is a place built on a love of food from both traditions, and it shows.

The Italian dishes are made with proper technique, pasta rolled and cut by someone who learned it from family rather than a recipe book. The Filipino dishes have the home-cooked quality that comes from someone who grew up eating them. Together, the menu is a genuine expression of who runs the kitchen.

For a meal that tells a story about the people behind it, it's one of the most distinctive restaurants on the island. Order from both sides of the menu, pasta on one plate and sisig on another, and eat them in alternation.