Where You Have To Eat In Cebu, Philippines

When Jolibee opened its doors in Canada, I promised myself that the first time I would ever eat there would be in the Philippines. The cult-classic quick service restaurant features local favourites fried chicken, rice, sweet spaghetti, peach mango pies. And it also made the perfect birthday meal for me. Verdict: fully worth the wait!

Think shaved iced, condensed milk, ice cream, fruits, tapioca, pudding; Halo-Halo tastes so good, they named it twice! I've had the pleasure of trying this at all of my friends' family parties many times. So I definitely already had an idea of how good this would be. Its even better in the hot climate of the Philippines, and it's available almost everywhere.

For my birthday dinner, Monika planned something a bit special. This floating restaurant had a long wait time and took no reservations, but it was so fully worth it. All of the local food is available a-la-carte, and you end up dining in the ocean, under the stars. Both delicious and memorable - but the portions are huge! We left super stuffed.

One of my favourite things about the Philippines is how much they use Ube in their dining and baking. We literally grabbed Ube from the Manila airport before our flight to Cebu, and so we purposely sought out this cafe in the expat area to try their famed Ube Latte. The complimenting menu items are Western-geared, but were a nice change too.