I've been asked this question more times than I can count — usually across a market stall, with someone holding a jar of my Banana Ketchup and looking at it like it might bite them.
What is Filipino food, exactly?
It's a fair question. Despite being the cuisine of over 100 million people, Filipino food remains one of the least-known in the UK. And I've made it my mission — through RoniB's Kitchen — to change that.
So here's my answer. Not a textbook one. A personal one.
It's the Food I Grew Up With
I grew up in the Philippines, where food isn't just sustenance — it's the whole occasion. I think of warm days with a breeze coming in off the water, beach gatherings with family where we'd barbecue over charcoal, eat with our hands, and bring as much cooked food as we could carry. When we could, we'd buy fresh catch from vendors near the beach and grill it right there. No fuss. No ceremony. Just good food, good company, and the smell of smoke and the sea.
That's Filipino food to me. It's generous, communal, deeply comforting — and when I catch a certain kind of breeze on a warm day here in Surrey, it takes me straight back.
So What Does Filipino Food Actually Taste Like?
Filipino cuisine is a beautiful collision of influences — Malay, Spanish, Chinese, American, South American, Arabic — all filtered through thousands of islands, hundreds of regional traditions, and generations of home cooks who knew how to make something extraordinary from simple ingredients.
The flavours are bold and layered. You'll find:
- Sour — from tamarind, kalamansi (a small Filipino citrus), and vinegar
- Savoury and umami-rich — from fermented ingredients, soy, and slow cooking
- Sweet — often woven into savoury dishes in a way that surprises first-timers
- Aromatic — garlic is practically a food group in Filipino cooking
What you won't find — and this is where I have to set the record straight — is the wall of heat that people sometimes expect.
Filipino Food is Not Mexican Food
At my market stall, I hear it regularly. Someone picks up a jar of my Filipino Adobo Sauce, reads the label, and says: "Is it spicy? Like, really spicy?"
They're thinking of Mexican adobo — a smoky, chilli-heavy marinade that's become well-known in the UK through Tex-Mex cooking. And it's a completely understandable mix-up.
But Filipino adobo is something else entirely.
Filipino adobo is a cooking method — a way of braising meat (traditionally chicken or pork) in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and bay leaves until it's tender, deeply savoury and utterly irresistible. It's tangy. It's rich. It's the dish I most wish British cooks knew about — because once you've had it, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.
It's not spicy. It's something better than spicy. It's complex.
The Dish That Made Me Realise the World Was Ready
Back in 2016, I won Kirsty Allsopp's Handmade Christmas on Channel 4. It was a turning point — not just for RoniB's Kitchen as a business, but for my belief that Filipino food had a real place in British kitchens.
It confirmed what my dinner guests had been telling me for years. When I cooked Filipino food for friends here in the UK, the reaction was always the same: surprise, then delight, then "can I have the recipe?"
British palates are adventurous. People are curious, well-travelled, and genuinely open to new flavours. Filipino food doesn't ask you to abandon what you love — it just adds something extraordinary to it.
A Few Filipino Dishes Worth Knowing
If you're new to Filipino food, here are some of the dishes and ingredients that define the cuisine:
Adobo — The national dish, more or less. Meat braised in vinegar, soy, garlic and bay. Rich, tangy and deeply satisfying. My Filipino Adobo Sauce brings this to your kitchen without the long cook.
Sinigang — A sour tamarind broth, usually with pork, prawns or fish. Deeply comforting, especially on a cold day.
Lechon — Whole roasted pig, crackling skin, often served at celebrations. A feast dish in every sense.
Kare-kare — A rich peanut stew, traditionally served with fermented shrimp paste (bagoong). Unusual, deeply savoury, and utterly delicious.
Banana Ketchup — Yes, ketchup made from bananas. Born during a post-war tomato shortage, it became a Filipino staple and has never left. Sweet, spiced and nothing like what you'd expect. Try it, and you'll understand.
Kalamansi — A small citrus fruit, somewhere between a lime and a mandarin. Tart, fragrant and used across Filipino cooking the way Brits use lemon. My Kalamansi Marmalade is a little jar of sunshine.
Why Filipino Food Belongs in Your Kitchen
Filipino food is made for everyday cooking. It's not precious or complicated — it's built on big flavours, simple techniques and the idea that a good sauce or condiment can transform an ordinary meal into something memorable.
That's exactly why I started RoniB's Kitchen. To bring those flavours — the ones I grew up with, the ones that take me back to beach barbecues and family tables — into British homes.
You don't need to master Filipino cooking overnight. Start with the flavours. Get curious about the ingredients. Cook something simple with a jar of Adobo Sauce or a spoonful of Black Bean Chilli Paste. Let the taste do the talking — and take it one step at a time.
Roni Bandong-McSorley is the founder of RoniB's Kitchen, a Surrey-based Filipino-British artisan food brand. Her award-winning range of sauces, condiments and preserves is available at ronibkitchen.co.uk and in over 80 retailers across the UK.
To find us in a store near you, try searching via our Search button on our website - example: shops in London