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For foodie travelers, Palawan is popular for its exotic treats of mangrove worms (tamilok) and crocodile meat. If you love living life beyond the borders, you should not miss trying the mangrove worms and crocodile meat at Kinabuchs.

Kinabuchs Grill and Bar

Kinabuchs Grill and Bar

Kinabuchs is a pop nightly hang-out spot mostly for tourists visiting Palawan. It is well known to many foodie tourists as it is tagged as one of the best restaurants that you should try in Puerto Princesa. Kinabuchs is conveniently located at the center of the city and few minutes away from the place where we stayed, Hibiscus Garden Inn. It provide a huge Al-Fresco dining area where you can drink and dine under the moonlight.

An insider tip when going to Kinabuchs – ask your hotel to book you a reservation. During holidays and weekends, Kinabuchs tends to get packed with hungry diners.

We were daring diners so on our first night in Puerto Princesa, we already tried Tamilok (PhP 135) which is a classic Palawan recipe. The mangrove woodworm was just poured with vinegar and served with vinegar dip. We immersed them first before we ate them. The locals of Palawan lovetamilok and they say that it only tastes like oyster. It kind’a does but with a woody kick when you swallow it.

Tamilok

I have learned to like tamilok so we even tried the next day by the beach. I like the one sold in the beach better compared to the one in Kinabuchs. Maybe because it is fresher.

We also tried their crocodile meat with the Croc Sisig (PhP 340). If we did not know that it was crocodile, we would not notice its difference with beef. Croc meat is definitely a lot easier to eat than tamilok. Lol.

Croc Sisig

The Gising-Gising (Php 185) from Kinabuchs was quite different from the one we used to have here in Manila. Their version contains ground pork, shrimps, and water spinach cooked in chili. But it is not very spicy so if you are not into spicy dishes, you can still try it out.

Gising-Gising

We also got a favorite in Kinabuchs as recommended in several blogs that I read, the Binagoongang Baboy (PhP 195). This dish is slices of pork cooked with shrimp paste. Surprisingly, this dish is quite sweet and I didn’t noticeable pieces of shrimp paste. It tasted like a sweet version of pork adobo.

Binagoongang Baboy

The dish I liked the most among all the ones we have ordered in Kinabuchs is the Sizzling Squid (PhP 210). The is stir-fried squid in rich sauce. The squid is cooked perfectly and the sauce is really tasty.

Sizzling Squid

We tried Kinabuchs’ Bagoong Rice (PhP 110), which is rice stir-fried on shrimp paste. Maybe we could have requested that they add a little spice to make our rice hot.

Bagoong Rice

The food at Kinabuchs is good and even if we didn’t have reservations that night, we were lucky to get a table quickly. The restaurant is really spacious with lots of tables and guests so you can expect that sometimes service will be slow. Sometimes they will not even notice you immediately.

The price is relatively expensive especially knowing that you are in a province. Dish prices range between PhP 150 to PhP 500. Usually, the seafood like crabs are the ones on the more expensive end.

We went at Kinabuchs for dinner so it was quite dark that taking pictures is really a challenge. Maybe I need to invest on a good flash unit. So, here’s a photo of me eating tamilok.

Me and Tamilok

I guarantee you, this is not just a photo op. I had 3 tamiloks that night. I suggest you try it and if you don’t like it then simply chalk it to experience.

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Kinabuchs Grill and Bar

Rizal Ave., 5300 Puerto Princesa City, Puerto Princesa, Philippines

Facebook Page: Kinabuchs Palawan

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Tags: crocodile meat, Kinabuchs, mangrove worms, Palawan, Puerto Princesa, sisig, tamilok