Fear Factor food in the Philippines

P: I'm just back from a business trip to Manila ... with food poisoning. Note to self: don't try eating street food on business trips, stick to boring but safe restaurant food. Luckily I fell ill after my last meeting ... in fact I was eating to celebrate a new deal to get Monsoon Books' titles into the Philippines. Note to self: celebrate with alcohol, not "balut" (fertilized duck eggs with a nearly developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell). Anyway, from September, we'll be carried by the two main chains, National Bookstore and Powerbooks, which together account for over 100 stores in the Metro Manila area and environs. I visited a couple of the stores in Manila and I was really impressed. They are well stocked and full of customers ... I think Filipinos read a lot more than Singaporeans and Malaysians. All the books were in English ... and far less conservative a selection than in Singapore. All the shops had a gay and lesbian section; in fact, the retail buyers asked me if I had anything on transvestites ... I don't, and for the first time ever I felt as though Monsoon was the conservative publisher! One of my authors, Suchen Christine Lim (winner of the Singapore Literature Prize), is currently teaching creative writing at Anteneo Uni in Manila so we'll launch her latest book there next month.

I didn't get to see anything of Manila apart from the hotel bathroom, the World Trade Centre, the Mall of Asia and the duck-embryo stall but I'm sure I'll be back again soon. I did go out one night with two publishers and we had a great meal of sizzling sisig (leftover parts of a pig’s head, such as the ears, roasted then minced and seasoned with lime and chili); inihaw na pusit (grilled squid); tadyang (crispy beef ribs); and bagoong (fermented shrimp paste)-flavoured rice. Delicious! And with ten mugs of beer and a pitcher of frozen margarita, the bill came to 45 Singapore dollars (15 quid / 30 US). I couldn't have even got the jug of margarita for that price in Singapore! (I do enjoy drinking beer for S$1, or 30 pence, a mug!) Other food I ate included pork and chicken adobo; and a flavourless hotel dish of flattened eggplant with minced beed and egg on top.

I didn't get a chance to ride in a jeepney so I'll have to go back.