7am Seafood BOODLE FIGHT & ULTIMATE Filipino Seafood FEAST In Iloilo Philippines

Hey guys, good morning, it's Mike Chen. In this video, I am in the city of Yilo Yilo in the Philippines for an unforgettable seafood feast, starting with an early morning seafood budo fight, then to a couple of legendary restaurants for some seafood that I've never tried before. And what's most incredible, all these seafood restaurants start opening at around seven or eight o'clock in the morning. And before getting to that, I just want to give a big thank you and shout out to the sponsor of this video, Magic Spoon. It's about six o'clock in the morning right now. Let's get some breakfast. So what I like to do is combine the honey almond with the mixed berry. Fruity, nutty, and it makes the milk taste really, really good. If you don't know, I absolutely love cereal. As I grew older, I realized that's really not the best thing for you. Pretty much just empty calories and all sugar. 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So if you want to give it a try, use my cold dumpling or click the link in the description box below to try Magic Spoon treats or granola today and get five dollars off. You can also find Magic Spoon on Amazon or your local grocery store. And my favorite thing about Magic Spoon, there is 100% happiness guarantee. So if you don't like it for any reason, get your money back. So click the link in the description box or just go to Magic Spoon dot com slash dumpling or scan the QR code on the screen for five dollars off. Hey, guys, Mike Chang here in Ilo Ilo, and it's about seven o'clock in the morning. This restaurant just opened and you won't believe what's available for breakfast. I couldn't even believe either. I had to come here and double check. They actually had it and they do. So last time I was in the Philippines, I had a buddha fight and this place serves a seafood buddha fight. And the price is just outrageous, like outrageously, unbelievably good. I am so excited. This is one of my most anticipated food items in this city. I'm thinking it's going to be a pretty big plate of food. This appetizer looks really good, too. They have this big scallop appetizer. I'm getting that as well. So to prepare for the Buddha fight, a layer of wax paper is laid over the table. All the food is here. Welcome to my seafood buddha fight. This is my buddha fight breakfast. So there's flower crab, a.k.a. blue crabs. I see a bunch of bay scallops, mussels, corn and some orange slices. And the whole thing is doused. I think they said it's called the ambrose sauce, where it's a house sauce that they make here in the restaurant. I also got rice gravy to go with the rice. Well, the gravy is the same sauce that's on the seafood. Also, I got a plate of cheesy scallops. Looks like some fried garlic on top. Oh, this is all so exciting. Can you believe this is breakfast right now? Mmm. Love it. A little bay scallops, super tender. I asked them, they said all the seafood is fresh and not frozen. Wow, this is so good. Cheesy, little bits of crunchy garlic on top. That's so tender. And buddha fight, of course, you got to eat everything with your hands, including the gravy covered rice. Add more gravy to this. Oh, the sauce is good. A little sweet, smoky, it's peppery. All right, let's dig into this giant pile of seafood. So the scallops vary in size. This is a smaller one. This is the bigger ones. Pretty big size difference. Oh, this got some nice roe inside. Oh, it's delicious. The scallops, incredibly tender, a little sweet on its own too. I guess if you don't want to use your hands to scoop the rice, you can always use a scallop shell. You know what? There's actually a pretty good way to eat a scallop. Scoop up some rice with it. Wow. There's also some mussels. Mussels good too. The sauce is very thick and sticky, a little garlicky, definitely a little on the sweeter side. And after eating several bites of the seafood, you do start feeling that burn on your tongue. Oh, there's shrimp in here too. Look at this. I'm not a big fan of shrimp. This is definitely pretty good covered in their sauce. This is going to be my favorite. I already know it. This thing, you can just go ahead and take a bite and just suck the meat out of the shell. Beautiful, succulent. Super tender crab meat. I feel like the sauce itself doesn't really cover up the flavor of the seafood too much. It just adds a bit more sweet, peppery flavor and a little heat to the seafood, which I really like. So the blue crab, if you don't want to bite into it, you can just crack it open, break it apart in the joints right there. That's the good stuff. And if you want, you can dunk it in some of the sauce. I think my favorite thing here is the crab in the scallops. I really like my method of using the scallop shell and just scooping up some rice with it. Eating it that way, it's efficient and delicious. Also some corn in here. The corn is nice and popping sweet as well. The craziest thing about this spread, at today's conversion, only around 13 US dollars. And yeah, this is definitely a spread. I've actually been up since about 4 a.m. I really wanted to go grab some breakfast, but I managed to just hold off until I came here. That's so worth it. There's not many breakfasts in the world like this one. Personally, this place opens at 7 a.m. I didn't know if they would have the seafood or they just maybe have breakfast items. Turned out they had the seafood and I'm so glad that they did. Oh, this thing is so sweet. Yeah, the crab's my favorite. The crabs and the cheesy scallops, this is so good. All right, my seafood's getting cold. If I don't concentrate and hurry, see you in a bit. All right, so pretty much finished with the seafood and the rice, halfway through, I was trying to remember how to actually do it correctly. You're supposed to kind of hold it with your hands and kind of push it up with your thumb. This is probably one of the funnest breakfast experiences I've had in a while. The food's delicious, service is good, and you get to eat with your hands. All right, just a little bit more of the shellfish to go. Then we'll head for second breakfast. Well, this is a ginormous restaurant. I think across the road by the water, you can also eat there too. This is the menu and it's pretty extensive. So this is the restaurant. This place is huge and I can sit here. Look at this. You can sit right by the waters. Beautiful. So this seafood restaurant I'm at opens at eight o'clock in the morning with a full menu. And I got three of their specialties. Caney little nuts and giga dish I've never had before. Also, I got some baked cheesy oysters. The native chicken. This is a dish I've had before in the city. Love this. Probably one of the best things I had in all Philippines. It's the most intense seafood breakfast I think I've had in a long time. Going from one seafood place to this seafood place, and then one more after this. That one opens at nine o'clock. So today it was seven o'clock seafood breakfast place, eight o'clock seafood breakfast place, and nine o'clock seafood breakfast place. Here it is. My dishes have arrived. My freshly baked oysters, roasted native chicken we meet again, and the kini lau. And the kini lau looks like there's tons of roasted peppers, onions, and of course, white flaky slices of fish. Just sitting in vinegar and citrus. The native chicken. Beautiful golden color. This is a whole chicken, by the way. It's a small, small chicken. As I well know, the flavor is absolutely intense. And these are definitely freshly shucked oysters with butter, cheese, and crispy garlic. I have some extra chilies on the side if I need it. Let's start with this. The oysters are just gorgeous. Beautiful char on top from the grill. Oh man. This is freaking ridiculous. Oh, this is so yummy. The cheese is nice and creamy. It's not a stretchy cheese. I don't know exactly what kind of cheese they put on this. It's a little sweet, smoky, and the oysters themselves just beautifully delicate. So delicate and plump. Like really, really plump, juicy oysters underneath that layer of cheese. I didn't tell the oysters how fresh this can be. My cheese is so rich and creamy, by the way. It's really different than the cheese you find in grilled oysters from back in the U.S. I think this is an absolute must try. This dish is so good. The cheese is good and the oysters, they're so, so plump and nice. It's really hard to stop once you start eating this. Oh, that's so good. And the oysters all have such a wonderful smoky flavor from the grill too. I really enjoyed the heck out of that. Now, you know what's gonna go really well right after that? It's gonna be the quinoa. So white flaky fish sitting in a bath of citrus. And I don't know if this is vinegar or calamansi juice or probably a combination of both. Calamansi, you taste it. It's definitely sweeter, like a lot sweeter than ceviche. The fish is tender and the texture's a bit firm because it was cooked in all this delicious citrusy acid. Oh, this is so good. It's like a little shallots as well and garlic. That's not garlic, it's ginger actually. Wow, this dish is so vibrant and bright. After you eat it, it actually makes you more hungry. Oh, it's so nice. Sweet and citrusy. Love the ginger. Love the crunch from the peppers and the shallots. That's so good. It's just one of my favorite things in the world. The native chicken. I'm so glad I was able to have this again before leaving the city. Smells so good. Oh man. Oh my gosh. That's incredible. The flesh is firm yet tender. You could taste the fire that this thing has been roasted in. The skin, it's a little jerkier than the meat underneath, but whether it's the skin or the meat, it just has so much flavor because the skin is seasoned and inside is where all that amazing herbs is stuffed while this bird is cooking over the fire. That's so good. Some parts of the skin, it's just delightfully crispy and it breaks apart super quickly in your mouth. That's so freaking good. Let's try to eat it with some vinegar. I wonder how this would taste. I don't know if this is something you're supposed to do, but let's try it. Yeah, maybe actually don't do that. The vinegar is really a little too much for that delicate flavor of the chicken. And then if you feel like the chicken is getting a little too much, chase it with the fish. What a combo. This is delicious. Especially the meat inside. These little ribs. There's so much flavor because of course, inside the cavities where all that delicious herb was stuffed. This is an incredible chicken. I still do think the place where I initially got it from, that little stall under the scaffolding, under the construction building, it's better. Maybe it's because that was the first time I had it, but I don't know. But again, not taking anything away from this is delicious. If that one was a 10, this is a 9. Solid 9. I love the toasty little wing parts. This is something I feel like I will miss a lot once I leave the Philippines. And I don't even see this in Manila. Maybe once I leave Iloilo, I'm gonna have this anymore. I should be very sad. Oh, that's so smoky. The smoke really hits you. After you start chewing the meat in your mouth for a bit. That is so wonderful. Alright, I'm just finishing my food and one more breakfast place. It's still breakfast time. It's like 9 o'clock, 9.30. So the next seafood restaurant I'm going to is really just down the beach. About 10 minutes walk, but 10 minutes walk in this sun. Oh, oh my gosh, look at this. So that's the parking entrance to the seafood restaurant. It's ginormous, the one I was just at. This is it right here. Breakthrough restaurant. We've done the first one here. So this restaurant, they seat you first and then you come back to the counter. And this is where you order the dishes. Oh, they got mantis shrimp too. Whoa, so a giant fountain full of seafood. Lobster and crab and clams. This is all the fish and then there's more lobsters in here. Wow, that is some fresh crab right there. Wow. Once you're done with seafood, you can go have a little sand volleyball game. By the way, it is so hot. I wish it was a little more of a windy day. I just saw a sign they had there where they're warning people that if you never had the local seafood before, just to try a little bit because you might get a stomachache or something. Well, I mean, I've had a lot of local seafood today so far. So fingers crossed. There's a lot of shellfish here I've never tried before. So this is going to be a really interesting breakfast slash lunch. It's still breakfast. It's like barely 10 o'clock. All right, my food is here. This is, oh man, this is all stuff I've never tried before except for the mantis shrimp. But I've never had it like this and I've never seen one this size before. Where am I right now? Is this seafood heaven? This might just be seafood heaven. This pork, this soup is crazy. I never heard of this soup before. They say it's a local soup. So this soup is called the KBL and it stands for Cadillos Baboy Lenca. And Cadillos are pigeon peas. Baboy are pork or usually the pork belly or the pig feet. And Lenca are unripe jackfruit. Ginormous pieces of pork belly. And also I got this. This is the sizzling crab meat with corn and tomatoes and just pure crab meat on a sizzling plate. What? Okay, let's go back to the soup. Oh, there's a ginormous chili. And look at all this unripened jackfruit that's inside. You can see tons of vegetables like shallots and tomatoes. And you can see the pigeon peas right there. This pork belly is borderline intimidating. The sizzling crab meat looks absolutely delicious. Look at the bottom. The bottom is all seared. So the first time I had mantis shrimp was in Hong Kong. And mantis shrimp is one of the best tasting shellfish in the world. And this thing is deep fried. But look at how big this is. This looks like something they should be fighting on Starcraft. Okay, something else I've never had before. This is called diwao aka angel wing clams. I've never seen clams like this before. Look at this. It's so interesting. It does look kind of like an angel wing, right? Angel wing clams kind of reminds me of a razor clam. But the shells are not smooth at all. Like feathers almost. Wow, they look so good. And finally, they told me this is not a blue crab. It's smaller than a blue crab. But this thing is actually called a casag. It's a local, what they call a blue swimming crab. And what's cool is that every single seafood dish, you can customize it. You can ask them to cook it in a variety of ways. So the mantis shrimp is deep fried in salt and pepper. The angel wing clams is grilled, cooked in garlic butter. The crabs are cooked in coconut milk. First of all, let's try the soup. So again, this is a local soup. There is so much stuff in here. So let's grab some with the peas and the jackfruit. This is so interesting. So this soup is smoky. It's sour. These fruits here, this is the source of the sourness. I think this is the batuan fruit. And it has a really interesting sour flavor to it. The pigeon pea is a little firm. And look at the size of this pork belly. This is intense. Gotta put this whole thing in your mouth. Oh my god. The way that pork belly melts in my mouth, it's like nothing else. I mean, the soup is porky, it's fatty. At the same time, it's bright, it's vinegary, it's citrusy. So many different textures from that melts in your mouth pork belly to the firmer texture from the pigeon peas. Wow, this pork belly is intense. Look at this thing. I mean, it looks intense. It definitely tastes intense. My fat melts so nicely. I gotta try this. This is the sizzling crab meat. I was kind of afraid it's gonna be like imitation crab meat or something. No, no, no, no. This looks like blue crab meat right here. This looks like the good stuff. Look at that. Eat that over some rice. That's the good stuff. This is so good. This is a 10 out of 10 dish. Sweet, delicate morsels of crab meat. I think this is blue crab. It's so naturally sweet and tender. With a beautiful sear from the hot plate. Little zest from the tomatoes is so good. It's really good to chase with the soup. That's a wonderful combination. I can't believe they give me so much crab meat. I mean, that's like a dozen crabs with the meat taken out. And now you can just shove it in your mouth. This is beyond good. This is like one of the greatest things I had here so far. Well, let's get to this. The angel wing clams. Oh man. Oh my gosh. I now know why they call those angel wing clams. Those things taste like it came from heaven. They're like razor clams, but so much more tender and sweet. They're almost unnaturally sweet. The shells are very delicate. So be careful that doesn't end up in your mouth. I don't think I've had a sweeter clam than that in my life. Especially paired with garlic and butter. The mouth feels like none other. That's like at least a 15 out of 10 on a tender scale. Just the most wonderful texture. And the sweetest flavor. Oh, I'm so glad I got it with butter and garlic. I should have even maybe got it steamed. Just so I could have the pure natural flavor without anything. Because the natural flavors of these clams are so incredible. All right, you know what? We got to keep going because the seafood is going to get cold. This is the mantis shrimp. Like I said, I never had one so big before. This is the size of a lobster for sure. And it's deep fried with salt and pepper. And this is the way they recommended it. Oh, there's some roll. Save that. Right here. Look at that. The roll and the meat from the shrimp. Man, this is gnarly. Oh my gosh. I've had mantis shrimp before. Never won the size of this. The meat, it's tender. It's juicy. And just like the angel wing clams. It's so sweet. I remember loving this when I first had it in Hong Kong. And these were not cheap. I remember back then it was like almost $100 per shrimp. It's such a deal to get these in the Philippines. And that wonderful roll. Mmm. Just has so much flavor. Oh my gosh, so good. Finally, let's try these crabs. So these things are smaller than a blue crab. And they cracked it for you. So all the claws and everything comes apart very easily. And this is all cooked in coconut milk. Whoa, I love this restaurant. This is an absolute must-come place if you're ever in Iloilo. It's cooked in coconut milk and chilies. So besides being subtly sweet and creamy and rich, it's spicy. Not spicy in a way that it ruins that delicate flavor of the crab. Not at all. Like just spicy in the best way possible. How good is this? Get some of this crab back. Mmm. Joints. There is absolutely no doubting the freshness of these crabs. I literally see them grabbing these things out of the tank. And they are extremely lively. It's one of the best seafood experiences of my life. This city is just absolute food heaven. So underrated too. Everything is so good. It's so hard to choose a favorite. I gotta say, it might be a tie between the clams, the angel wing clams, and the crab. This sauce they cooked it in with the coconut milk and the chilies. Oh my gosh, never had anything like that before in my life. This is such a great way to cook seafood. Because again, it doesn't hide the natural sweet flavor of the seafood. It just enhances it with that nutty, creamy coconut milk that goes perfect with that delicate, sweet texture of the crab. And they made it so easy to eat. Everything is cracked open for you. So you just gotta dig in there. This restaurant is an absolute must try. 100%. And as always, all the places I went to is down below for you guys. And thank you all so much for watching this just most ultimate breakfast seafood tour of Yilo Yilo. So until we eat again, see you later.