Photographed by Camille Robiou du Pont
A look at how Siargao’s restaurants are redefining island culture through craftsmanship, heritage, and community.
Siargao has long been known as a surfer’s island, but in recent years, its cultural scene has expanded far beyond the breaks of Cloud 9. Once known primarily for its surf, fishing villages, and carinderias (eateries), the island now hosts a new generation of restaurants shaped by creativity, cultural storytelling, and a deep sense of community.
Below, see the restaurants, bars, and cafés offering culinary experiences rooted in Siargao’s identity and people.
Bamboo Café
At Bamboo Surf Café, Raffy Sorreda offers a space built entirely by hand from bamboo, created without the aid of architects or engineers, and constructed by local craftsmen whom he has trained and works alongside. Born in Bicol but raised in Siargao, Raffy has witnessed the island’s growth firsthand: from a community reliant on fishing and copra to one that is now alive with hospitality, surfing, and tourism.
After years of working in Manila, Raffy returned to Siargao for what was meant to be a short vacation and never left. Instead, he partnered with a Brazilian friend to build bamboo accommodations, followed by a café designed around high ceilings, natural light, and native materials. “We wanted to help the community,” he says, noting that the staff are mostly his cousins and neighbors.
Their menu is a combination of French and Filipino flavors, from European-style crêpes to local toasts and coffee. The café’s popularity has inspired the team to build a second outpost on the back road and expand into more ambitious projects: a bamboo school for underprivileged children, and a Japanese-inspired two-story bamboo house facing the beach in General Luna.
Roots
When Marina and Ines Castañeda first arrived in Siargao, they instantly fell in love with the island. So much so that they decided to take this risk and open their fine-dining restaurant, Roots. Founded by a multicultural team, Casa Kaos, the restaurant explores a variety of different cuisines: Portuguese, Mexican, Spanish, Italian, and Filipino. “The Idea was to bring all our roots from the places where we were born, but also to the places where we have lived, but always trying to execute this proposal with Philippine ingredients,” says Marina, the designer and creative behind Roots.
Every day, the restaurant changes its six-course tasting menu, fusing international culinary techniques with locally sourced Filipino ingredients, focusing on sustainability and supporting local farmers and fishermen. “We find so many interesting things, and then we start building a direct relationship with these people,” she says. “Instead of calling them just suppliers, we like to call them collaborators, because at least what we try to do is to give them a little bit of spotlight in the experience.”
Paraluman
Originally stranded in Siargao during the pandemic, Adam Hrapko, formerly a bar manager for Zuma in Dubai, New York, Abu Dhabi, and Hong Kong, has made the island his home, opening Manu, Mujo, and his newest project, Paraluman.
Named after the Filipina muse of Sampaguita Pictures, Paraluman draws from the Golden Age of Philippine cinema. Though new, Paraluman has been embraced quickly. For Adam, the mission goes beyond drinks: it’s about honoring Filipino heritage while uplifting the community. He and his team are involved in spay-and-neuter programs for stray animals, and he has adopted six rescue dogs himself. “Siargao is very about community,” he says. “Everyone helps each other.”
His future plans include expanding Paraluman toward the beachfront, introducing more food, and introducing twists like a Negroni ice cream cart for the Siargao Food and Wine Festival.
CEV Siargao
For chef David del Rosario, kinilaw is a good representation of the Philippines. So when the opportunity came to open a restaurant to the global audience of Siargao, he took it to spotlight the dish as well as other Filipino dishes. “I wanted kinilaw to be talked about more in the conversation on Filipino food,” he says. Founding CEV Siargao, del Rosario built the world’s first restaurant focused on the Filipino counterpart of ceviche, kinilaw. Along with kinilaw, he also serves Peruvian-style ceviche, specifically “General Luna Kinilaw” and “Pacifico” ceviche.
Alma Siargao
In Spain, chef Luis Martinez describes his home as a “culinary university.” “It constantly smelled of home-cooked meals, someone was always in the kitchen, and food was part of the daily rhythm of our everyday life,” he says. That atmosphere, he shares, was a powerful source of inspiration for him and his brother. After opening Alma in Spain, he ventured to the shores of Siargao, diving into a new culture and new ingredients.
In Siargao, the chef faces challenges of a lack of access to a variety of imported goods, which became the foundation of his cooking philosophy of cooking with fewer ingredients. “Working with so few components demands more, not less,” he says. “It forces you to pay attention to the quality of product, to technique, to timing.”
While this is a constant challenge, the restaurant has faced bigger obstacles in 2020, when it opened during the pandemic. “I think Alma’s identity was born from that adversity. The restaurant became more than a place to eat,” he says. “It taught me to trust the process, to cook with what’s in front of me, and to value human connection above everything else.”
