La Union Food Trip

Aside from surfing, La Union is known for restaurants serving yummy treats. So off we went on a short food trip.

First stop: Lunch at 'Surf Shack'

Ambiance/Place: 4/5

Food: 3.5/5

Service: 3/5

Price: 4/5

Overall: 4/5

Surf Shack Lunch Table

The place is very artsy fartsy, what with very hippie colorful chairs, and surf boards on display. It's an open air restaurant, and the tables have candles. Although the food was served promptly, the service is relatively slow even though they seem to have an adequate amount of wait staff.

Surf boards on display

Surf Shack Bar  

TNT Pasta (Taba ng Talangka) which was basically pasta with red sauce, olives and shrimp. I wasn't able to actually see bits of the crab meat/fat, although it tasted like sauteed mussels.

TNT Pasta

Surf Shack Wings (BBQ flavor): 16 pieces of teeny tiny chicken wings. But the plus side is that the BBQ sauce was very tasty.

Surf Shack BBQ Wings

Bocnotan Longganizza Pizza: 8 slices of basically cheese with a small slice of Bocnotan longganizza. The longganizza was very savory, and it could have been better if they just mashed it and sprinkled the bits over the pizza rather than just having a single piece.

Bocnotan Longganizza Pizza

Lunch at Surf Shack

Second Stop: Coffee at El Union Cafe

Ambiance/Place: 4.5/5

Food/Drinks: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Price: 3.5/5

Overall: 4/5

Chilling at El Union Cafe

Since we got our tummies full, we decided to have a coffee break at El Union Cafe at Flotsam and Jetsam Hostel.

This artist hostel has a very artsy fartsy restaurant and cafe. They have lounge areas that are very instagram-worthy. The coffee drinks were relatively affordable, and they offer the best s-mores in La Union.

We ordered iced coffee and their homemade chocolate chip skillet cookie, since during that time their s-mores weren't available.

Coffee and Homemade Skillet Cookie

It's a very nice hangout place for barkadas or even families.

Third Stop: Halo-Halo de Iloko

Ambiance/Place: 3.5/5

Food/Drinks: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Price: 4/5

Overall: 4/5

Halo-Halo de Iloko facade

A simple restaurant with some hints of rustic feels, Halo-Halo de Iloko is known for their sweet and yummy halo-halo. The restaurant has an air-conditioned area and an open area. It is good for both barkada and families. 

Halo-Halo de Iloko

Pork Ilokano Sisig: classic savory pork sisig spiked with a characteristic hint of sourness. Perfect with rice!

Pakbet with Bagnet: instead of your usual pork bits, this pakbet meal is mixed with Ilokano bagnet. Plus it has a creamy sauce!

Halo-Halo de Iloko Dinner Table

Adobong Pusit: sweet adobo sauce plus perfectly cooked slices of squid. Perfect with rice as well!

Special Halo-Halo de Iloko (Fiesta size): name says it all. You can also try their buko de halo-halo version which is served in a coconut shell. They will even give you the extracted buko juice! Yum!

Fiesta Halo-Halo de Iloko

So if ever you're wondering what else can you do in La Union aside from surfing, try going on a food trip. There are still a lot of food places to choose from. And thus, we will definitely go back for s(ome)-mores.