Where to Eat in Bacolod With Kids
We made it a point to try local cuisine, so we avoided fast-food chains and restaurants that did not offer at least some Negrense dishes (because what’s the point?). Your Bacolod travel with you kids has to include a culinary itinerary! Bacolod is known for inasal, cansi, KBL, batchoy, piaya, and cakes, which your children will love. These are our favorite places to eat, ranked from highest.
1. 21 Restaurant
We ate at 21 Restaurant twice, because it’s so good. This is Bacolod’s high-end fine dining restaurant (many of the diners are well-made and dressed up). But it’s unbelievably affordable!
We had toasted ravioli, boquerones, tanigue kinilaw, squid teriyaki, lamb with curry rice, crispy pata, pork chop with Bicol express, and sinigang. But the must-eat here is their famous original batchoy, which is the best we’ve ever had.
Everything was delicious, but if you were to order just three, get the lamb with curry rice, pork chop with Bicol express, and batchoy. In fact, if nothing else, order the batchoy.
2. Calea
Bacolod is not Sugarlandia for nothing. The best cakes in Bacolod (and certainly in the top five in the Philippines) can be found in Calea. The cheesecakes, chocolate cakes, and pecan pies are heavenly. Not too sweet but just perfect. Their coffee is great too.
Prices per slice are mostly under P100, which is crazy cheap. It’s usually packed though day and night, so grabbing a table can be a challenge. But it’s totally worth it that we ate here twice.
3. Sandok Comfort Food
What we’ve never tried before were Bacolod specialties cansi and KBL. And probably the best place to try them is Sandok Comfort Food.
KBL (Kadyos, Baboy at Langka) is an Ilonggo sour soup made with pigeon peas, pork, and jack fruit. It was okay, but we weren’t fans. Cansi is a beef soup dish that’s a bit sour. Again, okay but not to die for. However, sizzling cansi is something else. It’s the same beef shank soup recipe but cooked in a sizzling plate. Now, this is a dish worth going back for (which we did.)
3. Aida’s Manokan
Nothing says Bacolod food than chicken inasal — grilled chicken with marinade that you dip in a mixture of calamansi, soy sauce, chicken oil, and vinegar, and best paired with garlic rice and Coke (or beer).
Manokan Country is where you should head first once you land in Bacolod. It’s a market complex of stalls and restaurants specializing in chicken inasal, all competing for customers. They’re no-frills, no-aircon, and no-ambiance, which can be a bit of a shock for privileged kids. But who cares?
There’s a lot to choose from but we went for Aida’s Manokan, as it’s the most popular inasal restaurant. It was good, but maybe because we’ve been used to eating chicken inasal in Metro Manila for years, it was not a mind-blowing experience.
5. Chicken House
Aida’s may get a lot of raves, but we had to go to the chicken inasal restaurant that pioneered or at least popularized it back in 1976 (there were already chicken alleys even way back). Chicken House serves really good chicken inasal. The beef ribs were just okay.
If you can’t take the hot, crowded, and chaotic carinderia ambiance of Aida’s and the other Manokan Country chicken houses, eat at the airconditioned and homey Chicken House instead.
6. Felicia’s
If Calea is the number one dessert place in Bacolod, Felicia’s is a close number two. They serve delicious cheesecakes, chocolate cakes, sans rival, and ensaymadas.
But they also serve really delicious meals as it’s also a restaurant and steak house.
7. Cafe Bob’s
We went here for dessert, specifically for Napoleones. And Cafe Bob’s, a Bacolod institution, doesn’t disappoint. Napoleones are flaky puff pastries with custard filling topped with sugar glazing.
Cafe Bob’s is actually better known for its pasta and pizzas. Other places such as Roli’s, Pendy’s, Merci, and Bongbong’s are better known for Napoleones. But we really love Cafe Bob’s Napoleones, even better than the one we bought from Pendy’s and Merci.
8. El Ideal Bakery
Since we went to Silay to tour some of the heritage houses, we dropped by El Ideal Bakery, itself a heritage house and the oldest bakery in town. It’s known for packaged, baked delicacies and comfort food.
We ordered lumpia ubod, pancit guisado, cassava cake, buko pie, and guapple pie (guava and apple). It’s generally okay.
