Quezon City eats on its own terms: Sunday market haggling at Farmers Cubao, Maginhawa Street's rebel kitchens, Banawe's Chinatown noodle houses and Tomas Morato bars pouring lambanog until 2am. Three days, roughly ₱4,000 all in.
Metro Manila's best-priced wet-and-dry market, open 04:00–19:00 daily beside Araneta City. Rows of Guimaras mangoes, live lapu-lapu tanks and dried danggit. Bring produce to the 'dampa' stalls at the back and they cook it for ₱120–200 per dish.
A campus institution since 1949, famous for one dish: tapsilog — sweet-cured beef tapa, garlic rice and a fried egg, served on melamine plates to generations of UP students. Cash only, no frills, queues at lunch.
Quezon City's Chinese-Filipino quarter along Banawe Avenue, dense with 1970s-era canteens and bakeries. Masuki serves hand-pulled chicken mami and siopao; nearby stalls sell hopia, machang and taho. Most open 07:00–21:00.
Corner canteen serving all-day Filipino breakfast on tin plates — corned beef sinangag, longganisa and salted egg, with tsokolate and barako coffee. Open late for the Teacher's Village student crowd, portions built for sharing.
Open since 1979 and the QC benchmark for sizzling pork sisig — chopped maskara and liver on a cast-iron plate, cracked egg tableside. Also does crispy pata and bulalo. Open 10:00–23:00, big enough for large groups.
The legendary grilled-innards stall on UP's Ylanan Road, running since the 1980s. Isaw (chicken intestine), betamax (pork blood cubes) and adidas (chicken feet) at ₱10–20 a stick, dunked in a communal vinegar-onion bowl.
Founded 1939, still baking pandesal in the original 80-year-old wood-fired pugon oven. Order pandesal with kesong puti, ensaymada and their tsokolate batirol. The café hosts 'Pandesal Forum' talks with journalists most Tuesdays.
Where the QC media and showbiz crowd eats after taping — inihaw na pusit, sinigang na hipon and pork barbecue skewers, with San Miguel by the bucket. The Morato branch is the original from 1997 and runs past midnight.
Sunday-only organic and heirloom-food market at Centris (EDSA-Quezon Avenue), 06:00–14:00. Stalls sell Cordillera heirloom rice, tinapa, kesong puti, tablea chocolate and regional kakanin like suman and bibingka.
The Maginhawa food-park cluster near Malingap Street packs dozens of container-kitchen concepts — sisig rice bowls, Bicol express, takoyaki and buko-pandan shakes — most plates under ₱200, with shared picnic-table seating.
Kapampangan chain famous for a minimalist halo-halo: only macapuno, saba banana and leche flan under shaved ice and evaporated milk. Pair it with their pancit luglug and pork tocino. Open 10:00–21:00.
The Scout streets behind Morato hold QC's drinking scene — craft taprooms pouring Filipino brews, plus bars mixing lambanog (coconut spirit) and calamansi. Pulutan of chicharon bulaklak and tokwa't baboy arrives with every round.