editorial

With a vibrant food culture, passionate chefs, and sustainable producers galore, this Philippine island is ripe for culinary exploration.
Photographs by James Louie
<figure id="attachment_153991" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-153991" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-153991" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-7-Hectares-Dining-Spot-and-Silay-City-Empanadas.jpeg" alt="Dining by the fishponds at 7 Hectares; empanadas to be deep-fried at Emma Lacson’s Delicacies in Silay City." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-7-Hectares-Dining-Spot-and-Silay-City-Empanadas.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-7-Hectares-Dining-Spot-and-Silay-City-Empanadas-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-7-Hectares-Dining-Spot-and-Silay-City-Empanadas-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-7-Hectares-Dining-Spot-and-Silay-City-Empanadas-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-153991" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: Dining by the fishponds at 7 Hectares; empanadas to be deep-fried at Emma Lacson’s Delicacies in Silay City.</figcaption></figure>
A rustic bamboo shelter might be the last place you’d expect to find a 12-course degustation menu, but here, on a grassy embankment between tidal fishponds in the <a href="https://destinasian.com/travel-guide/philippines" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Philippines</a>’ Visayan Islands, it makes perfect sense. Behind a tall partition in the open-air kitchen, coconut husks smolder and flames dance from wood-burning braziers. A cook wraps whole fish in banana leaf for grilling, while chef Gus Sibayan readies bowls of telescope snails with cubed taro and daikon slivers in a clear, fragrant broth. “This is inspired by a light Visayan vegetable soup called laswa,” he says.
So begins our leisurely lunch at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/7Hectares/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7 Hectares</a>, a regenerative aquaculture farm that supplies barramundi, red snapper, razor clams, and mangrove crabs to some of Manila’s top restaurants. It’s one of the first stops on a five-day tour of Negros Occidental—the province occupying the western half of Negros Island—where, together with a small group of fellow food enthusiasts, I’ve come to learn about Negrense cooking and how it connects with the global Slow Food movement.
Sibayan serves us fresh oysters drizzled with the extract of tart native fruits. What isn’t raised in the fishponds is carefully harvested from the nearby seas: steamed blue swimmer crab served on crispy efuven noodles; glassy squid stuffed with risotto and sweet Negrense chorizo. Owner Francisco “Kiko” Torno shares stories throughout the meal, his raffish hair spilling from a bandana. Trained as an aerospace engineer, the former ad exec launched 7 Hectares in 2009 with his Negrense wife after being inspired by a farm-to-table experience in Tuscany. “We thought maybe we could actually do something like this in the Philippines, but not with prosciutto.”
Torno and his team have since developed a closed-loop system in which every creature has its purpose: tilapia serve as natural feed, milkfish aerate the ponds, and mollusks—like the oysters we just ate—filter the water before it flows out to sea. That clean, chemical-free approach comes through in every bite, especially the grilled barramundi, its subtle sweetness lifted by the aroma of burnt banana leaf. “The best dish is the simplest dish,” Torno says, beaming.
<figure id="attachment_153993" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-153993" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-153993" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Bangka-Boat-and-Chef-Gus-Sibayan-at-7-Hectares.jpeg" alt="A bangka boat at Suyac Island; chef Gus Sibayan plating 7 Hectares’ grilled barramundi." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Bangka-Boat-and-Chef-Gus-Sibayan-at-7-Hectares.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Bangka-Boat-and-Chef-Gus-Sibayan-at-7-Hectares-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Bangka-Boat-and-Chef-Gus-Sibayan-at-7-Hectares-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Bangka-Boat-and-Chef-Gus-Sibayan-at-7-Hectares-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-153993" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: A bangka boat at Suyac Island; chef Gus Sibayan plating 7 Hectares’ grilled barramundi.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_153992" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-153992" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-153992" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Bacolod-Cansi-and-Sinda-Belleza-with-Lumpia.jpeg" alt="Cansi beef shank soup at Sharyn’s Cansi House in Bacolod City; fresh lumpia maker Sinda Belleza." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Bacolod-Cansi-and-Sinda-Belleza-with-Lumpia.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Bacolod-Cansi-and-Sinda-Belleza-with-Lumpia-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Bacolod-Cansi-and-Sinda-Belleza-with-Lumpia-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Bacolod-Cansi-and-Sinda-Belleza-with-Lumpia-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-153992" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: Cansi beef shank soup at Sharyn’s Cansi House in Bacolod City; fresh lumpia maker Sinda Belleza.</figcaption></figure>
Simplicity is also the mantra at two exceptional no-frills eateries down the coast in Bacolod, the largest city on Negros. Our guide, Virna Ascalon-Tan, brings us to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sharynscansihouse/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sharyn’s Cansi House</a> to taste its headlining speciality: cansi, a flavorful beef shank soup sharpened by the acidity of boiled batwan fruit. On another occasion, we dine at Aida’s Chicken Inasal (24 San Juan St.), where rendered fat and a tangy annatto oil marinade drip from chargrilled bone-in skewers. We’re taught to dip the chicken in calamansi juice and sinamak—cane or coconut vinegar infused with ginger, garlic, turmeric, and small but potent siling labuyo chilies.
Between bites, Virna tells me Negros Occidental is closely tied to Iloilo, her hometown on neighboring Panay Island. Both places speak Hiligaynon, a language brought by the waves of Panay settlers who poured into Negros from the mid- to late-1800s to clear its lowland forests for sugarcane. Negros Occidental still produces 60 percent of the Philippines’ sugar, and trucks piled high with cane stalks trundle down the rural roads outside Bacolod. “You won’t see them from May to August,” Virna says. “That’s what they used to call tiempos muertos—dead time—because no harvest meant no money for the workers.”
The century-long sugar boom enriched nearby Silay City, once dubbed the “Paris of Negros” for its genteel beauty and thriving cultural scene. One morning, we step inside Silay’s venerable <a href="https://www.instagram.com/elidealbakery/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">El Ideal</a> bakery to meet local historian and former city councilor Solomon Lopez Locsin. Over slices of crumbly guapple pie, he explains that Silay was the cradle of Negros’s sugar industry. “Sugarcane has been here for thousands of years, but it was the French Gaston family who first started large-scale planting in 1844.”
The Gastons and other affluent planter families built opulent mansions like the present-day Bernardino Jalandoni Museum, just up the street from El Ideal. Dating to 1908, the residence is a classic example of the bahay na bato style, its airflow aided by ornately carved transoms and by ventanillas set beneath the capiz-shell windows. As we tour the upstairs living quarters, Locsin points out the embossed metal ceilings. “Made in Hamburg,” he says. “You see, these families would travel abroad and bring things back from Europe.”
The cosmopolitan tastes of the local gentry also left their mark on Negrense food culture. Over time, treats once reserved for Silay’s upper-class gambling parties became part of everyday eating. One example is the signature lumpia at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sindabelleza.freshlumpia/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sinda Belleza’s Café</a>—fresh spring rolls stuffed with julienned hearts of palm, roast pork, crispy chicharron, and a garlicky secret sauce. Another is the sweet-savory empanadas from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/emmalacsonsdelicacies/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Emma Lacson’s Delicacies</a>, featuring minced pork, diced potato, onion, egg, and raisins. And at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MaritsSpecialPiaya/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marit’s Special Piaya</a>, the owner uses a recipe passed down from her grandmother to craft four variations of delicate piaya, a flaky, sesame-encrusted flatbread that enfolds gooey muscovado sugar, chocolate, matcha, or ube purple yam.
<figure id="attachment_153995" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-153995" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-153995" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Kiko-Torno-from-7-Hectares-and-Tiger-Prawn-Dish.jpeg" alt="7 Hectares owner Francisco “Kiko” Torno; tiger prawns in a sauce of water buffalo milk and prawn butter, also at 7 Hectares." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Kiko-Torno-from-7-Hectares-and-Tiger-Prawn-Dish.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Kiko-Torno-from-7-Hectares-and-Tiger-Prawn-Dish-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Kiko-Torno-from-7-Hectares-and-Tiger-Prawn-Dish-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Kiko-Torno-from-7-Hectares-and-Tiger-Prawn-Dish-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-153995" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: 7 Hectares owner Francisco “Kiko” Torno; tiger prawns in a sauce of water buffalo milk and prawn butter, also at 7 Hectares.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_153996" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-153996" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-153996" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Lanai-by-Fresh-Start-Exterior-and-Cocktail.jpeg" alt="An open-air dining room at Lanai by Fresh Start; a Negrense Sour cocktail at the same venue." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Lanai-by-Fresh-Start-Exterior-and-Cocktail.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Lanai-by-Fresh-Start-Exterior-and-Cocktail-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Lanai-by-Fresh-Start-Exterior-and-Cocktail-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Negros-Food-Story-Philippines-Lanai-by-Fresh-Start-Exterior-and-Cocktail-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-153996" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: An open-air dining room at Lanai by Fresh Start; a Negrense Sour cocktail at the same venue.</figcaption></figure>
Back in Bacolod, we find plenty more street food at the inaugural Terra Madre Asia &amp; Pacific, a five-day festival uniting regional small-scale producers around the Slow Food movement’s mission to ensure “good, clean, and fair food for all.” Larger tents on the grounds of the colonnaded Provincial Capitol hum with activity: guests have flown in from far and wide for expert-led tasting workshops, cooking demonstrations, and talks. I attend an eye-opening lecture on lambanog, the Filipino coconut liquor whose distillation techniques gave rise to mezcal after being introduced to Mexico during the Spanish-colonial period. Following another session, some of us sip traditional hot chocolate made with criollo cacao, a rare heirloom variety brought to the Philippines via the Manila–Acapulco galleon trade. Chocolatier Christopher Fadriga cultivates it at his plantation outside Bacolod. “Japanese researchers came and did a DNA test on our cacao. They found that it was 99.97 percent criollo, so it’s very ancient,” he says.
Later, I meet a founder of Slow Food Negros who knows just about everyone at Terra Madre. Organic farmer and social entrepreneur Ramon “Chinchin” Uy Jr. is in his element, having run an annual organic farmers’ festival for the past two decades and, more recently, two editions of the smaller-scale Terra Madre Visayas. “Our goal is to make Negros an organic island. Joining Slow Food was a natural transition for us,” he tells me. With enough support from Manila, Bacolod will once again host Terra Madre Asia &amp; Pacific in 2027. The hope is for it to become a biennial gathering like the original <a href="https://www.slowfood.com/events/terra-madre-salone-del-gusto-2026/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Terra Madre Salone del Gusto</a>, held in Turin, Italy, every two years.
In the meantime, visitors can explore the year-round gastronomic experiences that have earned Negros the distinction of being the first Slow Food Travel destination in the Asia-Pacific region. “It’s a unique kind of tourism,” Uy explains. “We involve farmers, fishermen, artisans, cooks, and chefs as the narrators of their local food and culture.” Options include a pond-to-table meal at 7 Hectares, a tour of Fadriga’s cacao plantation, and a visit to a community-led mangrove conservation site on Suyac Island. In Bacolod, Slow Food dinners are served at Uy’s own hyperlocal restaurant, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LanaibyFreshStart/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lanai by Fresh Start</a>, where chef Patrick Go parlays organic ingredients into dishes like grilled pork belly in muscovado-guava sauce and a comforting soup of squash, moringa, and water-buffalo milk. The cocktails take a similar tack, with foraged botanicals flavoring tipples by Manila-based mixologist Kalel Demetrio, who champions indigenous Filipino ingredients on the global stage. Uy says Negros offers a blueprint for expanding Slow Food’s sustainable tourism model overseas. “Our end goal is to have Slow Food Travel not just all over the Philippines, but all over Asia. We want to showcase our communities and tell their stories.”
While not officially connected to Slow Food, Don Colmenares follows a similar ethos at his family’s 600-hectare hacienda south of Bacolod. The up-and-coming chef runs <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sauma6106/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sauma Farm, Bar &amp; Kitchen</a>, a breezy venue that seats just 15 guests. As at Lanai, the focus is entirely on local produce, whether Japanese amberjack, figs, or edible mountain plants. But Colmenares applies techniques he picked up during an internship at Le Moulin de la Gorce, a Michelin-starred restaurant near Limoges, France, and his multicourse menus change monthly, in part to satisfy the expectations of local diners. “Negrenses are very, very picky,” the chef laughs. “And they always complain that there’s nothing new.”
Colmenares now plans to build villas for guests to enjoy “the full Sauma experience,” which might include a farm tour by water buffalo–drawn cart or a river excursion on a rowboat. Hearing him elaborate on all this at Terra Madre, I know it’s only a matter of time before I return.
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Navigating Negros 
GETTING THERE 
<a href="https://philippineairlines.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Philippine Airlines</a> operates multiple daily flights to Bacolod from Manila and Cebu.
RESOURCES
Slow Food Travel experiences around Negros are listed on a dedicated page of the <a href="https://www.slowfood.com/insights/negros-island-destination/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Slow Food</a> website.
WHERE TO STAY
Negros’s most modern hotel, the 200-room <a href="https://www.discoverasr.com/en/citadines/philippines/citadines-bacolod-city?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Citadines Bacolod City</a> (doubles from US$100) features an outdoor pool and a Korean spa.
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This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://subscription.destinasian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">March/May 2026</a> print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Next Course, Negros”). Buy a single issue or subscribe <a href="https://subscription.destinasian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

A bangka boat; the Bacolod specialty cansi; Kiko Torno, owner and co-founder of 7 Hectares.

Negros is Now a Model for Asian Gastronomic Tourism