Where to Eat in Sagada?

Sagada, just the other natives, has a traditional way of preserving their meat, and it's called "Etag".

   

also spelled as itag in IIocano a.k.a. innasin

Etag is the general term used in Cordillera about the native’s traditional way or preserving meat. A slab of a big slice of meat is cured in salt for about a week (or longer) then air-dried under the sun or smoked for several weeks (even months), or both. Though any kind of wood will do the smoking, the Igorots would prefer to use the wood from a tree they called alnos as it would emit pleasant smoke and add aromatic smoky flavor to the meat. If alnos is not available, wood and leaves of guava tree is said to be a good substitute.

For the locals, the longer the etag is cured in salt and air-dried, the more it is tasty, flavorful, and expensive when sold in the market. The meat would turn darker and darker in color over long time of aging process.

tag may not be appealing to the uninitiated because it has a foul odor and most often has maggots after several days of air-drying the meat, probably because of its exposure to flies.  As it undergoes the aging process, etag is often covered on the surface with a thin layer of milky-white molds similar to when aging a cheese. The molds are rinsed off and etag is safe and ready to cook.

When we went to Sagada, I didn't research about their food, and to be honest, I'm glad because I 'll probably not be able to eat the meat. Although, not knowing how they preserved their food, I still didn't like it because of the different taste when you eat freshly cooked meat.

Anyway, by any chance you want to travel for more almost 14 hours to visit Sagada, try these restaurants & diner:

Salt and Pepper Steakhouse and Lodge Inn Hotel (formerly Salt & Pepper Diner)

This Diner, which is located at the Sagada town proper, was our first stop after a long travel. Perfect for an early breakfast, specially when you smell their coffee. Sagada coffee, by the way, is my 2nd favorite local coffee next to Matutum of Cotabato. The diner is not very easy to spot, but if you have a driver or tour guide, you can just ask them to stop by there. To know more about this please, please read here>>

Log Cabin & Cafe

Log & Cabin Restaurant is I think the most popular restaurant in Sagada. This restaurant is a reservation only, walk-ins are welcome, only if there seats available. Nothing particular with the food, though. I can't even remember how the food tasted, or maybe because I ordered the wrong one..read more>>

Yoghurt House

Don't get me wrong, but I think this restaurant is overrated. When we went there a lot of people is inside already so we had to look for a free spot. It's obvious what their specialty here, Yoghurt! I was so excited to try their Yoghurt, but I didn't like it. Well, we all have different preferences. You will probably like it more than I do when you visit...read more>>

These are the only restaurants I remembered we tried when we were there.

Oh wait!! If you are tired and hungry enough to look for these places, just try any restaurants or diner around. I'm sure you will not regret it.

This is just my second local travel and I'm not brave enough to try other local delicacies, but if ever I came back to Sagada, I will make sure to try them all.