Guam Local Custom Tips by machomikemd

Halo Halo (Shaved Iced Dessert)

The Halo Halo (In filipino means mix mix) is one of the most enduring Filipino Influence on the Cuisines of Guam and being a tropical island, is famous for eating it specially on a hot day. This ubiquitous Filipino Dessert cum Treat can be found everyhere in the Island, even at the Food Courts, at the Chamorro Village, Restaurants and even at Denn'ys, even the local Chamorro People love this yummy treat. (pls see also my Manila Tips).

Halo Halo is a traditional shaved ice dessert made with ice cream and varied ingredients, including macapuno (silky coconut), kaong (sweet palm fruit), langka (jackfruit), munggo (mungo beans), sweet ube (purple yam), mais (corn), nata de coco (coconut gelatin), sago (pearls), evaporated cream mile, Pinipig (rice Crispies), Leche Flan (sweet flan) and more. it is best eaten on a hot day and even as dessert but it has so many calories so that weight watchers watch out. A Halo Halo order is $ 4.50 and again is available in food courts, chamorro village, filipino restaurants, denny's and more.

Kadun Pika (Spicy Chicken stew)

The Kadun Pika or the Spicy Chicken Stew is one of the Chamorro Cuisine that the locals eat. It is made from chicken wings and chicken drumsticks, Soy Sauce, Vinegar, chillies and pepper and is cooked for about 30 minutes. You can find it at the various Chamorro Food Stalls in Chamorro Village in Hagatna and in Chamorro Food Stalls in an around Guam and at the Food Courts. A Single order with Red Rice and Finadene Dipping Sauce is $ 5 and can also be a part of a 3 dish meal for $ 9.50. You must ry it to have an appreciation of the spicy chamorro cuisine. Besides the chicken, they also have other kadun recipers like pork, beef and seafood.

Beef Tinaktak

Chamorro Cuisine loves anything spicy and hence this beef dish of them is on the spicy side. This Beef Tinaktak is an original Chamorro Food made from ground sirloin beef cooked in coconut milk with lemon served with tomatoes, squash or long beans and chilis! It is cooked for at least 1 hour hence the ground beef imparts the flavors of the coconut milk and add the spiciness of the chili and then eating it with the chamorro red rice and viola, a nice combination.

Beef tinaktak can be ordered at the chamorro food stalls at chamorro village and other chamorro food stalls at the island and costs $ 5 in with red rice included and $ 10 if other viands are included.

Pancit

One of the most enduring influence of Filipino Culture on Guam is the Filipino Noodle Dish which was originally made by expatriate chinese in the Philippines, the Pancit (from a chinese Min Nan Word Pian I Cit which roughly means to stir fry. This noodle dish is now popular for the local chamorros too and they added it to their fiesta plates and the pancit can be eaten as a side dish or by itself. In the Chamorro Pancit Version, the two main variations of this noodle dish found on the fiesta table are pancit canton and pancit bihon. In the past, pancit canton was the more common of the two. The difference between the dishes is the type of noodle used. Pancit bihon includes a thin translucent rice noodle while pancit canton incorporates an egg noodle, similar in appearance to the familiar spaghetti noodle. The meat and vegetables are consistent in both versions: chicken, pork or shrimp (or a combination of the three), cabbage, bell peppers, celery, carrots, onions, and garlic.

Filipino Pancit has many varieties like Pancit Bihon, Pancit Canton, Pancit Miki, Pancit Luglug, Pancit Palabok, Pancit Habhab and more.

Finadene (spicy Dipping Sauce)

The Finadene is Guam's most famous Spicy dipping sauce that they often use to dip most of the meals that they are eating. It is like an all purpose dipping sauce for many Chamorro Dishes and is made of japanese shoyu soy sauce, vinegar or lemon juice, chopped white onion, and fresh chilies. Adding oil and/or water to finadene makes it suitable as an all-purpose marinade that is the backbone of the chamorro fiesta barbecue plate.

The Finadene makes a fine complement to temper the sourness of the kelaguen and to temper the sweetness of the Chamorro Barbecue Plate and is a foil to the spicy beef tinaktak. they also use finadene as dipping sauce for sushi instead of the kikkoman soy sauce dip.

Chamorro Fiesta Barbecue Plate

The Most famous and most known of the Chamorro Cuisine is the Chamorro Fiesta barbecue plate of which many of the food stalls in Guam Offer them and even some filipino restaurants and food stalls offer them too. Chamorros love to barbecue pork ribs, beef ribs and chicken quarters and even fish all at once and marinade them with a japanese shoyu style soy sauce and sugar and lemons for 24 hours and grill them in a big griller.

the chamorro Fiesta barbecue Plate is available in most restaurants and food stalls in guam and costs $ 12 in food stalls and $ 20 at the restaurants. Included are the grilled assorted meats, the red rice and the finadene dipping sauce.

chamorro Red Rice

The Chamorro Red Rice is the chamorro version of the Spanish Paella but with a twist. Since there are no saffron available for coloring the rice and make it fragrant, the chamorros substituted saffron for the achuete seed or annatto seed, which is found in the pods delightfully named bixa orellana, a shrub originally from the carribbean but transplanted on the islands during the spanish exploration days. They mix the achuete seed to the rice while cooking and viola, the RED RICE!

the red rice is best eaten with the chamorro barbecue plate as both complements each other. If you order a chamorro food at a chamorro restaurant or food stall, chances are that they give you the red rice instead of the regular steamed white rice.

Kelaguen

The Kelaguen is a Chamorro Side Dish of Fish or Meat or Shrimp that is typically made from fresh raw things mentioned above, marinated in citrus juices such as lemon or lime and spiced with chilli peppers. Additional seasonings such as onion, salt, coriander/cilantro, and pepper may also be added. It was Influenced by the Filipino Kilawin and the Mexican Ceviche. It can be eaten as a Side Dish or even as a main course and goes well with the spicy finadene dipping sauce.

you can order assorted kelaguen like fish, shrimp, squid, pork, beef, chicken at $ 4.00 to $ 6.00 at various chamorro food stalls and restaurants. It has a sour taste due to the citrus content of the souring agent like the lemon or lime.