Morning Sun Eatery: The Carinderia in Project 4 (Quezon City) Serving Ilocano Food and Approved by Chef JP Anglo

Three of my grandparents are from the Ilocos region, the northwesternmost part of Luzon island. So I’m familiar with Ilocano cuisine, and I love dishes such as Poqui-Poqui (eggplant dish), Vigan Longganisa (Vigan-style local sausage), and my favorite dish, Dinengdeng (vegetable soup dish).

For the longest time, I’ve been looking got a carinderia (eatery) or restaurant serving traditional Ilocano food in Manila. But it’s difficult to find one. Fortunately, Sarsa’s Chef JP Anglo featured one in his vlog—Morning Sun Eatery.

Morning Sun Eatery is a carinderia in Quezon City. Its owners are from La Union, the province south of Ilocos provinces. So customers are assured of authentic Ilocano food.

They employ a turo-turo (literally “point-point”) style where customers get to select their food in the counter, which will be served to them on their table:

They also have skewers:

Aside from Chef JP, Morning Sun Eatery has been featured by different food vloggers, including Jayzar Recinto and my friend Khee Leoncio a.k.a FoodieMommaPH (see our Filipino food crawl in Makati collab here).

Morning Sun Eatery has been featured by several vloggers

Let’s cut to the chase and now talk about the food. But before I describe some of Morning Sun’s dishes, I’ll be giving a background of the dish so you’ll be more familiar with Ilocano dishes.

Dinakdakan: This dish is made with different boiled and grilled pig parts and dressed with calamansi (Philippine lime), mayonnaise, and other spices. Morning Sun’s version is creamy, smoky, and spicy because of the green chili. It’s full of textures, which contrasts with the crunch from the onions.

Dinengdeng: As I’ve mentioned, this is a vegetable soup dish. But its preparation is interesting. It’s done by boiling vegetables traditionally in a claypot in water with bagoong isda (fermented fish sauce). Then fried or grilled fish is added. This is best eaten with rice and a dip made with calamansi, chilies, and bagoong isda. I can easily eat this dish with two to three cups of rice!

Morning Sun’s has crisp vegetables (including labong or bamboo shoots, sayote or chayote, and sitaw or string beans). Its soup is tasty and comforting!

Ensaladang Talong (eggplant salad with tomatoes and onions): It’s nicely acidic but a bit on the sweet side. But is perfect when you eat it with their savory Inihaw na Liempo (grilled pork belly; more on this later).

Inihaw na Bulaklak (grilled pig mesentery): It’s nicely marinated and soft. I just wish it has more char.

Inihaw na Liempo: It’s thick, tender, and fatty. It’s also has a nice char and smokiness. This is easily one of the best grilled pork bellies I have ever had!

Kilawing Kambing: The easiest way to describe this dish is to think of this a goat ceviche. However, it’s made with grilled goat skin and meat, soaked in vinegar, ginger, and other spices. While this can be found in many parts of the country, it is believed that it originated in Ilocos.

Morning Sun’s is smoky and acidic. This will make a very good pulutan (finger food) and is perfect with beer.

Papaitan: From the word “pait” (bitter), this is a sour soup dish made with goat innards. Morning Sun’s is not super bitter as I expected it to be. There’s a nice sourness to it, and the innards are soft and rightly chewy.

Pork Barbecue: It’s tender and rightly sweet,but I wish it has more char.

Front to Back on the Front Plate: Pork Barbecue (PHP35) and *Inihaw na Bulaklak* (PHP20)

Sinanglao: Also spelled as Sinanglaw, this is an innards soup flavored with bile (for bitterness) and kamias or bilimbi fruit (for sourness).

I believe Morning Sun’s is made with carabao (water buffalo) skin and innards. The broth is comforting, the innards are chewy and are cut into big chunks, and the skin is gelatinous.

Morning Sun Eatery is an amazing Ilocano carinderia. Its food is delicious and the prices are cheap. I’m glad that I’ve already found a spot for my Ilocano food cravings (though I wished they have my other Ilocano favorites such as Pakbet, another vegetable dish, and Poqui-Poqui). I join Chef JP Anglo and I highly recommend it to you!

What dish above have you tried or would like to try? Do you know of other Ilocano carinderia or restaurant? Comment below!

Address: 170 J.P. Rizal St., Project 4, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines | Operating Hours: Daily, 8AM-10PM | Contact No.: 0928-9139571 | Facebook