Your Dumaguete trip, in full.

Cebu LechonZubuchon, CnT Lechon, or Rico's Lechon in Cebu City; lechon stalls at Carcar Public Market and Talisay

Forget the liver sauce — Cebu lechon needs no sarsa because the pig is packed with lemongrass, garlic, and herbs, then spun over coals until the skin shatters like glass. The 'best pig ever' line Cebu loves to quote was Anthony Bourdain praising the lechon Joel Binamira (now Zubuchon) roasted for his 2008 visit. Locals just call it lunch — at CnT for crackling, Rico's for the spicy original, or by the kilo straight off the spit in Carcar and Talisay.

Puso (hanging rice)Larsian sa Fuente BBQ village, Fuente Osmeña; any street barbecue stall citywide

That little woven diamond of coconut leaf hiding compressed rice is pure Cebuano ingenuity — no plate, no spoon, just rip it open and eat with your hands beside a barbecue stick. It's the rice of the working man, a few pesos at every BBQ stall in the city. Order a fistful at Larsian and you're eating the way Cebuanos always have.

NgohiongPungko-Pungko sa Fuente; ngohiong stalls along Colon Street and Carbon Market

Cebu's old Hokkien-Chinese community left behind this five-spice spring roll — fritters of jicama and pork dusted with that unmistakable ngo hiang powder, deep-fried and dunked in sweet-and-spicy vinegar. Eat it the proper way at a pungko-pungko stall, perched on a tiny stool with a basket of fried things and a fistful of puso.

Dried MangoCarbon Public Market; pasalubong stalls citywide

Cebu turned its sweetest export into the country's most famous pasalubong — chewy, sun-gold strips of carabao mango that every balikbayan smuggles home by the kilo. Skip the airport markup and buy it by the bagful at Carbon Market, where it's been sold for generations.

Sinulog FestivalCebu City streets and Basilica del Santo Niño, every third Sunday of January

Every third Sunday of January, the city floods with drummers, dancers, and a million 'Pit Senyor!' chants for the Santo Niño — the dark little image of the child Jesus that Magellan gifted in 1521 and Cebuanos never let go of. It's the country's biggest fiesta, half religious procession, half street rave, and the whole city smells of lechon by noon.

Carcar heritage town & chicharonCarcar Public Market and town plaza, Carcar City (1 hr south of Cebu City)

An hour south, Carcar is Cebu's heritage town — Spanish-American houses around a rotunda, and a public market that fries the crispiest chicharon and roasts a beloved lechon. Grab a paper bag of MatMat chicharon, point at the lechon you want, and eat among the old colonial bones of the place.

Budbod & Tsokolate at PainitanPainitan stalls inside Dumaguete Public Market; early morning

Before sunrise, the painitan alley inside the public market lights up — rows of stalls steaming budbud (sticky-rice suman), puto, and thick tsokolate ground from local tablea. Sit on a bench, dunk your budbud in the chocolate, and eat breakfast the way Dumagueteños have for decades, for spare change.

Budbod Kabog (millet suman)Painitan, Dumaguete Public Market; pasalubong stalls

Dumaguete's prized budbud swaps glutinous rice for kabog — a nutty, less-sweet millet (named for the bats that supposedly led a farmer to it) — wrapped in banana leaf and steamed with coconut milk. Most of it comes from nearby Tanjay; the market painitan is where you find the real, slightly gritty thing.

Tempura & seafood roll on Rizal BoulevardTempura stalls along Rizal Boulevard near Silliman Hall; evenings

At dusk the Rizal Boulevard tempurahan fires up — but Dumaguete tempura is its own creature: a battered, flattened fish-paste stick on a skewer dunked in sweet-spicy vinegar, eaten standing by the seawall with the breeze off Tañon Strait. A few pesos, endlessly addictive.

SilvanasSans Rival Cakes & Pastries and pastry shops citywide

The frozen cashew-meringue-and-buttercream cookie that Dumaguete gave the country — crisp, cold, and dangerously easy to eat by the dozen. Trinidad 'Trining' Teves-Sagarbarria flattened the old mound shape into a disc and opened Sans Rival in 1977; it's been the city's edible calling card ever since.

Rizal Boulevard & Silliman UniversityRizal Boulevard and Silliman University campus, Dumaguete

The acacia-lined seaside promenade beside Silliman — the country's oldest American-founded university (1901) — is the soul of Dumaguete: students cramming on benches, old folks walking at dawn, everyone ending up at the tempurahan by night. The 'gentle' in 'City of Gentle People' lives here.

Inato grilled chickenJo's Chicken Inato, Silliman Avenue, Dumaguete

Charcoal-grilled native chicken in a sweetish marinade, eaten with rice and your fingers — the Dumaguete take on inasal. Jo's Chicken Inato has served it in a native-style hall since 1985 (the name a play on founder Josephine Ng and 'atin ito') and it's still where locals bring out-of-town guests.