Roots Siargao

Roots is the one you book for the night you actually dress up on this island, which is maybe twice a trip. This is tasting-menu territory, Filipino ingredients pushed into places you didn’t expect, run by a kitchen that clearly enjoys showing off a bit. If you want a quick beer and sisig, walk on, this isn’t that. Go for the seven-course menu and let them walk you through it, batuan turned into powder, bitter gourd turned into oil, sweet potato turned into gnocchi, all local produce doing things local produce doesn’t normally do. Cocktails are their own event too, the calamansi sour is the one people order twice. Ask for Zai or Jem on the floor, they’ll talk you through the sourcing on each course instead of just dropping plates and walking off. One cocktail order landed flat for a table while everyone around them was raving, so don’t expect every single glass on the menu to be a knockout, the food’s the reason you’re here anyway. Book ahead, this is a special-occasion table not a walk-in-hungry spot, and go on an empty stomach because the courses add up fast despite how small they look.