With the very hectic facade of the main city; from school, work or even the lifestyle, Cebuanos always look for easy-to-order meals that are worth the money. Between home works, and project proposal deadlines, we always crave for something to eat that we can find always everywhere—and it should be the best meal.

Cebu’s all-time perfect pair combo meal at its best

The hanging rice or locally named, puso, is essentially boiled rice wrapped in woven palm leaves. In Cebu, puso originated in the provincial parts and was created even before the time of the Spanish colonization.

Puso is famous to people who desire to eat on sidewalk eateries where they will be given hand gloves to pick food, a small bowl of condiments (vinegar, soy sauce, chilis), a huge variety of food, a bottle of cold soda and a “well-planned” position either by sitting on a bangkito (footstool) or standing up.

Puso is served by slicing the palm leaves in half exposing the cooked rice. It feels like eating a mamon when you break it or it is like sharing the other half of the camote to your buddy. From the usual streetside eatery during any time of the day, a piece costs ₱2 or ₱5 the most. And the number of pieces that you demand will depend on what you eat or the availability of the puso.

Eatery owners usually serve these (around 10-20 pieces) on a basket plate and placed at the center of your table. You just need to call the owner’s attention if you ran out of puso.

Shumai (or siomai here in Cebu) is a pork dumpling originated from traditional Chinese served in dim sum. In Cebu, variants of siomai are available: ground pork, beef, and shrimps, among others, with green peas, carrots, boiled egg as extenders.

Wrapped in wonton wrappers, siomai is served either steamed or fried for crispiness. However, the local style of Cebuano siomai is the steamed one.

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Each piece costs ₱5 to ₱7 and siomai is eaten with soy sauce and a squeeze of calamansi or with an oily, spicy, garlic and chili mix paste. It is eaten as is (still placed on a basket plate) using a toothpick to facilitate the eating or using spoon or fork with puso.

Here in the metro, the main source and the most famous place for Siomai is the D’Original Siomai sa Tisa. It is not only delicious, it’s also right-for-the-budget. It’s addicting and can surely satisfy your taste buds.

There you go! Puso and siomai, the Cebuano’s Romeo and Juliet of staple food. It definitely is Cebu’s all-time perfect pair combo meal.