Classic Pinoy birthday food

Cake 
The chiffon cake with the sugar icing from commercial bakeries is still a permanent fixture in birthday celebrations. Although there is a wide range of new cake flavors coming up all the time, Filipinos still love their mocha- and ube-flavored cakes, topped with m&m’s or, for the budget-conscious, Nips chocolate candies.

Lechon



Fruit salad 
Despite Filipinos’ access to a wide variety of fresh tropical fruits, the traditional Pinoy style of preparing fruit salad is to take canned fruit cocktail imported from the US and top the fruits with Nestle cream (and condensed milk, for the sweet-toothed Pinoy). Despite the calorie-laden preparation, however, according to Chef J, the dessert wins for its creaminess and refreshing taste.



Fried chicken 
They can come in any form: wings, legs, drumsticks or, the most child-friendly style, chicken lollipops. As long as they’re fried and crispy, they’ll be devoured. But this dish wouldn’t be complete without the bowl of sweet banana ketchup beside the chicken.




Hotdog-marshmallow-pineapple chunk on a stick 
Who hasn’t had a birthday party as a kid without this sitting front-and-center on the buffet table? Looking like a yummy red porcupine, it’s both a buffet centerpiece and one of the more popular menu items among the kids.




Spaghetti 
The sweeter, the better. Filipino-style spaghetti jolts your senses because, if you’re having it for the first time, you’d never expect it to be quite so sweet. Toss whatever you want into the sauce: ground pork, hotdog slices, ham bits, topped with grated cheese. But if the sauce doesn’t turn out sweet, it’s not Pinoy spaghetti.



Ice cream 
Summer or not, ice cream always rears its sweet, cold goodness come dessert time in parties. Being a tropical country, it is no surprise that the Filipino palate goes more for fruity flavors like macapuno, langka, ube, and avocado.



Barbecue 
The way Filipinos prepare barbecue reflects how they were influenced by various cultures. Local barbecue, for instance, may taste like the traditional American fourth-of-July barbecue. But it looks like the Malay satay (skewered small slices of meat). 
“Pinoy barbecue is either pork or chicken skewered on bamboo sticks with a sweet-sour tomato-ketchup-based sauce,” says Chef J.

Pancit