Silakbo Restaurant: Rediscovering Filipino Heritage through Gastronomy

The town of Balabac is an enchanting sight to explore after the daylight. When the moonlight and stars peek through the night sky, a festival of lights unfolds in the island’s breathtaking panorama.

Surfing in the waves are luminous planktons all wanting and rushing to reach the sand. With the graceful dancing of thousands of these little lights, nights in Balabac are never cold and weary but are warm, bright, and joyous. Each night, this little town sets up surprises that make the island a dreamland coming into life. Anyone who witnesses this transformation feels an intense excitement and admiration – the feeling we, Filipinos, refer to as “Silakbo ng damdamin.”

Silakbo Restaurant is inspired by the landscape of Balabac beach during the night. The structure is likened to the brightest plankton washed into the beach that bursts with pleasant surprises.

The restaurant derived its name from the term “Silakbo” or intense feeling of excitement. For travelers, one of the things they get excited about is food. In fact, gastronomy tourism has become a booming industry not only in the country but across the world. It is because people travel not only to explore places but to experience culture and heritage through food. Thus, every traveler feels intense fascination or silakbo about delicacies.

The fa?ade is designed with massive glass panels to allow natural light to come in and provide guests a picturesque view of Balabac sunset and starry nights. When the sun sets, Silakbo turns into a luminous structure that welcomes the sea breeze. The shining structure is flattered by a garden accentuated with lights popping all over the place. When viewed from the beach, the Silakbo is like a burst of light in the middle of the forest.

The restaurant’s interior is a hybrid of modern and vernacular design. Its design is a marriage of the past and the present dining setup highlighted with colors in either concrete or wooden backdrops. Guests will experience an authentic Filipino dining experience – a fiesta of food, art, culture, and adventure. But most importantly, guests will discover and feel what Filipino hospitality is all about. The restaurant will serve Filipino favorites and fusion cuisines that will provide a rich gastronomic experience to every guest.

Silakbo is the Pagmaya Beach Resort’s main restaurant of the Pagmaya Beach Resort – a soon-to-rise luxury hotel in the province of Palawan. The design is created by the Juinio Group of Companies. For inquiries and proposal requests, you may send us a message on

Facebook @JuinioArchitects or email us at [email protected]. For more information, visit www.juinio architects.com.