Chicken Inasal

Inasal is the smoky, golden-orange grilled chicken that made the city of Bacolod famous. Chicken legs and thighs marinate in calamansi, vinegar, lemongrass, and garlic, then grill over charcoal while being basted constantly with annatto oil, which gives the skin its signature burnished glow. In Bacolod, inasal is a point of pride — restaurants there are judged by the quality of their marinade and their basting oil, and it is always served with garlic rice and a fiery vinegar dip.

Burnished skin, juicy meat, citrus soul

The basting does the magic: the annatto oil keeps the skin crackling and glossy while the marinade works its way deep into the meat, leaving it tart, savory, and fragrant with lemongrass. Every bite has that bright calamansi tang balanced by the char of real fire. There is a reason it is eaten with bare hands — the skin is too good to share with a fork, and the vinegar dip begs for dipping.

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