Is This The Best Pares Recipe in the Philippines 
The Filipino Street Food That Has Everyone Googling Right Now
PARES RECIPE: If Filipino street food had a late-night streetfood superhero, it would probably be Pares. Not the kind of hero wearing spandex tights and a cape. No. This hero arrives in a bowl of rich beef stew, garlic rice, and a side of hot broth that could wake the dead after a long night out (yes, I am twlking about me). This is Filipino comfort food, and some.
Across the Philippines right now, people are searching for “pares recipe,” “pares overload,” and “best pares near me.” Social media has played a huge role in this sudden spike. Videos showing towering plates of Pares Overload—loaded with beef, fried pork bits, bone marrow, and enough gravy to flood a small village—have been spreading like wildfire online. Now that’s my kind of wildfire – beefy, fatty, unctuous wildfire. I simply must write about it.
Before this recent Instagram glory and TikTok fame, Filipino pares was a humble roadside dish that quietly fuelled jeepney drivers, taxi drivers, and night-shift workers across Manila. It was an iconic streetfood, a pick-me-up hearty soulfood. Today, it might just be one of the most searched Filipino street food dishes on Google Philippines this week.
And once I help you understand what it actually is… perhaps you’ll then understand why.
What Is Pares?
In Filipino, pares means “pair.” The name refers to the traditional serving combination: braised beef stew, garlic fried rice (sinangag), and a bowl of clear beef broth. The dish was popularised in Quezon City in the late 1970s, when a roadside eatery began serving this comforting trio to locals. Since then it has become one of the most beloved street foods in the country, commonly found in eateries called “paresan.”
The magic of Filipino beef pares lies in its flavour balance:
- Savoury soy sauce,
- Gentle sweetness,
- Aromatic spices, and
- Slow-braised beef.
Add garlic rice and suddenly everything just makes total sense.
Ingredients for the Best Pares Recipe
Here’s a traditional Filipino beef pares recipe you can cook at home, you be the judge of whether this is the best pares recipe.
Ingredients
For the beef stew:
- 1 kg beef brisket or beef shank
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 onion
- 1 thumb of ginger (about 2″)
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 star anise
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cups beef stock
- green onions for garnish
For the garlic rice:
- 4 cups cooked rice
- 6 cloves garlic
- cooking oil
- knob of margerine
- salt
For the soup:
- beef bones (with marrow)
- onion
- garlic
- peppercorns
Cuts like brisket, chuck, or beef shank are commonly used because slow cooking turns them tender and flavourful.
Cooking the Best Beef Pares Recipe
Cooking pares is simple, but the flavours develop through time, so patience young SkyWalker…
Step 1 – Brown the beef
Heat oil in a pot and sauté garlic, onion, and ginger. Add beef cubes and cook until lightly browned.
Step 2 – Build the broth
Pour in beef stock, soy sauce, sugar, and star anise. Let the beef simmer gently for about one hour until tender.
Step 3 – Create the gravy
Allow the liquid to reduce slightly so the sauce becomes thicker and richer.
Step 4 – Make the garlic rice
Fry chopped garlic in oil until golden. Add rice and stir until the grains absorb the garlicky aroma, and the stir in that umami margerine.
Step 5 – Serve the trio
Place beef pares beside garlic rice and a bowl of clear beef broth. Sprinkle chopped spring onions on top. Now pause for a moment. Admire the plate. Then eat immediately.
The Secret Behind the Best Beef Pares Recipe
The beauty of a good beef pares recipe is patience. Tender beef slowly braises in soy sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger, and star anise until the meat becomes unbelievably soft and buttery.
Star anise is the quiet hero of the dish. That gentle spice gives pares its unmistakable aroma, that one that lures you into a restaurant, or makes you pause at a streetfood cart. And once the beef has simmered long enough, the gravy becomes rich and glossy. That’s when the kitchen suddenly smells like a Filipino street stall at midnight.
The Rise of Pares Overload 
Street food vendors across the Philippines have recently created a new phenomenon called Pares Overload. Imagine the classic dish, but with:
- Extra beef
- Roasted bone marrow
- Crispy pork bits and crackling
- Fried garlic chips
- Fried egg
- Mountains of gravy
It’s the type of meal that requires both hunger and bravery. No surprise that “pares overload” has started trending in Google searches alongside “pares recipe.” I have to get more of this in my life…
The Essential Pares Partner: What Goes Well With Pares - Garlic Rice
Garlic rice might seem like a side dish to the non-Filipino. But, oh no, it surely isn’t. That’s akin to blasphemy in the Filipino Foodie scene. In Filipino food culture, sinangag is the foundation of many meals. When the rice absorbs the sauce from the beef pares, something magical happens. Yes those flipping angels start to sing, and strum their little beefy harps, and make us all drift off to dreamy pares places.
Suddenly the plate becomes dangerously addictive. You tell yourself you’ll have one spoon. Next thing you know, the bowl is completely empty.
Final Thoughts 
Pares began as a simple street meal served to workers in Manila. Today it has become one of the most beloved comfort foods in the Philippines. A bowl of braised beef, garlic rice, and hot broth might seem humble, but together they create something unforgettable.
And if Google searches are any indication, the popularity of pares recipe and beef pares recipe isn’t slowing down anytime soon. So if you decide to cook this dish at home, here’s one friendly warning. Make extra rice.
Because once that rich gravy hits the plate… Second helpings become unavoidable, and you’ll have bus loads of Filipinos breaking your door down to come in and ‘share’.
