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Midnight Mercato at Fort Gives a New Light to Midnight Snacking

February 21, 2011 by Janey

I’m sure you know how much we all love weekends. And how much we try to stretch the hours just to enjoy it longer…

CW and I run quite a hectic schedule most of the time and sometimes late into the night, we look for a good restaurant that’s still open or a spa for a quick massage after a long day. It’s quite difficult to find these two things if it is already 12 midnight or so. Anton of OAP, together with RJ Ledesma (CW thinks I have a huge crush on RJ after listening to me babble and babble whenever I read RJ’s blog before… that might not be far from the truth but I digress), launched a midnight lifestyle market at Bonifacio Global City, Fort and I couldn’t be any happier.

Night market slash food bazaar dubbed Midnight Mercato is the nighttime counterpart of the successful Mercato Centrale that happens every weekend from 6am-1pm. Bubba and I were at the Midnight Mercato launch two Fridays ago, February 11, 2011 and the place was crawling with foodies, group of friends, media, late-night BPO professionals and Manila’s society folks.

RJ Ledesma took night markets and hawker centers of neighboring countries Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand as an inspiration when he conceptualized Midnight Mercato with Anton and Mommy Mundo. Other than the mouth watering food finds, the urban crowd can also enjoy live acoustic music from local bands and musicians.

Midnight Mercato has a great selection of food that can hit the spot as it promises to be THE late night destination for food enthusiasts in the Metro. The range is quite good, varying from comfort food to classic Filipino street finds to those hunting for some gourmet taste.

Some of the Mercato Centrale favorites are still there:

My favorite cheesy potatoes

And that soft liempo with heavy barbecue sauce

that is so delectable that it makes me smack my lips at this very moment.

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Chips to Go Twister Potatoes

Flavors to Choose From: Cheese, Barbeque, Sour Cream, Plain

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Mochiko offers ice cream filled mochi

with a variety of flavors like green tea, azuki and black sesame.

Got sold out before 12 midnight!

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Takoyaki!

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Favorite Barbeques!

Like Mercato Centrale, Midnight Mercato still showcases organic products.

I got a 2-kilo pack of black rice.

Midnight Mercato presents a clean, comfortable and organized setting inside an air-conditioned tent, where you wouldn’t think twice about eating street foods like innards, gizzards, etc.

BPO professionals working within the area that either ended their shift, taking a break or about to go to work can now take a quick and pleasant food-filling stop at Midnight Mercato. Night caps during weekend gimmicks will now be a deviation from the usual drinking and instead it can shift to consuming great-tasting dishes that make the hang-out all the more tummy worthy.

Midnight Mercato is located on the corner of 30th Avenue and 9th Street (across the Spa at Bonifacio High Street) Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, the same location as Mercato Centrale. It will be open every Friday and Saturday from 10:00pm to 3:00am. If you are interested in renting a food stall, please email rache@diaz.ph or visit www.mercatocentrale.com

The weekend warriors have a new place to hang out during weekends that offers food fiesta from the multitude of food stalls, good acoustics, and a Wi-Fi spot that will certainly keep the night alive. Everybody can satiate their late night cravings with the food extravaganza available at Midnight Mercato.

Midnight Mercato at Bonifacio Global City is brought to you by Go Negosyo, Citibank, the City of Taguig, RockEd, GeiserMaclang Marketing Communications Inc., Foodie Delivery, Luxe by Goldilocks Jam 88.3, Wav 89.1, Magic 89.9, 99.5RT, 103.5 WOW, PEP.PH and SPOT.PH.

Midnight Mercato

Corner of 30^th Avenue and 9^th Street,

Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

Midnight Mercato Album

Mercato Centrale

Feed Your Passion at Bonifacio Global City

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18 Comments Filed Under: A Taste of Manila and Other Things, Inside Dish: A BITE of Food Tagged With: 2010, 9th street and 30th street, address, best, best selling, bestsellers at MErcato, Between Bites, Between Bites Top 10 Food Finds at Mercato, BGC, blogger, Bonifacio Global City, Central, concessionaire price, contact number, date, discount, Doughnut Burger, Dulcelin, Dulcelin flank steak, Dulcelin Mango Torte, event, exclusive, Filipino, flank steak, food, food blog, food blogger, food review, Foodie finds at Mercato, Fort, fruits and vegetables, how much, how much per day, location, Manang's bon chon chicken, Manila, Market Central, menu, Mercato, Mercato Centrale, Mercato Centrale @ BGC, Mercato Centrale at BGC, midnight mercato, Midnight Mercato at the Fort, near, Off Beat Cafe doughnut cheeseburger, Offbeat Cafe, organic, Oriental Basket, price, Products, registration, Ricky Morelos, Sale, sold out, stall, suppliers, Top 10, Top Ten, tri tip, Wagyu

Mercato Centrale at BGC, Weekend Market Where Food Lovers Meet

December 14, 2010 by Janey

If you have been to the following weekend markets in Metro Manila, then it’s surefire that you have to give Mercato Centrale a visit.

Salcedo Market

Legaspi Sunday Market

Banchetto

Market at the Hills

Sunday Market at the Lung Center in QC

Mercato Centrale opened about 3-4 weekends ago and I was supposed to go to its opening, except that I had to go participate in the Amazing Race Asia 4 Promo Mall Race that same weekend. I’m glad though that Mercato Centrale at Bonifacio Glocal City is open every Saturday and Sunday from 6am to 12nn at the corner of 9^th Avenue and 30^th Street and I had the chance to visit 2 weekends ago.

Mercato Centrale is truly a foodie haven because of the many things that a Foodie can find there that can make him/her happy. I visited initially on a Sunday with FoodieManila.com and TalesfromtheTummy.com and decided to go back the following Saturday since I felt 2 hours were just too short to scour all the offerings, organic or otherwise.

The 2^nd Saturday, Bubba suddenly felt sick 10 minutes we were there and 5 minutes within drinking the fruit juice he bought so it was relatively a shorter trip. I am definitely going back this weekend again to eat what caught my attention in the previous trips and find new ones worth mentioning… This will be my 3^rd straight weekend trip there.

In the meantime, here are Between Bites’ Foodie Finds at Mercato Centrale (so far):

1. February Sweets and Savories Stuffed Temptations

Stuffed Temptations are plump red juicy tomatoes stuffed with combination of spinach and parmesan cheese. It’s so flavorful that you’ll barely notice you’re eating all vegetarian. I could eat 4 of these delicious and healthy munchies in one sitting.

1 piece PHP 75

4 pieces PHP 275

8 pieces PHP 525

Other stuff of February Sweets and Savories to try includes the decadent chocolate cake with a delicious center topped with butterscotch frosting called Chocolate Nirvana Cupcakes and their Orange Fever –moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting that’s 90% fat-free.

The following weekend I was here, their stuffed temptations got sold out (as early as 1030am I was told). I wasn’t able to buy any. That’s going to be my first stop next weekend.

For advance orders, call Christine R. Sevilla at (632) 926 0041/ (0917) 790 8967.

2. Bale Dutung’s Pan de Bagnet

One of the more popular stalls since it opened is Bale Dutung’s stall. No surprise there, Claude Tayag’s cooking is simply to be lined up for. What they are lining up for is Bale Dutung’s Pan de Bagnet.

Pork Belly

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Assembly

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Pan de Bagnet is fresh ciabatta filled with oven roasted pork belly that has a good portion of meat, fat and skin. It’s lined with fresh lettuce and onion probably tossed in some vinaigrette. I was surprised that the ciabatta remained to be soft and chewy even after a bit of walking.

3. Dulcelin’s Wagyu Tri-tip and Flank Steak

READ MORE:

Ultimate Taste Test 3.0 Part 1

Dulcelin has gained quite a following for their famous Mango Torte – a mix of crispy chewy nougatine, golden mango and cream. Unbelievably, I haven’t tried it yet but during the Ultimate Taste Test 3.0, Dulcelin gave me Callebaut Chocolate Ganache Cake to try and it was simply divine. The whole cake was wiped out at home before I could even save me more slices or take good photos.

Other than the sumptuous cakes, what sets Dulcelin apart from the other concessionaires are their flavorful meats! You cannot simply leave Mercato Centrale without trying their Wagyu Tri-tip or Flank Steak. I was ordering both only to find out that the Wagyu Tri-tip was completely sold out. La Fin.

Boy, I was whispering thankful hymns to an angel on my shoulder that I was able to still get a meal order of Dulcelin’s flank steak. A sigh of satisfaction and pleasure escaped my mouth after a bite of their tasty gourmet flank steak. Bubba kept muttering how good it was. This was definitely the highlight of our 2^nd weekend at Mercato Centrale.

4. Inn Café’s Creamy Cheese Lasagna

There are a number of stalls selling pasta and lasagna but Inn Café’s Creamy Cheese Lasagna is certainly worth your time. I bought a personal size from Jean of Inn’s Café during the 1^st weekend of visit and bought a small pan of her highly flavored lasagna just last weekend to give to the PBA Committee during their working Saturday right before the Philippine Blog Awards.

Personal Size PHP 95

Small Pan PHP 600

Large Pan PHP 1,500

For advance orders, call (632) 440 8104/ (0922) 899 8014.

5. Cheesy Potatoes PHP 40

Marble potatoes or what would be easier to describer to Joyce as “baby potatoes” are soaked in cheesy sauce and sprinkled with bacon bits. The soft potatoes had the right saltiness from the bacon and cheese flavor.

Another noteworthy is their liempo –its heavy barbecue sauce has a tint of heat but mellowed down with hickory sweetness. Soft meat and fatty part are fantastic with steaming rice.

6. Oriental Basket Honey Shrimp Sauce

This was also another noteworthy food revelation. If you’re a fan of shrimp paste, Oriental Basket has a new take on it. Their Honey Shrimp sauce has a good balance of sweet, salty and shrimpy without the miniscule shrimps.

If you don’t like the texture of shrimp paste but like the taste, Oriental Basket’s honey shrimp sauce is the product for you. I immediately got hooked after tasting it with freshly peeled green mango and bought a bottle. Oriental Basket Honey Shrimp Sauce (PHP 150) comes in 3 choices: regular, spicy and extra spicy.

7. Fresh Walnuts

Irene, wife of TalesfromtheTummy.com, bought a few packs of these fresh walnuts. Walnuts have that certain taste of saltiness and nuttiness that you can only achieve when they are freshly cracked.

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8. Offbeat Café Doughnut Cheeseburger

Offbeat Café stirred the Mercato Centrale scene with its doughnut cheeseburger. Imagine a juicy patty, cheese, bacon and egg pressed together not by your usual burger buns but with Krispy Kreme doughnuts. All that’s sinful is supposedly GOOD… this can be your prime example of that.

Offbeat Café also offers Chicago dog made of fish meat which piqued my curiosity and is definitely on Between Bites hit list on the next visit.

9. Delimondo Products

It’s also another place where you can get Delimondo original ranch style corned beef (PHP 140).

10. Kitchen ala Ching’s Oatmeal Cookies

I can only shake my head but Bubba ordered another container of Kitchen ala Ching’s famous oatmeal cookies. I think it has become HIS tradition every Christmas.

There is this Asian foodcart that offers quesadillas and burgers I’m eyeing too. I also want to try the native chicken, the all-adobo stall, the other barbecued meats, the duck station, paella, Manang’s bon chon chicken and many others.

For now, I can only put my hands on my face and wail… Why are weekends only composed of 2 days? Waah.

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12 Comments Filed Under: A Taste of Manila and Other Things, Inside Dish: A BITE of Food Tagged With: 2010, 9th street and 30th street, address, best, best selling, bestsellers at MErcato, Between Bites, Between Bites Top 10 Food Finds at Mercato, BGC, blogger, Bonifacio Global City, Central, concessionaire price, contact number, date, discount, Doughnut Burger, Dulcelin, Dulcelin flank steak, Dulcelin Mango Torte, event, exclusive, Filipino, flank steak, food, food blog, food blogger, food review, Foodie finds at Mercato, Fort, fruits and vegetables, how much, how much per day, location, Manang's bon chon chicken, Manila, Market Central, menu, Mercato, Mercato Centrale, Mercato Centrale @ BGC, Mercato Centrale at BGC, near, Off Beat Cafe doughnut cheeseburger, Offbeat Cafe, organic, Oriental Basket, price, Products, registration, Ricky Morelos, Sale, sold out, stall, suppliers, Top 10, Top Ten, tri tip, Wagyu

Calaguas Island

August 7, 2008 by Janey

(Photo Credit: Brian Sahagun. Others: Ayla, AJ, Jerome, Deneb, Leia, Rex)

July 11, 2008. 10pm, we were headed to Bicol for Travel Factor’s UBBE (Ultimate Beach Bumming Experience) Calaguas chapter. Our seat assignment was in the first row left side, which is the row opposite the driver’s side. I was happy that we got the first row since I’m claustrophobic. The extra space where the back of another chair should be but isn’t, helps, which means more leg room for Bubba too. Unfortunately, a mini-cooler is installed in the front seats, which actually made the leg space smaller. I was fidgeting all night trying to give more space to Bubba knowing that he was having a hard time positioning his long legs. At one point, I had it resting on top of my legs since there was more room diagonally. I barely had any sleep plus the drive was like going through a snake’s path. I had to wake up once in a while to see if the bus driver was maneuvering safely.

5am, we arrived at Daet and made a brief stop for breakfast and toilet break. I was so excited to stretch and more excited that we are so near our destination point. Though a big part of me dreaded the boat ride, which I heard prior to the trip was 2 hours (if we’re lucky!). Knowing this is my perennial dilemma, how responsible of me to forget to bring a sack of Bonamin.

8am, we set off to the Island via a huge fishing boat. 30 minutes into the boat ride, I fell asleep. I woke up just in time to see that we were some meters away from a spotless stretch of sand. The waves weren’t very strong that morning thus we were able to arrive at Calaguas Island in a short of 2 hours.

A small community is the only occupant of the island. There were no other “tourists” around except for us. The island looked almost deserted which added to the charisma of the place. Soft white sand greeted my feet as I set foot on the land. As usual practice, Leia initiated the brief introduction of the group and gave us our assigned camping tents. Bubba and I agreed on a location and set our tent, which wasn’t so hard to do as I initially thought.

Lunchtime, we all gathered to the main area to feast on the lunch prepared by the Bicol boys who were also our guide around town. After lunch, I read the book I brought (the one I haven’t finished since Anawangin) and fell asleep. When I got up, I headed straight to the beach where Ced and the rest were.

That afternoon, after 20 minutes of rules orientation, we played Ultimate Frisbee –or at least tried to play. The wind wasn’t cooperating. The strong winds drove us to play different local games instead –Patintero, and a game similar to cops and robbers where you have bases, I forget what they called it but Leia passionately proposed that we play it. It was fun but it was so hard to run on sand, which made for a good workout.

Dark clouds loomed near and we had to transfer camp. With combined efforts, Bubba and I moved the tent and resettled it in its new location, under a tree. We also had to improvise an outer cover just to make sure that rainwater wouldn’t go inside.

Drinking and social time enthused immediately after our hearty dinner. Leia and Gerry were our resident bartenders who came up with different concoctions –Bailey’s ala Gran Ma! An hour or so later, we exited to retreat to our bunks and catch on much needed sleep. In the wee hours of the morning, it rained. Thank heavens we didn’t get wet but there was practically no air inside the tent. I kept getting up to open the flap and let some air in.

I have to give props to the drinking group left outside who braved the drizzle and were still having fun under the rain, singing and engrossed in muffled chatter.

The next morning I got up earlier than Bubba and walked along the beach. A few minutes later, I decided to wake him up by tickling his feet that were sticking out of the tent. One of the things I love about Bubba is: it is very rare that he wakes up with a groan. We basked in the beautiful morning walking on the beach.

(Photo: Need to poop… lest not forsake morning rituals.)

By 9am, we were in our assigned boats again returning to Daet shores. Bubba said the trip back was shorter than the trip going there. I want to disagree but I was asleep for most part of the first boat ride so I can’t really tell. Upon reaching shore, we moved our things back to the bus again. While waiting for others to load their stuff, Bubba and I treated some of the local kids to ice cream, which was loads of fun. Nothing brightens one’s day like a kid’s smile.

Next stop was the lunch at Kusina ni Anghel. We shared a table with Jaja and Brian. After lunch, we headed to Bagasbas beach where we’re supposed to spend an afternoon of surfing. Unfortunately, when we got there, it was flat. There were no waves.

Although Bagasbas beach wasn’t white, their sand was soft. The group drowned their surfing sorrows to playing intimate (that’s not a typo of ultimate. Har har.) Frisbee. Bubba’s group won. Too bad Jaja was not around to win it for us (tee-hee). I greatly enjoyed the afternoon lounging at Bagasbas beach, bonding with Ced, Ayla, Jerome, AJ, Cha, Wai, Gerry, Rex, Deneb and Leia in the water. Afterwards, we tried our skills against skimboarding. Although surfing could have been more fun, skim wasn’t so bad. It was interesting to try it out and learn how to do the skips. Skimboarding proved to be challenging for the rest of us except Gerry, but Cha and Rex incurred the biggest blows.

Learned a few pointers on skimboarding. Tried Langka shake for the first time. More memorable, my eyes have unearthed another beautiful island in the Philippines. New friends were made. I missed some people from the previous trips while having fun with new ones. I miss Madz, Marc, Tinio, Francis, Jolly, Maan, Zarah, Karen, Joan, Divine et al. It would have been great if they were with us during the trip. Calaguas Island is definitely the Boracay of the North as people claims it to be. The beach was as beautiful and the water was as clear and cool. If it weren’t so difficult to go here (at least difficult for me because I have anxiety over boat rides), I’d be back in a heartbeat and become oblivious to the rest of the Philippines.