Pancit at suka

As promised, we visited the new dampa-type market on Macapagal Avenue and encountered Pancit at Suka. A strange combination but that’s how people of Cabagan, Isabela serve their noodles. Another oddity–it is called Pancit Cabagan which initially made us wonder whether we’d get some tummy problem, considering what the word means. Anyway, that’s the town where the dish originated. At this market it is served by a restaurant called Wok with Joe, leading us to believe they offer Chinese food. The dish is done with homemade noodles, brownish and rather too flour-y. It comes either as regular with only slices of pork and cabbage at P180 for the smallest serving (not too small as it is good enough for five people) or special which gets more ingredients such as assorted seafood (P250). Vinegar is used instead of calamansi juice. This restaurant is a reproduction of a vintage house with hand-carved chairs and tables which are actually for sale. Our verdict on the Pancit? Not that great but the price is right.

The Macapagal market is called something other than dampa. But the concept is the same: buy the food and have it cooked in any of the restaurants there. The meats we saw were frozen, hence this is not a good place to buy them. Fresh seafood is the main attraction. Depending on what one’s fancy is and how deep one’s the pocket, the choices range from live lobsters at a staggering price of P1,800 a kilo, crabs from P250 a kilo, prawns from P300 to P500 and lapu-lapu at an incredible P600 a kilo. We found this lady selling some rare shelled items, again on the high side. Sea cucumber is at P350 a kilo, fish lips at P250, kidney scallops at P450, mussels at P700 and abalone at P700. Cooking charges range from P70 to P150.

We stopped by the vegetable stall of Belen, the gracious owner. Tomatoes are so beautiful these days. Belen sells them for P40 a kilo. It might be good to take advantage of this and make some tomato sauce for future use. Remove the seeds, sauté in olive oil, garlic and onions and maybe add a bit of fresh basil. Freeze and you have a delicious pasta topping when required. We also filled our basket with cauliflower at P50 a kilo, broccoli at P90 for half a kilo, carrots at P60, celery at P50 and leeks at P50. Up front are the fruits, but there are more stalls inside. Mangoes range from P60 to P70 a kilo. We had the same problem of mangoes looking so lovely on the outside but were not perfect on the inside. This seems to be the phenomenon these days and no vendor can explain why. The mangoes we got were supposed to have come from Zambales.

Farther in, away from restaurant row, is a carinderia that serves popular Filipino dishes like dinuguan, menudo, etc. from P25 a serving.

We who live south of Manila are actually thankful that we have a lot of choices with regard to food outlets. As mentioned in a past column, South Supermarket is the latest entrant, in the Westgate area in Muntinlupa (Alabang).We are pleased to find lamb shanks for which we have been searching for so long. They sell for P297 a pack of two. We plan to cook the shank with wine and brown sauce, a dish that challenged us when we had it in one of the more popular restaurants in the city. The store carries frozen crustaceans –curacha at P450 a kilo, crabs at P185.75. They’ve got good-sized seabass (apahap) at P312 a kilo. This is a well-stocked place.

On the ground floor, which is called the Alfresco area, is Erle’s, a delicatessen offering an extensive line of sausages, from Filipino to European. The meats include Canadian back bacon, Montreal smoked beef, roast chicken, black forest ham, Bavarian and herbed meat loaf. They do platters for parties, all deli or mixed. Visit Erle’s and make your choice.

There’s another young housewife who has become productive in her leisure hours. Gina T. Garcia bakes some of the most delectable cakes and pastries. Her Walnut Torte is to-die-for. It’s a confection made of heavy caramelized sugar with lots of walnuts, at P700. If stored in the refrigerator, it must be put out before slicing (thinly) and, as Gina says, best eaten with fingers. She has other delicious offerings too. Call 810-9750.

Here’s a tip for those who want to save on electricity. If a meat recipe calls for baking, you can do a short cut by simply braising it in low fire, allowing the liquid to evaporate as the meat tenderizes. You won’t lose any flavor as long as you put in all the ingredients required. We’ve tried this technique with Osso Bucco and Coq Au Vin.

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