Mercato Centrale

When I was living on my own I use to frequent the weekend markets in Makati, especially the Sunday market at Legaspi since it was just a block from where I used to live. I miss those wonderful lazy Sundays where I spend the whole morning at the market walking around looking for new finds and old favorites. 

The other week I had the chance to visit Mercato Centrale for the first time.  I have been hearing so many good things about this newest weekend market.  I went with the Little Ones in tow, so I made a list of the stuff  I wanted us to try.

Manang's Chicken 

First on the list was Manang's Chicken.  This was such a hit with the Little Girl.  We got the an order of 6 wings, she finished 3 wings on her own.  The combination of the crispy coating together with the sweet tangy sauce made this a winner for the Little Girl. She was licking her fingers, it was that good. 

Lechon Tortilla

Dining at Claude Tayag's Bale Dutung in Pampanga is on my bucket list.  So when I learned that they  have a stall in Mercato I had to include them on my list..  I love lechon so I had to get the lechon tortilla.  The combination of the ingredients made this a delicious wrap, each bite is flavorful. And I was pleasantly surprised that lechon meat was crisp but not totally dry.  Next time I will have to try the Pan de Bagnet, it looks wickedly yummy.  

Merry Moo Ice Cream 

I wanted the Little Ones to try  the bacon ice cream, unfortunately it was not available.  So we ended up getting a cup of French vanilla for me, and mallows with pop rocks for them.  Both were very creamy and flavorful, worth every calorie.  I was expecting that the kids would be surprised by the pop rocks popping in their mouths, but there wasn't any pop. I guess the pop rocks lost their sizzle.  On our next visit  we hope the bacon ice cream will be available.   

Muncheez Yummy Treat

The Little Girl loved the free samples being offered by the different stalls.  So I let her be and told her she could buy what she liked best.  After sampling everything that caught her interest she decided to get two items.  The first one she chose was Marla's Original Muncheez a yummy cornflakes treat.  This is a perfect treat for kids, not too sweet nor is it sticky.  

See the big smile the Little Girl has.  Wish I had bought more, the whole pack was finished by the following day, that's how much the Little Ones liked this treat. 

Fudgy Bonbon

This was the other discovery of the Little Girl.  She tried several of the free sample items from Monfort's Kitchen.  After thinking it over she decided to get a box of the fudgy bonbon.  

I am not much of sweet/dessert person so I leave the choosing  and eating of sweets to the Little Ones.  This was a hit not just with the kids but with their Mita too.  Mita claims that these bonbons  are  not overly sweet and she likes that it was dense and moist inside.

Finally there was this stall, that I forgot to take note of the name, that had refreshing calamansi juice and crispy shrimps from Kalibo or was it Palawan, I can't recall.  The crispy shrimps was another hit with the kids. 

We hope to be back in Mercato soon with more food finds. 

P.S. On our way out of the market I spotted 3 celebrities - RJ Ledesma of the old Royal Tru-Orange tv commercials and Anton Diaz of OurAwesomePlanet.com with his lovely wife Rache.  I believe the three of them are organizers of Mercato. I wanted sana to have a picture taken with them but I decided against it. I did not want the Little Ones and my Sister-in-Law to rib me for being such a baduy fan.  Maybe next time I should go alone :)