Mercato Centrale @ BGC Part 1

Share

The newest weekend market has sprouted up at the Fort Global City, Mercato Centrale. Open during weekends from 6am to 12 noon. We've been there for 3 straight weeks trying and tasting different food stuff and also browsing through organic products. The good thing is there are different stalls every time we've been there so its always fresh. Also, almost all the stalls have lots of free taste they are very eager to give you a taste.

I'm actually more focused on the food stalls, and there are a lot of them, to the chagrin of Irene.

Here are some of my picks, actually there are so many I'm dividing them into at least 2 posts, maybe more if I go back and try some more.

February Sweets and Savories

Stuffed Tomatoes. Large red, plump tomatoes topped with spinach and Parmesan cheese that is making my mouth water thinking about them. I actually ate one whole tomato by myself as part of my lunch. Perfect as appetizer also.

• P75    - 1 piece
• P275  - 4 pieces
• P525  - 8 pieces

Carrot Cake. I loved the sweet smooth taste as well as the compactness of the cake. Its also filled with lots of walnuts that give a nice crunch and topped with tasty cream cheese. According to the owners, Paolo and Christine, they only use natural sugar substitute to make the cake, no aspartame or other artificial sugars. Perfect for people who have diabetes.

Bale Dutung
 

Pan De Bagnet (P140) Sliced bagnet slipped into a crusty Ciabatta bread with added viniagarette and other things. One of the best food stalls at Mercato Centrale, and one that is never without a queue. The crispy fried pork is contrasted by the vinaigrette, and there is an abundance of cilantro. This is so good that I readily ate this, bite after bite despite my aversion to vinegar.

Lechon Tortilla (P100). Lechon strips made crispy by deep frying it and adding onions, and tomatoes and wrapped in tortilla.  This one is good but it just does not have the "crave" quality that I have for the Pan de Bagnet.

Manang's Chciken

This stall claims to be better than BonChon Chicken and judging by the throngs around the stall, many seem to think so. They have two sauces, sweet and spicy, knowing my low tolerance for spiciness, I immediately picked the sweet one. I loved the sauce even more than BonChon's as well as the super crispy skin and coating. The meat inside is where I felt it lost out, it was a little dry that after a bite some chicken fell on the plate. I'm guessing that to achieve the super crispy outside, it was fried a little too long.If they could correct this, it would be a worthy competitor of BonChon's.

Off Beat Cafe's Krispy Kreme Burger (P180). I've heard of this sinful concoction but just have not found time to visit their store. Good thing or maybe bad that they were at Mercato. This is basically a burger that had its bun replaced by a Krispy Kreme Glazed donut. The beef patty is around 1/3 pound with cheese, an egg, and a piece of pan fried porkloin. With each bite, I felt so sinful but my mouth seems to be moving on its on, egged on by my stomach. Good thing I only had half, or else I could have finished it all.

Off Beat Cafe also has an interesting chili dog whose sausage is fish instead of meat I was supposed to try this last week but too bad it was not available. Also heard from the owner they are transferring to the Collective from their previous off beat location

More food finds in Part 2.


Mercato Centrale
corner of 9th Avenue and 30th Street
Bonifacio Global City
Taguig

Like this post? Subscribe here.