Food reflects the society that grows and cooks it. One man’s waste is another man’s food. These are the thoughts that came into mind as I visited Il Mercanti a few days back.
I decided to take the free shuttle service from the office to the nearby weekly food bazaar, Il Mercanti. It has more than 30 concessionaires and they serve a variety of cuisines ranging from street food, regional delicacies to sweet treats.
Rogelio’s at Il Mercanti
For only Php 285 or $6 you could buy a box of assorted cake slices which is perfect for gifts. The guy on the right is the one who creates and bakes the cakes and cookies on display.
For those who aren’t sure what to buy, you can a free taste of everything.
His best sellers happen to be the Chocnut bar. It’s chocolate and powdered peanuts.
For those who wish to try out the local street food and have no qualms eating exotic dishes, there’s the barbecued chicken [below] and pork [beside that] intestines. Yup. Each is cleaned, boiled and marinated before being cooked over live coals.
If you wish to get a taste of the locally prepared food, there’s one that sells all of it. All of them are served with a cupful of rice on the side.
Some of the dishes come from nearby provinces. That means you don’t have to go anywhere else if you have that craving for freshly harvested crabs, lobsters and huge prawns at $2.60 or Php 110 per meal. Again…served with a cupful of rice on the side.
The bazaar is perfect for start-up companies that wish to test the market for their products, in this case pastries. She sells cheesecakes in different sizes and flavors. None of those instant ones thickened with gelatin. Her cheesecakes are rich and flavorful but not too sweet.
If you’re not sure what to buy, you can get the smaller ones for $2 a piece.
If you’re not sure what to eat, you can try the familiar ones. I had a charbroiled burger from Amburger. I tried their bacon mushroom melt at $6 [or Php 250]. I had it cut in half with the intention of bringing the other half home for Brian. It was so big and thick that I only got to eat 1/4 of the entire burger and shared the other 1/4th with a friend.
