Banilad Town Center (BTC) plays host to Cebu Food Market [0933 467 5890] every Saturday from 10AM to 9PM. Various vendors ply their ware at the ground floor of BTC, and there's something new to discover each week. At the time of my visit, the market offered lechon belly, rice meals, siomai (dumplings), brownies, potato nuggets, paella, empanada, and veggie burgers.
If I were a bottomless pit, I would have taken a bite out of every food item offered. Since I am not a bottomless pit nor my pocket, these are the lucky ones who got acquainted with my palate:
From left to right: Chorizo paella with egg, chorizo empanada, potato nuggets, and spicy lechon belly with rice.
Toni's Patatas Nuggets
0927 884 8469
This Japanese guy, Toni, has a little stove and a pot of oil ready for deep frying nuggets and lumpia. The food on his table don't look too interesting. That's what I thought. But don't judge the food by its presentation. I was delighted to find the nuggets to be mashed potatoes. It went well with their homemade sauce but would have been better with the Japanese mayonnaise (they ran out of mayo at that time). I was also able to try their potato nugget sandwich on another day, and who would have thought that potatoes as palaman (sandwich filling) would be lip-smacking? Couldn't say much for the lumpia though since I didn't try it.
Alfonso Martinez
#47 2nd St. Paradise Village, Banilad, Cebu City
(032) 232 8693 / 0917 620 8764
fonso_zenitram@yahoo.com.ph
In another corner, a Spanish-looking guy, helped by two ladies, sells chorizo paella, chorizo empanada, and paella balls. No for sale sign for Spanish chorizo but they do sell such, priced per kilo. I found the portion size for the chorizo paella too small for its price (Php 120). As for its taste, I was a bit disappointed, but blame it on my expectations. The chorizo empanada was forgettable (I already forgot how it tasted). I took home half a kilo of Spanish chorizo and my mother loves it (and to think she doesn't like anything spicy). We had it for breakfast every day until our supply ran out.
Autogas Station, Sanson Rd. Lahug, Cebu City
0933 336 1045
bellyinthing@gmail.com
Open daily from 1130AM to 2AM (Closed at 3PM on Sundays)
Boneless lechon belly and Pinakupsan
You can also ask for the tasty belly stuffing. They give some for free.
Boneless lechon belly has been all the rage recently in Cebu. This table at the far end of the food market is manned by two Filipinas. They sell lechon belly (regular or spicy) by weight, value meal (a meager portion of lechon belly and a cup of rice), Belly batchoy (batchoy with bits of lechon belly), and pinakupsan (pieces of pork belly fried until the fat shrinks and gets really crispy). Belly Inthing's lechon belly was okay, I didn't jump for joy at the first (nor the second or third) bite. I prefer Cebu's Original Lechon Belly which I found tastier and spicier :-)
How the Market foraged Mustachio's pocket:
Potato nuggets Php 50
Chorizo paella with egg Php 120
Chorizo empanada Php 30
Lechon belly with rice Php 50
Nice one! I wish I had the budget to visit every week. Food markets like this are my achilles heel. Hard to resist anything. :D
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