Babe for Food: food stalls

12/29/12

Cebu's Mini Mercato Centrale at BTC (Part 2)

So I've done Part 1 for this segment; now, here's Part 2! The Sunday market was more for the takeout customers. This Saturday food market, officially known as Cebu Food Market, provides a dine-in setting for the victims of this visual gastronomic spectacle. Like the Sunday food market, it is located at the lobby of BTC but this is a bit more elaborate as there are more stalls.

Turn your head to the right....

And to the left...

You are greeted with the aroma of live cooking from some stalls (fresh food!) and a picnic setting of tables and chairs to relax and enjoy the food. I missed to mention previously that the products offered in the market are screened so that no two stalls offer the same nature of products. With that, you're guaranteed to find a fair variety of products in the market. The good thing is, each stall is unique; the (not really) bad thing is, you'll wanna have a piece of every little thing from each stall! Like me! :D

As of last month, during my visit, these were the stalls in action....

Belly In Thing
0933 336 1045
bellyinthing@gmail.com

The boneless lechon belly has become a quick trend that you could hardly find any place in the city without it. Since it's the "in thing", I guess that's why this stall is named so.

Carenderia

Before I entered the lobby of BTC, I spotted this food truck parked in front of the lobby. I thought, "Hey! Is this for real?" Then I found this stall and the thoughts connected. They offer really affordable packed meals. Would've been cooler if they were actually cooking and selling live from the truck like how it is in the U.S though.

Heavenly Goodies

0922 828 9759

(032) 414 0009

facebook.com/heavenlygoodiescebu

Super Yummy Brownies

Toni's Patatas Nuggets
0927 884 8469

This particular stall may not look like much but I heard that they sell out really fast. The proprietor is a Japanese who cooks the products himself. I didn't get to try their stuff though but Mustachio did.

Potato Nuggets P50/2 pcs
and
Potato Nugget Open Sandwich P45

Tokyo Crispy Lumpia P10/3 pcs

Dos Hermanos
(032) 232 8693
0917 620 8764
facebook.com/doshermanos.spanishcuisine

This is probably the only stall which is also found in the Sunday market. This is a Spanish stall with a Mexican name. I will be writing about this particular stall (as I mentioned in Part 1) separately because it captivated me. So, I'll save more of the details for that post.

The attraction of this stall is the enormous paella. It is not a surprise that this sells out by the end of the day. But that's not all they offer though, they also have paella balls and chorizo empanadas to name a few.

croquetas and paella balls!

home-made chorizo empanadas

Pao's Homemade Goodies
1236 J. Fortich St.
Banawa, Cebu City 6000

(032) 254 0139
0917 3001 353
0922 4692 936

Vegans Guild
0906 407 5433
facebook.com/vegansguild

Another interesting stall. Cebuanos aren't widely exposed to vegan dishes yet but I think this vegan burger would make a good introduction. The foreign owner personally cooks the patties and I was able to chat with him a bit. He said their menu changes every week. So, vegans can now troop to Cebu Food Market for some interesting grub accustomed to their diet. I'd love to try this sometime.

Kiki's Homemade Sweeties
0927 6923 134

I also love cookies and these looked luscious. This stall had a Christmas menu which featured Stuffed Snickerdoodles cookies, Little Monster Cookies, Banana Walnut Muffin, 12" Monster Cookies and a rare Mango Chocolate Pavlova. I also liked their packaging because it's eco-friendly. ;)

Banana Walnut Muffin P260/box of 6

Little Monster Cookies P210/box of 8

Life is Sweet...Cakes and Pastries

0917 3232 524

Oh my, I'm such a huge fan of strawberries and this definitely made my eyes well up with tears for the beauty of it. Strawberry cobbler! They had free tasting that day and I did my best to just have one little piece to kill the craving. The cassava with ube also looked really good. It actually reminded me of Rajah Maynila's sapin-sapin. Mmmm...

And here's some of what I had from this food market. Of course I had to try something. They all looked irresistible!

Luis and I got the Dos Hermanos chorizo paella, chorizo empanada and paella balls. We also had some siomai from Heavenly Goodies and they weren't bad at all either. My first impression of the paella, aside that it was huge, was that the egg was just PERFECT. There's nothing more beautiful than a perfectly executed sunny-side-up glistening in glory. Luis was the first to try the paella and he was engrossed. We both admired it above everything else we had.

Dos Hermanos Chorizo Paella w/ egg P120

Dos Hermanos Paella Ball P50

Dos Hermanos Chorizo Empanada P30

Cebu Food Market
Banilad Town Center (BTC), Gov. M. Cuenco Ave.
Banilad, Cebu City 6000

Operating hours: Saturdays 10 AM-6 PM (or until products last)

"To know Cebu, eat Cebu! :D"

oink oink,

Babe for Food

- your BFF in Cebu dining! :)

10/22/12

Hitting Two Birds with One Stone

ZeroThreeTwo recently hosted a raffle on Twitter for 30 free milk teas from Bubbletea Station and I just thought there was no harm in giving it a shot. To my delight, I found a direct message from them that I've won (just 1 of the 30, of course)! STOKED!

Meanwhile, I've been hearing about a cool new Asian street food stall at BTC (Banilad Town Center) where Bubbletea also happens to be. And you know nothing gets me pumped up like checking out a new food spot. The thought of hitting two birds with one stone got me really excited. BTC isn't a frequent hangout for me so I've really been itching to head out there with the mission of claiming my free milk tea and seeing that food stall for myself. Yesterday was the perfect day.

Hello, Bubbletea! :D

Bubbletea Station is a milk tea stall with a small dine-in setting inside the BTC mall, right by the entrance. :D

I was entitled to any regular sized (16 oz) flavored milk tea with regular sinkers. I opted for the bestseller, Wintermelon Milk Tea with pearls. My other half got a regular sized Dark Chocolate with pearls. They didn't ask for my sweetness level so I totally forgot about it.

regular Wintermelon Milk Tea with pearls P75
regular Dark Chocolate Milk Tea with pearls P80

You can definitely trust Bubbletea with your milk tea because I found mine to be perfectly fine! I loved the Wintermelon and the pearls were cooked just right! Not too soggy, not too al dente. The dark chocolate wasn't bad either. ;)

click on each photo for a larger view :D

...And for that new food stall, I discovered for myself that Bubbletea and Small Eats are actually sister shops, being of the same owner. I found out because Small Eats' menu was also at Bubbletea and you could actually order from there and they'll serve it to you while you enjoy your milk tea. :D

Small Eats is located outside the mall, beside Potato Corner; that's on the left side if you're from the parking lot, facing the front of the mall.

It's actually a shabu-shabu stall which serves shabu-shabu items such as lobster balls and squid balls on a stick (with a choice of fried or boiled) or in a bowl with soup or both soup and noodles.

They offer fish balls, squid balls, seafood tofu, lobster balls, Taiwanese sausage and pork siomai. I looovvve lobster balls so I got this and the seafood tofu, both boiled (yay to healthy :p). I'm a sucker for seafood. :D

Boiled Seafood Tofu P54 and Lobster Balls P44

They were served to me at Bubbletea, already swimming in a shallow pool of soy lime sauce. Nom nom! These are great snacks and could easily become a quick, healthy meal, enjoyed with the noodles in the broth or you could buy puso or rice somewhere. If you're craving for shabu2x, here's a quick and affordable fix to that! :D

Bubbletea Station

1st Floor, Banilad Town Center (inside the mall, outside Nike)

Banilad, Cebu City 6000

Price range: P70-110

Small Eats

Banilad Town Center (beside Potato Corner)

Banilad, Cebu City 6000

Price range: P15-80

"To know Cebu, eat Cebu! :D"