Markets excite me. I love its vibrant atmosphere, the no-frills food stalls, the people in their come-as-you-are attire. But most importantly, I love the food being hawked alongside the chaotic menagerie of fresh vegetables, meats, bottled what-nots, wetter-than-wet seafood, bootleg Spongebob T-shirts for kids, tabo and palanggana, and everything else in between.

MALABON CENTRAL MARKET FOOD TRIP

One particular market I really love to go to is our very own Malabon Central Market. I literally grew up eating most of what it offers—but not within the market itself, but inside our home—as nanay and tatay slid packets of crispy okoys and delectable kakanins on our table every Sunday as they arrived back from the market for a week’s worth of food to cook.

Now all grown up, I literally dream of what I would eat at the market the night before a scheduled visit to Malabon’s Bayan.

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CRISPY OKOY AT THE MALABON CENTRAL MARKET

The first on the list is crispy okoy—deep-fried fritters made from a batter of galapong and mung bean sprouts, topped with huge unpeeled shrimps. There’s a nameless one at the gate of the market, and there’s Yolly’s Okoy, which is a few steps in. Both are offspring of the original stall that started selling okoys in Malabon during the sixties.

These are actually not the viral okoys seen on TikTok videos, those are found on the nearby Concepcion Market—we’ll do a separate take on that one soon—but these are the Malabon OGs ones and are no less delectable.

PALABOK AND SUMPIA AT MARIE’S LUGAWAN

I usually grab one of these, then head over to the carinderias inside—Marie’s Lugawan, my usual spot—to sit and pair it with. The choices would be either a bowl of palabok or pancit lug-log—two different noodle dishes, by the way.

Their differences lie in the noodles used—a palabok has thin noodles, while pancit lug-log has thicker ones. The meat toppings also differ: pork giniling for the former and pork lengua for the latter. Both are topped with an orangey sauce—made from fish sauce, shrimp stock, and achuete—chopped green onions, sliced eggs, and labok or tinapa flakes.

EATING MY OKOY ALONG WITH LUMPIANG SARIWA AND LUGAW FROM MARIE’S

And if I’m particularly hungry, I’d add a helping of sumpia or a lumpiang sariwa on the side—depending on my mood. In Malabon, a fried vegetable lumpia is called a sumpia, while a fresh lumpia, well, is lumpiang sariwa. In Malabon, lumpiang sariwa are usually wrapped with the same flimsy wrapper used in sumpia—giving it a slightly salty outer flavor.

OUR FAVORITE MERCY’S ASSORTED KAKANIN

Dessert is literally a hop away. The choice: gelatinous sweet kakanin or soft airy puto rice cake.

Mercy’s Assorted Kakanin is our favorite stall for what most people refer to as sapin-sapin. This bilao-filled color wheel of delight is really called assorted kakanin. Besides sapin-sapin, which is just but one of its components, it also has strips of mais kalamay, ube kalamay, kutsinta kalamay, kamoteng kahoy, regular biko, and bikong puti.

And contrary to people’s notion, it does not come pre-made in a “color wheel”. This is made by cutting strips of each component and laying them one at a time in a circular manner on the bilao.

AMOR’S PUTO SPECIAL AT MALABON’S CENTRAL MARKET

Amor’s Puto Special is just a step across from Mercy’s. What they offer are freshly cooked—like you can literally see them preparing it inside their stall—pizza-sized platters of puto made from rice, topped with grated cheese and sliced salted duck eggs.

TINAPANG BANGUS TO BRING HOME

And before going home, a bottle of atchara, a handful of Chinese kikiam, smoky tinapang bangus, and foiled rellenong bangus are a must to bring back home as pasalubong or to consume in the coming days.

MALABON’S FAMOUS PANCIT MALABON

Clearly missing here, however, is Malabon’s most important contribution to the country, the eponymously named pancit Malabon.

Pancit Malabon is different from palabok and lug-log in that its sauce—which is already mixed in with the noodles—uses crab fat and crushed chicharon. It usually has chopped pechay Baguio, boiled pork bits, and most importantly, a plethora of seafood like shrimp, adobong pusit, and sometimes, oyster and mussel toppings.

PANCIT MALABON AT DOLORES PANCIT MALABON

Unfortunately, Malabon’s Public Market is not the place to have it. The OG panciterias—Belen’s, Nanay’s, MFlores, Dolor’s, among others—are usually a jeepney ride away from the market.

But fret not, Dolores Pancit Malabon—located along Rizal Avenue near the century-old Malabon Church—is just a minute (or two) away by foot from the market. They serve one of the best pancit Malabons in the city and is one of our go-to panciterias when there’s a celebration at home. The ultimate final stop before burping your way back home.

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