Setting Footprints: Fiesta Bahia is Mercato Centrale's latest tourism night food market in Metro Manila

Fiesta Bahia is another night food market in Metro Manila. It is regarded as the premier night food and lifestyle market that offers a new ‘food destination’ experience to the SM Mall of Asia By the Bay. It is where to sample the taste of some popular dishes coming from different regions in the country.

Also available are some of the popular gourmet and artisanal food from the chefs and food vendors of other night markets previously installed elsewhere by the Mercato Centrale.

A place to experience some of the unique foods in the country. To start with, most food stalls are very much willing to give a sample free taste before taking an order. Such as the following:

Bagnet Rice Patong is most probably inspired by the Tuguegarao City's Ilocano batil patung. However, instead of the Cagayano version of using stir-fried miki noodles, the BRP uses cooked rice as base for the patung (toppings) of sliced bagnet (crisp Ilocano deep-fried pork). Lower photo is a serving of double bagnet patung. So you know now what to answer if you can read the question on their shirts, above.

Andreis's Lugawan Atbp. main dish is the arroz caldo con chicken (rice porridge with chicken) with the optional hard boiled chicken egg. The graham mango float are no different from those you can find from online recipes. This one in the photo needs a lot of chilling to make it more appealing to taste and slow the milk from running loosely. Andrie's also has assorted kinds of sweet kakanin (rice based snacks), such as the cuchinta, bibingkang kanin, etc.

Partly hidden on the corner of Andrei's Lugawan Atbp counter is this unique kind of puto (steamed rice cake). One could hardly notice it because it is not well lighted. I suppose this is the one that qualifies Andrie's to join the Fiesta Bahia. This is the most unique so far among my finds at the Fiesta Bahia. Andrie's called it stuffed puto - dinugoan flavor.

Andrie's Lugawan Atbp. has perfected the idea of making stuffed puto dinugoan. What you normally ordered in carenderia that comes in separate serving plate of puto and a bowl of dinugoan (pork with blood) is fused to become one cupcake.The dinugoan in it is not made of pig's internal organs but of choice cut of pure pork. A slab of melting cheedar cheese is a good complement

Different kinds of sisig to take from the food stall of Chef Bab's Sisig. You have an option to select from naughty to healthy kind of sisig. Thus, Fiesta Bahia is also a place vegans, vegetarians, and health conscious foodies.

What make's Manong's Bagnet unique is the kind of pork used in making this crisp deep-fried Ilocano dish. The meat is imported and of premium quality.It's a crispy and sinfully Ilocano pork dish.

What is bagnet? Still, there are those who have no idea what kind of dish is this, how it looks, and how it tastes. The encyclopaedic Philippine Food Cooking and Dining Dictionary of Edgie Polistico has the following entry for bagnet:

bagnet – (bàg-net; Ilocano dish) (lechon kawali in Tagalog) [n.] deep-fried crisp pork chunks, preferably the liempo (pig’s belly). The whole big chunk or large cut of pork (with the skin intact) is boiled in saline solution (a.k.a.salted water), drained, air-dried, and then deep-fried twice until crisp reddish-brown or golden-brown and the skin has tiny bubble-like blisters on it. It is somehow an Ilocano version of Tagalog lechon kawali. In olden days, Ilocanos would store bagnet in burnay (earthen jar) filled with pork oil to the brim. The oil would congeal (solidify) to become lard, burying the pieces of bagnets inside the jar as it cools. When there is a need to use bagnet in cooking, a piece is taken out and fried again with some of the lard to gain back the crispiness in bagnet. Ilocanos sometimes used chopped bagnet as added ingredients in cooking pakbet(Ilocano vegetable medley with fish paste) or pasta, as it would add some crunchiness and flavor in the dish. Garnishing with bagnet in almost all Ilocano vegetable and noodle dishes is fast gaining popularity in modern Filipino cuisine. The lard is also used in sautéing or flavoring vegetable dishes, such as in pinakbet and in pancit (noodle dishes). Bagnet is also eaten as is. To serve, a crisp bagnetis chopped into bite sizes and served with dip sauce called KBL (short for kamatis, bagoong and lasuna)

Manong's also comes with some Pinoy dishes with bagnet as better alternative for the usual stir-fried or deep-fried pork. Shown here are laing bagnet (lower left) , the fusion of Tagalog and Bicolano laing with the Ilocano bagnet. Another is the sisig bagnet (top right), or the combination of Capampangan sisig and Ilocano bagnet. There is also the spicy hot Bicol express bagnet (top left). If you want to prove that you too is ingenious, bring home this bagnet and prepare your favorite vegetable or soup dish using bagnet as your sahog (meat ingredient).

We’re actively looking for food entrepreneurs who specialize in provincial cuisines from all around the Philippines.” Said Rache Diaz, co-organizer of Fiesta Bahia. “If you’ve got a great homemade dish from your hometown, we would love for you to share a taste of your own local culture with foodies from around Manila and the rest of the world!”

For interested food vendors who want to join Fiesta Bahia, please contact (+63 917) 840-1152 or (+632) 812-0102 or admin@mercatocentrale.ph. We are prioritizing vendors who specialize in regional/provincial food. The more unique, the better!

Guagua's Best chicken and pork barbecues

Chicken inasal of Guagua's Best. WYSIWYG! You can get as much as or even more of those bits and pieces of roasted garlic.

Lariza's Grill street foods. Watch your elbows and those of others in this area of Fiesta Bahia where people are often aggregating. Of course, because street foods are among Pinoys favorite delicacies.

Pork and chicken barbecues of Mamay's Ihaw-ihaw

Bottles of San Miguel beers are what you can have at the San Miguel by the Bay. Tourists who are not used to local beers can have the imported stout, lager, ale, and other types of beer. .

For local beers, SM by the Bay offers only San Miguel beers. Pick your kind of SM Beer.

A FRIENDLY REMINDER: Be aware that a new law took effect recently that penalizes drunk driving. Don't drink and drive, otherwise you will loss lots of things in your life. You license to drive might be cancelled and banned to drive for life. Isn't it worse when its too late to realize that your life insurance and car insurance will not cover you and your losses due to alcohol. If drinking is socially unavoidable, just drink moderately and responsibly.

Bottled water and canned soda are also available

General's Lechon, is an original Negrense roasted pig, freshly cooked all the time from San Carlos City, Negros Occidental. You can have your General's Lechon in garlic, curry, or the original flavor.

General's Lechon also offers boneless lechon paksiw.

Cuisiners' slow roast beef is served with wine gravy and plain cooked rice

Edgy's Foodtrip Korean Beef Stew is served with plain cooked rice

Edgy's Foodtrip Peking Chicken is served with Yang Chow stir-fried rice.

Edgy's Foodtrip Spicy Beef is served with Yang Chow stir-fried rice.

Shawarma F

Yana's Crispy Fries has fried tawilis sardines, crispy butsi ng manok, crispy bituka ng manok, crispy crablets, crispy deep-fried pork, etc.

Yakitori balls stuffed with crab sticks

Shelled shrimps spitted on bamboo sticks ready for grilling. The shrimps on their natural color. The distinct smell of shrimps will reach your nose when grilling starts.