Saturday Fun at the Salcedo Market

Best Friend Ep: Today, I'm gonna take you to Salcedo Market?

Michael: To a market? (I smiled with sarcasm)

Best Friend Ep: So you haven't heard about Salcedo Market yet? It's the 'sosyal' marketplace as they call it. It's the market for the 'upper class'.

Michael: Oh, that's new. For the upper class...

Best Friend Ep: It could be new to you maybe, but I'm sure you're not gonna let your camera down for this because every corner of this market is so much bloggable.

Michael: I'm so excited! C'mon and take me there then.

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So we reached Salcedo Market at around 10AM from Eastwood. This place is situated at Barangay Bel-Air, Makati City, Philippines and opens only on Saturdays from 7 AM to 2 PM. Known to be a "high-end"  marketplace since it offers goods with higher value than any other usual market, I can say that you are still getting what you have paid for since most of their products meet the highest quality standards.

When I think about marketplaces, I just think about of going there to buy meat or vegetables that I could keep on my fridge for days. I go there, spend half and hour maybe and then go home and that's it.

But Salcedo Market is far from what I expected. This is the only time when I felt that a marketplace could be fun too! I must say that this is one of the most unforgettable market experiences that I had.

Thanks to Best Friend Ep who took me here!

Best Friend Ep

Now, join us and let's have a quick tour on this amazing marketplace...

If you want to add more plants to grow your garden, you can find some interesting plants here too.

More fruits too! 

And a lot more. So lets continue walking...

Jaq's Kitchen - they sell unique taste-bud satisfying sauces and dips 

This guy is from the 'Ministry of Mushroom'. He sells mushrooms of any kind and mushroom-based products too. I had the chance to taste their unique mushroom burger!

Japanese Cakes

This place is really amazing! The pictures have already spoken on my behalf. What else can I say? I believe that we might have just the same thing in mind now about this place.

For me, this is the most beautiful marketplace I ever seen.

A Taste of Morocco

Still at the all-famous Salcedo Market here in Makati, we encountered this stall that offers Moroccan Cuisines. Curious enough, I did not pass the chance to see and observe how this unique kind of African dish being cooked.

Chicken Saffron with rice and Sharmoula (Tomato dip side dish with Evoo and Cilantro)

Morocco is a country located in the northern part of Africa with a coastline facing some part of the Atlantic Ocean. It's a country known for it's rich history and for it's antiquity. However, this place is also known for its diverse cuisines. Morocco offers mainly Berber-Moorish, Mediterranean, and European cuisines. These unique dishes requires flavorful spices to create a distinct remarkable Moroccan flavor. This includes the use of cumin, cinnamon, ground ginger, saffron, black pepper, sesame seeds, and some other old-age spices found in Northern Africa. Particularly, chicken, lamb or fish with vegetables are the main ingredients.

B'stilla - Whole Wheat phyllo pastry filled with almonds and chicken

Mroozia - Honey Glazed beef, with sultanas and toasted almonds

Chicken Saffron Tagine - Chicken in olive oil and preserved lemon 

One thing that is so interesting about Morocco's way of cooking is their use of Tagines. These type of beautifully designed clay-made cookware are most popularly used in North Africa. Most Tagines are designed with a top cover shaped like a dome or a cone.

Of course, we did not leave this place empty handed. We also have our Chicken Saffron Tagine for brunch!

Yum yum!

Paella Negra

"Paella Negra." I have not heard about this until it was introduced to me by Best friend Ep when we were once on a text chat. Actually, I just ignored it because I thought this kind of food does not really exist. I didn't even care to search it on the web!

Michael: So what are you cooking right now?

Best friend Ep: Paella Negra.

Michael: Wehh

For me, this is not so convincing because in the first place, she does not really know how to cook very well so how come she knew this dish?

Until she brought me to this place today at Salcedo Market at Barangay Bel-Air in Makati. We went here for a quick brunch before going to the Bakery Fair.

There I found out that this 'legendary' Paella Negra is not just a newly-coined word from her but it's actually a real dish!

A regular serving costs P280 at Margarita's

Here's a brief background about this Spanish cuisine (Finally I did a little research now):

As what I expected, Paella Negra has really a dark appearance and that's because of the squid ink being mixed. I wonder how many squids need to die to extract much ink to cook such a huge serving like this!

Aside from the Paella's unique squidy taste, I also like the soft texture of the steamed, seasoned and stir-fried calasparra rice with the real seafood taste and texture of big pieces of shrimps and oysters. It's so mouth-watering and delicious that you might already forget the yummiest rice dish that you have ever tasted in your entire life!

If you want to try cooking it for yourself, here's a quick recipe for Paella Negra:

How to Cook Paella Negra

Enjoy!