A few weeks ago, a friend of mine who visited Paris was raving about macarons in his blog. A macaron is a sweet confectionery that is similar to meringue and is filled with butter cream or jam. Note that it is different from the macaroons sold in bakeries.

Ever since reading his entry, I couldn’t stop thinking about macarons. I searched on-line as to where I can buy macarons and ended up stumbling upon a blog entry about Mercato Centrale — a weekend market situated in Bonifacio Global City.

Last Thursday, I messaged my IBM Team Blue friends asking them if they wanted to go to Mercato Centrale today. Out of the six people I asked, only three joined me. We agreed to meet up at 9AM but all of us arrived late. I arrived 9:30AM while they arrived at 10:30AM. Luck was on our side though, Mercato Centrale was open until 2PM, 2 hours later than the 12NN closing time that I have read in some blogs.

When I was still waiting for my three friends to arrive, I roamed around the first tent a bit. I was feeling a little thirsty so it was good that I saw Tea.ology. They sell flavored milk tea with four different toppings and four levels of sweetness.

Their milk tea is nice and refreshing. I actually prefer this one over the one I tried yesterday in UP Village (though that one was good as well). A large cup of milk tea is P95.00. Heads up to Katipunan people, they’re planning on opening a branch there.

A few tables away from Tea.ology was Baked by Anita. If you are looking for moist and delicious cupcakes, you can’t go wrong with Baked by Anita. I was given some samples and the next thing I knew I was paying for a pack of three cupcakes.

I was tempted to buy more than three cupcakes but I kept on thinking about my budget cap (which I actually exceeded by more than 100%, haha!). I absolutely loved the Sticky Date cupcake. It was so good! Their Peanut Butter Truffle is also yummy. The only thing I didn’t like about their cupcakes was that it was a bit small. The quality makes up for it though. Their cupcakes are P35.00 a piece, 3 for a hundred pesos.

Speaking of cupcakes, I noticed that there were a lot of concessionaires selling cupcakes! Little “Miss” OC’s Kitchen‘s cupcakes were also attracting many people mainly because of their quirky designs.

There were some concessionaires selling chocolates in Mercato Centrale. One of them is Risa Chocolate Truffles. I tried some of their chocolates but I didn’t buy any. They were smooth and creamy though, it was just that my mind was still focused on the macarons and my budget. My friend bought a bar of Tiramisu chocolate from them for P170.00.

There was also Liqueur Bonbons by Joana. Their chocolate bonbons have a little kick to them. Classic Bacardi Bons anyone? How about Absolut Mint Bons? I was able to try some of them and they were very good. Their chocolates would make really nice gifts to friends. I almost bought a box but I realized I couldn’t share this with my mom since she doesn’t consume anything that has a trace of alcoholic beverage.

One concessionaire that sells chocolates really caught my attention. Theo & Philo offers unimaginably unique chocolate flavors. Who would’ve thought that the marriage of dark chocolate and siling labuyo (chili pepper) would result to a delightful treat? There were other out-of-this-world flavors such as Mango and Salt, Pan de Sal, et al.

I like their packaging. They actually look like imported chocolates. How I wish they could market this in such a way that it becomes popular in other countries. If Lebanon’s Patchi chocolates made its way here in the Philippines why can’t Theo & Philo, right? I bought a bar of Dark Chocolate with Siling Labuyo so I could let my office mates try it. A bar costs P95.00.

One of my friends stopped when she saw Mochiko, a concessionaire that sells ice cream filled mochi. Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made out of glutinous rice filled with different kinds of fillings.

Their mochi costs P75.00 a piece. It tasted good but I found the underside of it a bit too tough. You know Twizzlers? It was like that.

When it was around 11:30AM, we decided to have lunch. We went to Bale Datung to try their buzz-generating Pan de Bagnet. I’ve read a lot of food blogs praising their artery-clogging sandwich and I felt that our visit to Mercato Centrale would not be complete without trying it out.

The Pan de Bagnet is a sandwich that has slices of bagnet (deep fried pork meat) in it. The bread used was ciabatta and it was very soft. The only thing I didn’t like about the sandwich was the powdery surface of the bread. After my first bite, my lips were all white. One order of Pan de Bagnet costs P150.00.

As if we haven’t had enough sweets yet, we went to buy dessert after lunch. We headed to Yoh-gee for our dessert. Yoh-gee sells premium frozen yogurt which comes in a variety of flavors such as Mango, Strawberry, Black Sesame, et al. I got the Mango flavored frozen yogurt.

I loved the taste of Yoh-gee’s frozen yogurt. It had the right amount of sweetness and tartness. I was able to try the black sesame flavor and it was good as well. A cup costs P60.00.

Anyway, my entry is getting long so I’ll just post some of the things we saw in Mercato Centrale…

So there, that sums up my experience in Mercato Centrale. Mission accomplished?

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Some contact information 🙂

Baked by Anita

bakedbyanita@yahoo.com

736 28 77

0917 844 1403 | 09178279311

Jing Regalado

637 89 59 | 586 03 10

0919 504 8642 | 0923 703 1730 | 0917 872 9301

Little “Miss” OC’s Kitchen

littlemsoc@yahoo.com

853 13 21 | 852 67 67 loc 102

0917 812 6833 | 0917 812 6844

Yoh-gee Premium Frozen Yogurt

yohgeeyogurt@gmail.com

340 31 68

0922 888 96 48